Onimusha Blade Warriors

"An all-out war in ancient Japan"

As an attempt to make the Onimusha series a bit popular aside from its ancient survival horror series (It's dubbed by video game mags as the Resident Evil/Biohazard of samurais in an pre-Meiji era Japan), Capcom decided to spend their energy (and their company funds subsequently...) to create a game which would redefine the Onimusha series forever and ever. The game is called Onimusha Blade Warriors (Also known as Onimusha Buraiden in the Asian/Japanese regions), which is unique due to the fighting system that resembles so closely to Power Stone, Super Smash Brothers and recently, DreamMIX TV: World Fighters. Definitely a must have for any Onimusha or some basher PS2 game fan out there.

STORY:

No definite storyline here. With the exception of Mushashi, Kojiro, Megaman and Zero (They don't have involvment whatsoever in the Onimusha game itself, Kenji Imafune wanted to put them there as a memorial and as a tribute to these guys in history, both in real and in the video games), all of the other major Onimusha 1 and 2 characters have their share in the world of Onimusha in war-ravaged Japan itself.

CONTROLS:

Any Onimusha player/fan would be very familiar with it. From the R1 button (Ready position) to the Circle button (Soul absorption), these controls were left intact for the benefit of letting the players have an easy time playing the game itself. But if you're a newbie to this type of game or a newbie to the PS2 itself, don't worry about it. A tutorial mode is available to those who want to either practice the moves or just simply recall the buttons. A pat there for Capcom.

AUDIO/VIDEO:

The voices are still the same ones from Onimusha 1 to 2 (with the exception of some miscellaneous ones). The videos are still the same old selves as they were in the other Onimusha PS2 games (and Genma Onimusha for XBOX). Another pat there for the people at Capcom Japan.

REPLAYABILITY:

I would suggest so. There are a lot of secrets that you have to unlock in order to call yourself the Ultimate Onimusha Warrior. From revealing secret stages to the anonymous characters and warriors, this game is sure to make you say to yourself (I think, just don't get me wrong...) - ''Where's that katana of mine? I still gotta beat that Nobunaga. And I'll do it, personally.''

When you're mad over it, you'll never want to sleep for a while.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/24/04