Review
Onimusha 3: Demon Siege Review (PS2)
From humble beginnings Capcom’s Onimusha series has really grown up, and gone from a gawky teenager to a mature game that satisfies on virtually every front. Even in the places where I could find fault with Onimusha 3: Demon Siege it wasn’t much fault, and nothing that gave me any desire to put down the katana and move away from the screen. Capcom reports that this third part of the series will be the last, and it’s a delightful note to end on.
Story wise players of the original Onimusha games are back in familiar territory. The game opens with the player taking on the leading role of Samanosuke, the same efficient and good looking hero from the first game. As usual Nobunaga and his armies of Genma are creating havoc, but this time they expand their sites on more than Samanosuke’s beloved 16th century Japan. Onimusha 3 opens to Samanosuke’s assault on Nobunga’s fortress, which assault is destine to fail or this would be a very short game. Just when Samanosuke thinks he’s on the verge of victory a temporal rift opens taking Nobunga and many of his demonic minions into the future. Whether fortunately, or not, Samanosuke gets caught in the same rift which pulls him forward into modern day France.
The arrival of the Genma in France is an occasion for panic and for the introduction of our second hero, Jacques, based on Jean Reno. Jacques survives the first of the Genma assault on France and becomes Samanosuke’s counter part, both men blessed by the Oni to wield the coolest weapons in the game and connected by a spirit by the name of Ako, who keeps them connected. The stakes go up for everyone involved when Jacques ends up back in medieval Japan and our two heroes must each win their own wars in alternate time lines in order to both defeat Nobunga and to get home. Through this over arcing plotline are woven several smaller plots, which are generally interesting, though there were moments I was really wanting the game to get back to the main thread. This still wasn’t enough of a bother to really go on a hated feature list but not was it the best told plot ever.
I wondered, initially, if all the time bending mumbo jumbo was going to be annoying or over done, but delightfully this is not the case. The situation feels appropriate and the suspension of disbelief is not too much of a stretch to ask the gamer to make. More fun are some of the time puzzles that can be used because of the set up including moving the heroes to the same spot in different timelines in order to swap equipment and items. It’s fun to see the difference that the actions in the past make on the future, keeping the game fresh as the story winds along.
Graphically I love this game. It’s gorgeous, and not just because the leading men are based on real life lookers. The character models are a little low-poly count, but still impressive enough and with enough change in expression and flow of action to be believable and fun to watch. All of the backgrounds can’t be fully interacted with but they’re beautiful, sometimes to the point of taking attention away from what’s going on in front of the scenery. A nod must be given for the water and fire effects that are rendered with consummate skill, and again distracting me from always paying attention to what I was doing in order to stare at all the pretty pixels. Mostly the game runs without a hitch, though there were some moments when too many enemies turned into a frustrating slowdown that made some combo maneuvers nearly impossible. As these were difficult to do anyway I mostly gave up, but not lagging would have made it better when it came to these.
I didn’t love all of the voice acting as much as the graphics. The cameo vocals from Jean Reno are delightful, but most of his voice acting is done by someone else, who tries hard but isn’t always impressive. Likewise the voice acting for Samanosuke didn’t blow me away. It makes me wonder how much better it would be in Japanese, but still wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t stand it. Ako is actually well voiced, though sometimes her dialog can get a bit annoying. The musical score and sound effects were highly satisfying, many of these carrying over from the earlier games in the series.
Most of the game play is very straightforward. Slash, hack, maim and kill in order to collect soul energy to power the weapons. In Samanosuke the player sees a lot of quick moving martial arts inspired moves, and the large axe collected about half way through is rather fun as a brute strength weapon for him. Even better though is Jacques’ whip, which can be used not only to strike but to entangle enemies. Ako is useful as a targeting device, a unique addition to Onimusha 3. Completion of the puzzles and switching between timelines felt natural, with the switch between times sometimes driven by the story and sometimes an at will issue. Figuring out when it was the right time to send Ako backwards or forwards in time and what to send with her was fun, even if I wasn’t always right in my guestimations.
Definitely a game worth the hype and the hours, 10-14 for completion, Onimusha 3 also delivers some good replayability in being able to adjust the difficulty factor as well as having subplots that don’t –have- to be solved the first time around, but can be revisited. Think you’re going to rule the world Nobunga? Bring it on!
