Onimusha 3: Demon Siege

"Almost a perfect horror game, if it wasn't for a few flaws."

I haven't played the earlier two titles for this series, but when I was at the store and saw this game for only fifteen bucks brand new and it was horror themed, I had to give it a try. I wasn't disappointed by the story, especially the opening movie. It also had one of my favorite actors in the game, Jean Reno.

I think that the use of swords and other hand held weapons in a horror game is a nice change of pace from using guns. Sure, you get to use a female character in the game that has automatic weapons, but the action seems more bloody and intense with the blades. If you get good enough in your characters moves, you get to see some excellent kills.

I also enjoyed the time traveling plot involved in the game. Playing in the past and then the present in the game is awesome. Since what you do in the past will effect the future landscape. After enjoying this game and not knowing that much about it, I think that I'll pick up the older two titles so I can learn more about the series.

Presentation
A lot of time and effort was placed into this game. Every part of the game has a professional feel and look to them. There really isn't much wrong in the game, except for a few parts that have a large difficulty to them. Upgrading the items falls short, since they don't act or feel like they are stronger after the upgrade.

While I was playing, I never experienced a bug, glitch, or freeze, which is always nice. I did notice a few parts where a weapon was sticking through an object that it shouldn't be going through, but these were very rare.

Targeting an enemy was right on most of the time, but a few attacks wouldn't go in the direction that I was aiming in. Once again, this only happened a few times, in the many hours that I had in the game. The enemies in the game were quite smart when attacking. Some enemies would just stand around until approached, but when you had a group of enemies around you, they would attack as a team. 9/10

Graphics
This game has some of the best graphics that I've seen for a PS2 game. The opening video is absolutely breath taking! It is by far, the best video that I've seen for a game. Even better than the cut scenes in Final Fantasy X, and that says something about the quality. The characters look very lifelike. The cities, towns, and outside environments look great. Jumping back and forth through time is a nice touch since you get to see the same area that you are playing in, but in different times in the history of Earth. 10/10

Sound
Not much to complain about, except one thing. Jean Reno's voice. Sure, we hear his voice when he's talking in English. But once he starts to speak in English, we hear a different voice actor. Why couldn't Jean Reno do both languages? I'm a huge fan of Jean Reno (Leon: The Professional, Ronin), and I feel that he should have been able to do the English parts.

The music fits the mood very well. All of the sound effects really match well with the action on the screen. The voice acting is good, but can seem cheesy in parts. Guildenstern was the best villain in the game. His voice was really cool to listen to. 9/10

Gameplay
This game is very easy to play, which means gamers can start to play without having to learn anything out of the ordinary. I never played the earlier titles, and this game was very fun and challenging in parts. I loved the puzzle boxes that required you to solve the puzzle so they would open. I also liked how some doors only opened if you had the right weapon equipped.

The training levels were fun, except for towards the end. The last few were a severe pain to do! You need to have super fast reflexes, or the brain of a computer to calculate the exact moment to press the button to attack or counter an attack. Is this a horror action game or a fighting game?

When you travel to the Dark Realm for a second time, it is a major one-sided battle in most of the areas. You will be fighting several quick enemies at once, and they love to jump around or block your attack. With the poor blocking implemented in the game, if you are surrounded by a few enemies you will be losing health in a hurry. Plus the item in the locked chest for both characters isn't really worth the effort in my opinion.

The action is fast paced, and you will always have something in your way to kill. Collecting spirits is fun, but you have to be fast since they don't stay on the screen for long. Which is bad, if you have a lot of enemies to kill before grabbing the spirits. 8/10

Lasting Appeal
There is plenty of replayability in this game, which will keep gamers busy for some time. From unlocking difficulty modes, to getting new costumes for the characters. If it weren't for the painfully hard training missions (I wasted several hours just trying to do a few of these on the Advanced level), I would give this game a higher score. Also, it really doesn't make much of a difference when you level your armor, weapon, or oni gauntlet to their highest level (3). They don't seem that much better at level three, than their starting level of one.

I usually love all horror games, and this game is very good. Awesome story, game play, and graphics….But the two huge areas listed above knock off one point each towards the score. 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/05