Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad

"Devil May Cry+Dynasty Warriors+Hot Girls=Success!"

It's an unfortunate fact, but the Oneechanbara series has not seen much exposure outside of Japan. Never appearing in the States, and only showing up in limited European releases (with stupid titles like Zombie Zone), this popular Japanese franchise is one that many Westerners may not know exists. Truly a shame, as this is quite possibly one of the greatest gaming franchises in existence!

So, a bit of history. Oneechanbara (best translated as "older sister sword fight", or simply "older sister battle") is a fairly long-running game series that started out on the Playstation 2 videogame system. The concept was simple, you play as a scantly-clothed girl and run around slashing zombies in various environments. This was followed up with an upgraded version, which was then followed by a sequel, which was followed with an upgraded version of the sequel. Then, Oneechanbara vorteX came along for the Xbox360, giving plenty of incentive for Japanese people to buy an Xbox360 (last time I checked Famitsu 360, vorteX still gets in the top 5 of overall 360 weekly game sales sometimes). Eventually, a cell phone version of the game was released (which is pretty good and even has multiple costumes for Aya), and most recently a Wii game was released last month. There's even a movie coming out soon! You can go into figure shops in Japan and find awesome Oneechanbara stuff, although somewhat expensive. 7000yen for an Aya figure? Get outta here...

Of course, Oneechanbara isn't a serious series, but pretends to be. It's the beauty of it, like playing a B-movie. The storyline and acting is all serious, but is really complete cheese. The developers know this, and the gameplay itself reflects this. This enhances the fun of the game.

I've been a huge fan of the series ever since the first game came out, and have played every single version since. So, when I heard that vorteX was coming out for the 360 here, I immediately got excited. I bought this game and my 360 at the same time, in fact I more or less just bought the system to play this game (although I've since found many other quality titles for the system, so it was a good decision). I loaded the disc in and prepared to get the full Oneechanbara experience in beautiful HD and 5.1 sound!

So, does the game deliver? You bet! As usual, you play as Aya and/or Saki and run around slashing zombies. There's a new character, Anna, who uses guns to blast away zombies as well. Think of it like Dynasty Warriors with the style of Devil May Cry, you run through areas and kill countless zombies and other monsters that keep spawning. Unlike the Dynasty Warriors games which can get repetitive, Oneechanbara keeps things fresh with plenty of combo trees and different ways to kill zombies. Aya and Anna have two different attack forms (each with multiple attack options), and Saki can dash to zombies and unleash deadly moves. Adding to this is something called the "Cool Combo", which is a long combo that requires absolutely perfect timing to pull off. Get it off, and you'll see an amazing sight that does insane damage! The timing is really difficult though, so many people may not be able to witness the full combo. Other special attacks include a counter move which makes the game move in slow-motion, and an "Ecstasy Meter" which fills up if you can keep a combo going. There's also a couple of really unique gameplay features. As you slash zombies, your sword slowly gets covered in blood. If the blood level gets too high, your attacks become much slower, less powerful, and eventually your sword will get stuck in enemies. You need to clean the sword off every once in awhile to avoid this. Also, Aya and Saki have meters which fill up as you kill enemies. When they get full, they go into a blood-rage mode which makes them substantially more powerful, but they constantly lose health as a tradeoff. The only way to get out of this mode is to use an item or go to a statue which may be in the level.

Oneechanbara games are known for having a surprisingly large amount of storyline in each installment (even the cell phone version had a lot of text), and this game is no different. The game features some nice CG cinemas, and plenty of text between chapters. The storyline is pretty cool, involving an unknown agency unleashing waves of zombies, and there are some interesting plot twists. Sadly, this will all be useless if you don't understand Japanese, but fortunately these games don't require any knowledge of the storyline to enjoy. All of the story sequences have full voicework.

Graphics in the game are great! Definitely the best looking Oneechanbara game out there, which is to be expected. The environments are the biggest in an Oneechanbara game yet, taking place from huge cities to dark caves, and packed full of zombies without hurting the framerate. When you slash your enemies, bloodstains start to show up on the screen, a cool effect. This game is getting kind of old, so you can't expect Call of Duty 4 visuals, but they definitely do the job. The girls are very well modeled and look completely different.

Sound is also really nice, especially if you have a nice 5.1 system. The music is a list of varied songs, all having a hint of style. From jazzy-pop to epic boss music, it definitely gets you in the mood to kill zombies! There are also some songs which are similar to songs in the older Oneechanbara games, which is a nice reference. Sound effects are great, from the slashing sword sound effect in the menu to the satisfying "bang" that plays when you're doing a cool combo. Voicework is top quality!

As you play through the game, you get experience for your characters, which can be used to level them up in different stats. The experience carries over in every game mode, so you can just mess around in survival or something to help powerlevel your characters in the main story mode.

Now, for replayability! Although for many people, this game is enjoyable enough to be played many times without the need for incentives, but fortunately there are some reasons to keep going back. Along with the leveling system, the quest system is back from the other Oneechanbara games, and this time completing quests will give you items for the games "dress-up" mode, where you can make your very own custom costume for the girls! Clearing out quests also gives you achievements. The quests are different objectives to complete throughout the game, such as "kill a lot of zombies" or "go through the level without taking damage", and there are a lot of them. Also, completing the game unlocks harder difficulty levels (which are tied to achievements), which keeps the gameplay fresh.

In the end, you can't ask more from Oneechanbara vorteX. Nonstop action with hot girls and plenty of style with great graphics and music. It's unfortunate that this game never saw an overseas release, but I'd recommend importing a Japanese system just to play this game (and other quality JPN exclusives like iDOLM@STER). They've more or less confirmed a new Oneechanbara game for the 360 as well, so you won't have to worry about running out of games to play.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/12/08

Game Release: Oneechanbara vorteX (JP, 12/14/06)