Onimusha 3: Demon Siege

"The best chapter in the series"

I'll be honest. I love Samurais. I love everything about them from their code of honor to their intricately crafted swords to the skill in which they fight. It is for this reason that I have always had a tinge of glee when a new Onimusha is released and it was for this reason that I was so excited about what Capcom has said is the final chapter in the Onimusha trilogy. Now that I've plopped down over 20 hours into the game, I can safely say that Onimusha 3 is not only easily the best chapter in the series but the definitive Samurai experience on any system.

Onimusha 3 takes place roughly 20 years after the original game (and about 10 years after Onimusha 2). Samonuske, the hero of the first title who disappeared at the end of that game and was absent from Onimusha 2, returns looking to be no older than he was in the first game but clearly more powerful than before. Not surprisingly, the demon king Nobunaga has once again returned from the dead (this guy's getting to be like Dracula in the Castlevania games) and it's up to Samonuske to put an end to him once and for all. Before, he can do so however, he is transported through a time warp right into modern day France where he changes places with a whip wielding police officer named Jacques Blanc (modeled after Jean Reno). By communicating using a time traveling fairy named Ako, the two of them must work together to defeat Nobunaga in both time periods.

Onimusha 3 is the only chapter in the series that had a story that I actually cared about. Yes it's incredibly campy at parts and filled with plot holes but, thanks to some cool cut scenes and the way the plot jumps back and forth between the two characters, the story is a lot of fun. It works largely because, unlike the first two titles, the game doesn't appear to take itself all that seriously and the story makes you feel like you're playing through a high budget B movie.

The gameplay of Onimusha 3 is an evolution over previous titles. As before, the player goes through the game in a hack and slash style and can absorb the souls of dead enemies and use them to upgrade their weapons and armor in an RPG-like fashion. The biggest change however is that Capcom has finally done away with the irritating Resident Evil holdovers that plagued previous Onimusha games. No longer is the player forced to deal with the sluggish Resident Evil control as analogue control is now available (though the old style can still be used if one prefers it). Capcom has also ditched the pre-rendered backdrops in favor of 3D backrounds which allows for a camera that no longer obscures what the players see. The selection of weapons also is improved this time around. In Onimusha there were three swords that had slight variations, but ended up being pretty interchangeable. In Onimusha 2, there was a bigger variety of weapons but I personally found the basic sword and its iterations to be the only useful ones. In Onimusha 3 however, the player must make use of every weapon in their arsenal in order to get through the game. This is not only because the weapons are cooler and more useful this time around but also because the enemy AI is defiantly smarter than in previous games. As before, Samonuske still uses bladed weapons and has access to two new weapons in this game: The first is a pair of twin blades that are fast and deadly. The second is an incredibly large and powerful ax that he can swing in circular motions. Both of these are wonderful additions and I had more fun with just these two than any of the weapons in the previous Onimusha games. Jacques, on the other hand, has access to some very cool chain whips. Using these, he can lasso an enemy then either shoot them as they struggle to break free (either with magic or his trusty pistol) or swing them around and hurl them into another enemy. This is incredibly fun and adds a whole new dynamic to the hack and slash formula. Jacques can also use his whip to swing across rooftops and gain access to places that Samonuske can't. In fact, the two character dynamic offers a lot to the game as the player will be forced to visit the same environments in the two different time periods and use the different characters' individual skills to traverse them. There are also some pretty nifty time-traveling puzzles in which what one character does in the past will affect the environment in the future and players can also send items back and forth between time periods by using Ako as an intermediary. Speaking of Ako, the player can also equip her with a variety of special vests that are hidden throughout the game. These vests give the player special bonuses such as getting more souls after defeating enemies or slowly having their health refill. In general, Capcom has done a wonderful job of revamping the Onimusha system to make it more rewarding.

One welcome return from previous games is the Issen system. If Samonuske or Jacques press the attack button just before they are about to be hit by an enemy attack, the screen will flash and the character will do an incredibly powerful attack that deals massive damage and nets the player more souls than a normal kill. These moves look incredibly cool and feel as they were ripped right out of one of the classic Kurosawa samurai movies. Also, because of the increased difficulty, there is much more a reason to use Issens then in the previous games. Unfortunately, performing an Issen attack seems to have been made harder this time around. The window of opportunity to strike is noticeably smaller than in Onimusha 2 and the result is that, because enemies can often do so much damage and failing an Issen leaves one open to attack, it's often simply not worth the risk.

