How are you, gentlemen?
This week we're going to take a look at Capcom's newest game,
Onimusha: Warlords. The game's style stems mostly from its
Resident Evil predecessors, but with a much higher concentration
on action and combat. The end result is a game that is extremely
fun to play, fairly easy to learn, and will keep you coming back to
that black box by your TV. So let's look a bit closer at Onimusha.
The game is set in feudal Japan, as Oda Nobunaga launches his
campaign to conquer all of Japan. The opening sequence is a
great cut-scene during a pitched battle and as Nobunaga is
rejoicing in his victory, things are brought to an end by an arrow
through his throat. Such a simple strike is not enough to quell
Nobunaga's ambition and he returns... in demon form. He has
made a pact with the Demons of the Underworld. He returns
leading a horde and they kidnap Princess Yuki to sacrifice her in a
dark rite. It is up to you to rescue the princess. Why do so many
games begin like this? Oh well. The main character is
Samanosuke, a masterless samurai (ronin, or perhaps a noble)
who returns from his travels on the seas. He is aided by his female
ninja companion, Kaede. Samanosuke catches up to the demons
but being just a mere mortal, he is quickly overcome. Samanosuke
awakes in a dark clearing, surrounded by burning, floating faces,
which are apparently Japanese ogres (oh those Japanese).
They've been 'subverted' by the demons, so they choose you to
gain vengeance. They give you an ogre-gauntlet, which will give
you super-human abilities, and send you back to continue your
fight against the demons. And so the game begins.
The gameplay is basically the same as it was in the Resident Evil
series, wherein your character moves around in pre-rendered backgrounds. The
camera is locked, switching angles in different scenes,
contributing to the atmosphere. Unlike Resident Evil though, this
game isn't about escaping from endless hordes of zombies, it's
about a single samurai thrashing endless hordes of demons. This is
the fun part. Attacks are handled with the square button, but
there's a decent amount of variation. Charging lunges, slashes,
and even kicks. The best move is when a monster is on the
ground, you can sheath your sword into its chest, instant kill. The
moves are simple to do but it doesn't get boring because you can
continue to mix them up. As you kill creatures, their souls are
released and you can absorb them into your ogre-gauntlet. This
will give you health back, give you experience, or give you magic
points. The magic points are used with the elemental orbs you
obtain during the game - fire, lightning, and storm - which each
have their own corresponding weapons. You can also get a bow
and a matchlock (gun) but most of the combat will be direct melee.
The graphics Onimusha are excellent; the opening cut-scene is by
far the most impressive I've seen on a console yet. It begins with a close-up of some
maggots on a skull and pans out to an engaged battle. There are
only a few of these full-on cut-scenes, the rest being engine-based
scenes, but these are still pretty good. The in-game visuals are
great too; the backgrounds are pre-rendered (static) but quite
immersive and the characters' movements are really smooth.
The thing that I like best about Onimusha is that I see it as what
console gaming is all about. When I think of console gaming, I
think of the hand-eye coordination required for those countless
hours of Super Mario, jumping onto platforms, the skilled timing in
the Street Fighters - the end guy is even a Contra'esque boss, one
of those huge baddies of yore requiring the 'head' shot. This game
is classic in that sense; you're facing this boar-like demon with a
huge axe. You stand there ready for it to make a mistake. It
launches a crushing, overhand blow. You side-step slash him a few times
and back off. Other times, surrounded by 4 soldier-demons.
Fire-magic destroys two of them, you kick the other down, a few
slashes finish off the final one and you kill the 3rd demon before
he can get up. There's good variety in the demons and you'll have
to mix up your fighting style to get them; it's not too challenging,
but it takes time and it's fun playing it. So this game has a real
classic feel to it but it is definitely of the new generation when it
comes to the graphics. It's not all about fighting, as there are a few
puzzles and map exploring, but not nearly as much as the
Resident Evils, and the fighting remains the primary point of the
game.
These things being said, there are still some problems with this
game. The sound is really good throughout the game but the
english voice acting is horrible. Actually, the good guys have
decent voices but the enemies are utterly moronic. 'Scary' demons
have these high shrieking voices that aren't scary at all, they're
simply annoying. Plus, the english dialogue is fairly weak. Turn on
the Japanese voices and read the subtitles, the villains sound
much more ominous and the characters are a lot more emotive.
Camera annoyances are here too, reminiscent of the Resident
Evils. Because the camera is fixed, you'll near the edge of a
screen and these swords will come out of nowhere slashing into
you. Your character is facing these monsters, yet you can't see
them yourself. It gets frustrating, but fortunately it doesn't happen a
lot.
The main problem with the game is that it is fairly short.
Thankfully, it's a lot longer than the Bouncer but still will only take you about 5-8 hours to
finish the first time through. If I'm buying a game, I want to make
sure that I'm getting quite a bit of gameplay out of it, either
through length of the game or replayability. Onimusha does have
a few replay values; there are some hidden levels, a secret game
(Oni Spirits), and an extra mode once you finish the game. I love
the extra mode, it is exactly the same as the normal mode except
Samanosuke is wearing this huge panda suit, like a mascot at a
football game. You can have the head on, or hanging onto your
back, and you have a baby panda in a pouch on your stomach. I
can't help but smile every time I see this huge panda with a sword
chopping through demon hordes, or the story elements, when the
villains and characters talk to you, "Oh, you must be Samanosuke"
... I guess there are other samurai that wear these suits too, hence
the confusion. I don't know, it's so ridiculous that it's hilarious and I
love it. I couldn't find a screenshot of it, so that's my teaser to you,
rent or buy the game, win it and play as a demon-slaying panda.
You'll thank yourselves later ;-).
So the game is short, but it is really engaging. It provides a fair
amount of challenge but not so hard that you'll hurl your controller
through your screen, so it's a good balance. As I said, this is
somewhat of a successor of the Resident Evils, with its similar
gameplay and style. Perhaps it's not fair to do so, but comparisons
will be made as such. In the end, you won't find Onimusha nearly
as immersive as Resident Evil, which was, at times, a horrifying
game. It drew you in and scared you, the horror of simply trying to
survive. The main reason of that was that you were so vulnerable,
every shot had to count. You had to run, to escape; if you stayed in
an area too long, you would die. Here, you have your sword and
you're quite capable of killing anything that comes your way. At
times, you'll play as Kaede, the female ninja who doesn't have the
ogre-enhanced powers of Samanosuke, and it will be better for
you to just run past the demons. This evoked a bit of tension in me
as I tried to escape, but there wasn't enough of it to truly immerse
me in the game. So final account: I liked the game, it was
challenging and really fun, but it was too short and not as
immersive as it could have been.
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