Title Onimusha 3 Manufacturer Capcom System/Year PS2/2004 Genre Adventure Players 1 Player Ports N/A Samanosuke is back and he's not alone. Overview Back in 2001, Capcom introduced a new series to their impressive lineup of titles. Originally a PSOne project, Onimusha was moved to PS2 and gave fans a taste in action games. Onimusha offered Resident Evil style game play with samurai swords. Players took control of Samanosuke and battled demons in attempt to stop Nobunaga‘s return. More of an action than survival horror, gamers got to use a variety of swords and weaponry. By collecting souls of your foes, you can upgrade your weapons to give them for strength and more power magic attacks. Onimusha gave PS2 owners more reason to be happy with their decision in consoles as this series has been mainly exclusive to PS2, outside Genma Onimusha for Xbox. Onimusha 2 came out a year later and introduced new RPG elements to the series, giving players more replay value in their gaming. Now it’s on to the third and final installment to this great series. Get ready for Demon Siege. Graphics 9/10 When you first pop the disc in, your treated to a visual feast that is called the intro. Definitely the best CG experience I’ve seen in a long time, it puts Square’s and Tecmo’s work to shame. The menus are very basic, much like before. It uses a similar style like Onimusha 2. Everything is easy accessible and not too confusing. Your have the option to change blood color and even how violent the game is, which I’m told the US version is more so than the Japanese one. Capcom also gives you a sneak peek at Shadows of Rome, cool. Capcom went with 3D backgrounds this time, leaving the 2D of old behind. Onimusha 3 has impressive environments and detail, Capcom did a great job squeezing the power out of the PS2. Adding this with the number of characters on screen and you swore you’re playing on a different machine. The character models look really nice and plenty of detail. Animation in their movements and attacks are superb, but no facial expressions? A lot of monsters return form previous installments, with dozens of new ones that are cool. There’s only a few different bosses but you face them multiple times, you even get to lay the smack down on Guildenstern finally. Mock me will ya, in Onimusha 1. Capcom did a great job using the PS2 hardware and I can’t wait to see what they can do in the future. Gameplay/Controls 8/10 If you’ve played the previous installments, you know what to expect. You fight an endless hoard of demons, with occasionally boss fight, upgrade your weapons, and get ready to stick it to Nobunaga. Capcom, however, is giving us more of the same but they introduce some cool new features. Unlike Samanosuke, Jacques uses a whip as his main source of destruction. Jacques has three different whips; Enja, his fire whip much like Ivy’s weapon in Soul Calibur II, Raisen, lightning whip and spear, and Hyosai, his ice morning star/mace. The whip offers new elements never seen before in the series. Jacques can do the Oni Bind where he lassos his whip around an enemy. At this points he can shoot his gun at the foe, send in a magic blast, or throw the demon around. He can also grab objects and toss them at foes, inflicting more damage. Jacques can latch onto fireflies and swing himself across chasms or quickly dodge an unblockable attack. This makes Jacques more badass than Samanosuke, in my opinion. Of course Samanosuke can’t be outdone. He starts off with all his original weapons from Onimusha 1, where he quickly loses in the beginning. He soon adds three new weapons to his arsenal; Tenso, two light swords, Kuga, extended air sword, and Chigo, his earth battle-axe. He’s not as exciting to play as Jacque, but he gets close and personal which is classic in this series. Both characters have other weapons which I’ll let you find out for yourself. Like the previous games, all your weapons, gauntlet, and armor can be upgraded to make them more powerful. This is a necessity as you will be facing thirty plus enemy types, in bigger numbers I might add. A third playable character, Michelle, is introduced to the series. Her weapons of choice is guns, four different kinds, and it’s a blast killing enemies with each. She’s only playable in two sections though, so enjoy it while it lasts. The game itself is pretty linear, much like the previous games, so it’s obvious where you need to go. You will run into lock doors or tile puzzles as you go, same as before. With the help of time, and Ako, you will face some new challenges. Ako is a tengu who flies back in forth through time to help our heroes. About midway through the game, you’re able to switch characters at will, usually near save points. You can send items and health back with Ako to your other character. Some of the puzzles involve using time to your advantage as Samanosuke may find a key that can be used in Jaques time, while Jacques can open a passage that Samanosuke can access in his time. It adds a little more challenge to the game, something different from the norm. This game, however, isn’t too challenging to begin with. You may face more enemies and bosses, but I found myself rarely using health items. I always found yellow souls, or Ako’s white vest, keeping me healthy throughout the game. Most enemies can be killed by a simple side-step and combo, with a figure on the block button for safety. This and occasional slowdown, may disappoint some fans. It didn’t disappoint this fan, but I can’t ignore it. This is short and sweet. It controls exactly the same as the previous games, even Resident Evil for that matter. So you’ll either love it, or hate it. Good news for those who hate it, using the analog stick will give you full 3D control. YES!! Where ever you move the stick, that’s where you’ll go. It’s a plus in my book but I found using the old style a little easier performing some moves, especially in training. Whichever you prefer, you’ll be happy with this game. Capcom uses the same camera style like other their other games. Fixed camera might run into some problems, but not much. Sound/Music 8/10 The musical score is just as good as before, possibly even better. Definitely giving you that epic feel. Most of the sound effects are reused, outside the new monster types and the whip. Voice acting is quite good. The English track is actually French/English. Jacques speaks French until Ako shows up and translates it all into English. Samanosuke, and everyone else not in Paris 2004, speaks English. The cool thing is Jean Reno provides the voice work for the French speaking Jacques. A different actor does the English voice. He does a good job but he sounds nothing like Jean Reno, or even has a French accent. I wish they kept the Japanese track in there, or at least an option. Kaneshiro (Samanosuke) is nowhere to be found. Replay Value 9/10 The game, along with collecting everything and side quests, will net you over ten hours. Not bad for this type of game. Collecting all the items, like Ako’s vests, and completing the side quests, Dark Realm anyone, will unlock cool mini games and weapons. Samanosuke and Jacques do have other weapons, but you must take on the Dark Realms to get them, which are not easy. You also have training missions to play, which test you on the different moves in the game. You’re tested on the basics to the most difficult moves, damn critical hits. I found this the most difficult part of the game as your put in the most extreme situations and only allowed to use a certain type of attack. All this hard work will give you health items and other goodies. Mini games, costumes, modes, all of this are waiting to be unlocked. Mutltiple play throughs will unlock more goodies, so it’s worth going back. You want to know if an Onimusha 4 is coming? Find all of Ako’s vest to find out. Outside of all that, the game can be beaten in under five hours, much like the rest. Overall 8/10 The Onimusha series was a fun experience. They offered some of the best action experience around. Onimusha 3 caps off the series and is one hell of a swan song. Great graphics, great game play, even better with that badass whip, decent music and voice acting, and controls are just as good. Capcom gave the game high production values, especially with that opening CG, making it more like a movie experience than a game. The game is on the short side and a little too easy for my tastes, but this doesn’t stop the game from kicking ass. Onimusha 3 is a great action game, with a couple flaws, but it’s nearing the top of my list of great games in 2004. If you own a PS2, get this game. Pros: - Great graphics - Stick with the classic game play adding new elements to make it even more enjoyable. - Two styles of controls. - Epic soundtracks - Badass opening cinema Cons: - A little on the short side, outside of training and dark realm quests - No Japanese track? - A little too easy for my tastes - Fixed camera could be troublesome for some. - by Cold Man X