Favorite Gaming Moment: Getting the grapple maneuver with the whip down. There’s just something satisfying in watching the enemies go flying when you’re through with him.
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| Our leading men! | I don’t think those are 747s |
Story wise players of the original Onimusha games are back in familiar territory. The game opens with the player taking on the leading role of Samanosuke, the same efficient and good looking hero from the first game. As usual Nobunaga and his armies of Genma are creating havoc, but this time they expand their sites on more than Samanosuke’s beloved 16th century Japan. Onimusha 3 opens to Samanosuke’s assault on Nobunga’s fortress, which assault is destine to fail or this would be a very short game. Just when Samanosuke thinks he’s on the verge of victory a temporal rift opens taking Nobunga and many of his demonic minions into the future. Whether fortunately, or not, Samanosuke gets caught in the same rift which pulls him forward into modern day France.
The arrival of the Genma in France is an occasion for panic and for the introduction of our second hero, Jacques, based on Jean Reno. Jacques survives the first of the Genma assault on France and becomes Samanosuke’s counter part, both men blessed by the Oni to wield the coolest weapons in the game and connected by a spirit by the name of Ako, who keeps them connected. The stakes go up for everyone involved when Jacques ends up back in medieval Japan and our two heroes must each win their own wars in alternate time lines in order to both defeat Nobunga and to get home. Through this over arcing plotline are woven several smaller plots, which are generally interesting, though there were moments I was really wanting the game to get back to the main thread. This still wasn’t enough of a bother to really go on a hated feature list but not was it the best told plot ever.
I wondered, initially, if all the time bending mumbo jumbo was going to be annoying or over done, but delightfully this is not the case. The situation feels appropriate and the suspension of disbelief is not too much of a stretch to ask the gamer to make. More fun are some of the time puzzles that can be used because of the set up including moving the heroes to the same spot in different timelines in order to swap equipment and items. It’s fun to see the difference that the actions in the past make on the future, keeping the game fresh as the story winds along.
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| It’s all…glowy…and stuff | Detailed backgrounds make for happy visuals |
Graphically I love this game. It’s gorgeous, and not just because the leading men are based on real life lookers. The character models are a little low-poly count, but still impressive enough and with enough change in expression and flow of action to be believable and fun to watch. All of the backgrounds can’t be fully interacted with but they’re beautiful, sometimes to the point of taking attention away from what’s going on in front of the scenery. A nod must be given for the water and fire effects that are rendered with consummate skill, and again distracting me from always paying attention to what I was doing in order to stare at all the pretty pixels. Mostly the game runs without a hitch, though there were some moments when too many enemies turned into a frustrating slowdown that made some combo maneuvers nearly impossible. As these were difficult to do anyway I mostly gave up, but not lagging would have made it better when it came to these.
I didn’t love all of the voice acting as much as the graphics. The cameo vocals from Jean Reno are delightful, but most of his voice acting is done by someone else, who tries hard but isn’t always impressive. Likewise the voice acting for Samanosuke didn’t blow me away. It makes me wonder how much better it would be in Japanese, but still wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t stand it. Ako is actually well voiced, though sometimes her dialog can get a bit annoying. The musical score and sound effects were highly satisfying, many of these carrying over from the earlier games in the series.
Most of the game play is very straightforward. Slash, hack, maim and kill in order to collect soul energy to power the weapons. In Samanosuke the player sees a lot of quick moving martial arts inspired moves, and the large axe collected about half way through is rather fun as a brute strength weapon for him. Even better though is Jacques’ whip, which can be used not only to strike but to entangle enemies. Ako is useful as a targeting device, a unique addition to Onimusha 3. Completion of the puzzles and switching between timelines felt natural, with the switch between times sometimes driven by the story and sometimes an at will issue. Figuring out when it was the right time to send Ako backwards or forwards in time and what to send with her was fun, even if I wasn’t always right in my guestimations.
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| Yes, he is just that cool | How do you spell, determination? |
Definitely a game worth the hype and the hours, 10-14 for completion, Onimusha 3 also delivers some good replayability in being able to adjust the difficulty factor as well as having subplots that don’t –have- to be solved the first time around, but can be revisited. Think you’re going to rule the world Nobunga? Bring it on!
Favorite Gaming Moment: Getting the grapple maneuver with the whip down. There’s just something satisfying in watching the enemies go flying when you’re through with him.
