Onimusha Tactics

"Good addition to GBA strategy game library, but..."

Story (8/10):
I never play other Onimusha game for the mainstream systems, so I can't compare the story between these games. However, I know that this game has a uniquely good story. If you play KOEI games like Nobunaga's Ambition, you will feel right at home because they use the same name such as Nobunaga Oda and Hideyoshi. The story is that Oda is dead and come back as a demon to control the world using his genma army (demons). Hideyoshi however, is a loyal follower of Oda and still serve him eventhough he's an undead.

Gameplay (6/10):
After playing Tactics Ogre, FFTA, and Fire Emblem, I find Onimusha Tactics has the worst gameplay of all. The gameplay is closest to Tactics Ogre and take out the ability to retaliate. It doesn't give you the STATS which give you hitting ratio and how much damage that you will deal. If you have been playing other strategy games a lot, you will feel that by not having STATS makes the gameplay much more awkward. When you attack someone the game doesn't give you an alert to confirm or anything else, the character just attack directly so, before you attack someone, make sure you are very very SURE.

In addition, it seems to me that the damage that a character will do is almost always a constant number if you hit the same enemy twice or three times. Moreover, I also don't like the fact that everytime when you click a character, you have to choose what you want to do (Move, attack, etc). It doesn't make sense to have an attack menu if you don't have anybody around anyways.

Graphics (6/10):
Not my type of graphics, close to Tactics Ogre but still inferior to it. I also don't really like the font they use, but it's just me I am sure ;p

Replayability (3/10):
Not much here, very linear and I wouldn't want to go through it again.

Final Word:
I feel that Onimusha Tactics is more geared toward a beginner gamers who just start playing strategy games. Everything is basic and intuitive enough that you don't really need a tutorial.

If you are a master strategist, I am afraid you are not going to get what you are looking for here in Onimusha Tactics. Go for Fire Emblem or Tactics Ogre instead. However, if you want to have a taste of a strategy game, I think this is one of the best game to start.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/19/03