Mr. Rei's Onimusha 3 Review
posted at 11:00 PM on Thursday, June 3rd, 2004
Capcom has always had a tendency to milk its franchises to death. So when they say "This will be the last Onimusha game in the series", the gaming world kinda goes "Uh-huh, yeah.. Okay. Sure." because honestly, how many different variations of Street Fighter II are there? How many Megamans? How many Megaman BATTLE NETWORKS? Did you know that they made a 3rd Megaman Zero game? Of course you didnt, no one cares.
But Onimusha 3 is so good you'd damn well better hope that this is the last game they make a game in this series. They simply can't go back and make Onimusha BETTER. I fucking HATED the first one, was kinda bleh on the second, but this is just awesome.
It's like InuYasha, but without the mushy crap in between the demon fighting.
Onimusha 3 starts off with a CG Movie that is really, REALLY well done, well choreographed and everything. It's a five minute movie of Samanosuke (Modeled after Takeshi Kaneshiro, a fairly popular Japanese actor.) fighting his way onto a weird giant spider-tank and dispatching all the zombies onboard and having a few awesome fights along the way. He blows up the tank and then we sets off to fight Nobunaga Oda. (The big bad guy of Japan, who apparently does not die.) Meanwhile, modern-day Paris has just come under attack by hordes of Genma, Lord Nobunaga's unholy army. In rides resident badass of France, Jaques Blanc (Modeled after and voiced by Jean Reno, you know.. That french dude in Godzilla) to help out his fellow soldiers against the samurai zombies.
Long story short, Jaques and Samanosuke get Samurai Jack-ed in time, Samanosuke gets thrown into Jaques time and Jaques gets thrown back in time to feudal Japan, specifically 10 days before Samanosuke gets sent forward. Jaques job apparently, is to help Samanosuke fight Nobunaga and defeat him once and for all. Samanosuke wakes up in an alley in paris with all his weapons and powerful magic gone, stuck in a place where no one understands what he's saying and no idea of what he has to do. The game lends itself to a lot of those lame cliche jokes you get when you have a character from the past in the modern world. So expect a lot of lame events, you'll see them coming as soon as Samanosuke picks up a celphone (upside down..) and stares at it oddly. The dialogue itself is actually well-written. The voice acting, as in every Capcom game since they started USING voice acting is atrocious. But really, I did not expect much. Jean Reno's voice is only used when Jaques is speaking french, which i believe is only at the beginning of the game. They have someone else do the english voices.. And this someone is pretty bad at it. Otherwise the sound effects are nothing special and I didn't really notice the music.
The graphics are excellent, lush green forests, huge Japanese temples, fairly accurately recreated streets of France. The character models are great, excellent detail, some decent facial animations. Weapons look VERY awesome and are well-designed. The movie sequences are spectacularly done and the fights are all excellently choreographed. The game plays out more like a Hong Kong action movie than a Samurai flick. Samanosuke's enviornments in modern-day Paris feel more like Resident Evil than Onimusha, but the game has some REALLY well done moments. Early on you get to see the front of the Notre Dame cathedral up close, and tell me you'll go 'whoa' when that happens.
So they had box puzzles in your time TOO, huh?
The action is fairly run of the mill for an Onimusha game, Samanosuke has his standard array of swords and arrows plus the usual Ogre Gauntlet. The Ogre Gauntlet is a staple of Onimusha that allows you to absorb the souls of fallen enemies. Red souls are currency that can be used to upgrade weapons, other souls replenish your various stat bars and collecting five purple souls allows you to transform into the godlike Oni spirit that lets you rip through anything in a short time. Jaques has his own Ogre Gauntlet and instead of using swords, gets his own funky range of whip-based weapons. His second weapon, a long Chain-sword, like Ivy's from Soul Calibur 2, is probably one of the best videogame weapons I've seen in a long, long time. Jaques can grab enemies with his whip and toss them around the screen, or use them to knock down other enemies. He can also get his Rygar on and use the sword to swing across ledges and pull himself up. It's a very fine addition to the game. (But man, that whip-sword, where the fuck can I buy one of those? I needed one at E3, you know. For the Infinium Booth and all.) The game is a straightforward Hack and Slash, puzzles oftentimes come down to taking one object from one place to another. The action in Onimusha has always been stuck between the slower pace of Resident Evil and the frantic acrobatics of Devil May Cry, but it's a happy medium that doesnt pretend it's anything other than a hack and slash.
Enemy AI is alright, but it's not much beyond "come towards you and attack". bosses don't seem to follow any set pattern. The bosses will always change up their attacks every time you fight them. The stream of enemies in a certain area will occasionally begin to grate on you, but never to the point where you get sick of fighting. Although often I wish they'd have toned down the amount of enemies a little. Sometimes it's just enough to be aggravating. However FRIENDLY AI is really fucking stupid, if you have a partner working alongside you, god help you if you wind up in a tight corridor, because your partner will not know how to get out of your way if you turn around. Although Michelle, a French SWAT team leader has grenades and a rather useful FAMAS SMG (Thank you Counterstrike.) at her disposal, she gets in the way - a lot. Jaques gets a helping hand from a past version of Samanosuke, who can dispatch enemies in one hit after you knock them down.
Gameplay 3.5/5
They improved on every aspect of the game action-wise. Jaques' whip weapons are a great addition and make for some really interesting boss fights. There is less focus on puzzles and more on beating the shit out of everything that moves. AI partners help out but have horrid pathfinding.
Aesthetics 4.5/5
This is the new showcase for what a PS2 is capable of. Amazing textures, great movie sequences, facial animations, body animations, character designs, LEVEL DESIGNS. This game will blow you the fuck AWAY with a lot of the imagery in the France areas. The storyline is very well woven together and by the end it does a good enough job of tying shit together. And god damnit Jean Reno is just as badass as he was when he was 'The Professional'.
Sounds .5/5
I fucking hated the voice acting in this game, the music was virtually nonexistant. The sound effects were alright, but Capcom really needs to stop hiring voice actors who will work for sandwiches.
Value 2/5
You'll play it once. Maybe you'll do the usual bonus crap that the Onimusha series has. And maybe you'll watch the bonus trailer for the really bad looking game about ancient Rome. (What is it, the 12th one this year?)
The Verdict 4/5
This is a prime example of what happens if you give an experienced and talented development team to make a game and let them run with it. Capcom has in the past handed off their better franchises to different teams and has been burned for it. But this is the way it should be done, it's one of the best PS2-exclusive games this year and I demand that you go out and pick it up (or rent it), if only for the game's intro alone.
I'm just sorry he didn't beat the demons with a baguette.
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