One last area that Onimusha 3 makes great strides over its predecessors in is that of value. Onimusha took under five hours. Onimusha 2, around 10. Onimusha 3, on the other hand, can take any where from 15-20 hours depending on the whether the player decides to go on the various miniquests. The game also has a ton of extras. For starters, there are two different endings and three secret costumes to unlock. There is also a variety of training mini-games that make the player face challenges testing individual skills such as dodging, Issen attacks, or special combos. If all this wasn't enough there is also the Adventures of Heihache minigame (where the player replays certain areas of the game with a new controllable character), a shooting gallery minigame, and two super-hard difficulty settings. Add to all this the dark realm mini-quest that has been in previous Onimusha games but now is far bigger here and unlocks the two ultimate weapons, and you've got a simply massive game. In fact, having played The Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Ninja Gaiden, and just about every other major beatemup of this generation, I'd say that Onimusha 3 easily offers more replay value than any other game in the genre.

The only major flaw that one can mention in Onimusha 3's gameplay is simply that it's dated. Unfortunately, a little game called Ninja Gaiden was released a couple months before Onimusha 3 and Capcom's game simply can't compare to its depth of combat. Compared to Ninja Gaiden's Ryu who can run along walls, perform amazing flips, and has access to a bunch of other acrobatic maneuvers, Samonuske and Jacques appear downright sluggish. Also, while the variety of weapons is impressive in Onimusha 3 and they all have their own feel, they all essentially have the same rather limited amount of moves and can't really compete with the Ninja Gaiden's arsenal in which weapons have dozens of techniques and new ones can be earned when the weapons are upgraded. If Onimusha 3 had only been released six months earlier, it would have undoubtedly scored a ten from me and have been the best 3D beatemup around.

Graphically, the move to full 3D has been quite successful. The new 3D backgrounds have every bit as much detail as their pre-rendered predecessors and come wrapped in some pretty fantastic lighting effects. The character models, have taken a slight step down from Onimusha 2 (they're more comparable to the first game) but they still look very nice and animate beautifully. The only real complaint is that the aliasing problems that appeared to have been fixed with Onimusha 2 have reared their heads once more and the game suffers from the same shimmering problems that plague so many PS2 games. Still, overall this is a gorgeous game.

Also worth mentioning are the game's cinemas which are better than ever. The opening cinema which was produced by ROBOT, directed by a top Honk-Kong action director, and choreographed by the same person responsible for the fight scenes in Blade II and Hero, is easily one of the most spectacular FMVs I've ever scene. It rivals the opening to Final Fantasy VIII as the greatest rendered cinema of all time and does so not just because the technology is so impressive (the characters look almost real) but because of the style in which it's directed. Unfortunately, the rest of the cut scenes are all done either using the in game engine or rendered using the in game models. Thankfully, while these aren't as technologically impressive as the opening cinema they are still presented with tons of style and look great. Still, I'm not sure why there are so few pre-rendered cinemas given the huge amount in Onimusha 2.

The sound, as has always been the case in this series, is both good and bad. The musical score is easily the best yet, using some wonderful re-mixes of Mozart's requiem to brilliant affect and having a more intense feel to it than previous chapters in the series. The voice acting, on the other hand, is still pretty lousy (though actually kind of fits with the B movie feel of the game). Also, like in Onimusha 2, there is no option to hear the original Japanese voices. While none of this is a big deal, the real travesty is what has been done with the character of Jacques. As many are aware, Capcom spent a fair amount of cash to get the famous French actor Jean Reno to provide his likeness and voice for the game but American players will only hear his real voice when he speaks French (which is only about 10% of the time). When Jacques speaks English, another voice actor who sounds nothing like Reno provides the dialogue. While the other actor isn't any worse than the rest of the cast, it's mind boggling that Capcom would pay to get a star of this caliber then not let him use his voice 90% of the time.

Graphics-9
Sound-8
Gameplay-9
Story-8
Value-10
Rent of Buy? Rent if you plan on just doing the main quest. Buy if you want the extras.
Overall-9

When the original Onimusha was released, I expected it to be a thrilling Samurai epic that would not only justify the purchase of a PS2 but also re-invent Samurai games and beatemups. Needless to say, I was disappointed. Thankfully, after several years and two sequels, Capcom finally got everything right. While its gameplay may be showing its age a bit (it took them so long to fix things that the genre moved on), Onimusha 3 is finally the game that Onimusha should have been. It may not have quite the depth of Ninja Gaiden or Viewtiful Joe but it's simply one of the most fun and polished gaming experiences I've had in a long time.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/11/04