Onimusha Blade Warriors

""Jack into the world of Onimusha""

No, i won't say who says that.
Don't get fooled by the cover art of the game. Yes, it does look to have been made in the Paint program five minutes before shipping copies to the story. But this game turned out to be great. It's a very good spin off game from the superb Onimusha series that will keep fans and non fans attached for hours.

GRAPHICS: 9/10
All character models look very detailed and alive, so do the special effects from elemental attacks, items, etc. The stages don't look nearly as detailed as the backgrounds from the main series but this it can be forgiven since you will rarely be paying attention to them because of the hectic action.
Each character attacks' look different from one another, and some of them are eye popping, Mostly the elemental magic attacks.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10
Obviously the most important thing in OBW. While a little shallow in character moves and attacks, it can be very strategic in a lot of ways due to the interactivity with the stages and the large amount of items to use such as magic and health recoveries, Elemental magic attacks (3 of them: Thunder, Fire and Wind), several types of guns, swords, baseball bats, etc. Also the absorption of Orbs, which play a very important role in the gameplay, There are many types of orbs for health, magic and special both positive and negative status, But the most important kind of orb is the ''soul'' orb, which appears from fallen enemies and allies, Its function is to give the 'kill point' to whoever absorbs it instead of giving the point to the person that delivered the final blow. There is a little slowdown in the game but t only happens during the most intense moments, Fortunately, They are barely distracting from the gameplay. The game is button masher friendly, But a newcomer would never stand a chance against a veteran. So no lucky wins here. The game is very easy to learn, but hard to master.
Onimusha BW features few but solid game modes:
-The story mode is very simplistic. Pretty much all of the chapters consist killing certain enemy, absorbing X amount of soul orbs, or basically annihilating everything in sight. Almost all characters have his/her/its own story mode even with cutscenes. Many people find the story mode to be bland, but there's a lot of replay value there since you level up and strengthen your characters through orb injection, you also find several different weapons, items and equipment for all characters.
-The VS mode is where the meat of the game is. You can play either alone against up to 4 computer controlled character or with 3 friends if you own a multitap. There are up to 20 different stages to play in and up to 24 with characters from the Onimusha world and a few familiar outsiders, Including 2 legends.
-The Custom VS mode is where you can play with your upgraded characters from the story mode.
-The Tutorial mode which is self explanatory is very user friendly and teaches some of the basics in the game.

CONTROL: 10/10
The character moves are very responsive and fluid. The controller really can't be easier to learn and get used to.
Even players from the main Onimusha series will feel right at home, since some buttons play the exact same role in OBW like R1 which is the ready stance.
There are moves that are hard to master on purpose like the Issem, which are like counter attacks. and some not so hard but strategic like disarming enemies.

STORY: 6/10
Like most fighting/brawler games, The story is practically irrelevant. But can still get some more knowledge about the Oni universe by playing OBW through all the chars, Such as the story about certain locations, and even origin of some villains. Overall, Blade Warriors doesn't give that much story nor it has a superb, well written one such as the one in the original games, But it still is descent.

SOUND: 7/10
Good. not bad, not great. The American version of the game features very lackluster voice acting except for some minor exceptions. The gameplay sounds such as the ones from items, swords slashing, clashing are very good. Most of the music tracks in the game are very forgettable, just descent.

REPLAY VALUE: 10/10
Massive Loads of unlockables and secrets will keep you busy for a while, leveling up all characters, secret and very hard to get items, equipment and weapons, just trying to get everything will easily take over 20 hours. OBW works great as a party game, playing VS with friends or even alone is always a blast.

BUY or RENT?
This game isn't everybody's cup of tea, so it'd be better for you to rent first. But as the great multiplayer game it is, i believe it's a safe buy. It doesn't matter if you are an Onimusha fan or not, This game is just a brawler game with Oni characters on it, but of course that the experience ill be even better if you are a fan.

FINAL COMMENTS
Many people keep comparing Onimusha Blade Warriors with Super Smash brother Melee. They are very different games, they both play and feel completely different. But if you go out to buy the game still believing that this is ''Ps2's SSBM'', then you will be in for a disappointment. Not because it is inferior, but because it's a completely different experience.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/07/04