Onimusha 3: Demon Siege

Samanosuke is joined by Jacques Blanc - played by Jean Reno - to stab some demons in the most excuisitely stylish way possible!

	Version PS2	Developer Capcom	Publisher Capcom	Genre Action Adventure

By Joseph Jackson

When the original Onimusha was first released in Japan back in early 2001, it became an immediate success - partly due to the inclusion of Japanese sensation Takeshi Kaneshiro. The game was heavily promoted on TV and radio and Onimusha cleaned up.

I have to say though, personally I was never really sold on Onimusha. While it seemed to be a solid game overall, the pre-rendered backgrounds, 3D control scheme, annoying puzzles, and enemies just made the game feel a bit too much like a Resident Evil game with demons and samurais taking the place of zombies and S.T.A.R.S. agents. I must have only invested a few hours into the game before throwing it aside.

Onimusha 3 takes the best elements of its predecessors and completely overhauls every aspect, with some very high production values that redefine the game's graphics, sound and gameplay in order to deliver an epic final chapter that ends the series on a tremendous high note.

Reprising his role as the wandering swordsman, Samanosuke, Takeshi Kaneshiro's samurai character is teamed up with gun toting bad-ass, Jacques Blanc who's played by famous French actor, Jean Reno of Ronin and Mission Impossible fame. Jacques packs a mean whip attack and the likeness of the character model to the actor is uncanny as all of his facial features - including his hook shaped nose and the bags under his eyes - are recreated quite accurately.

In the final chapter of the Onimusha series, the evil Oda Nobunaga - a man who has used up more lives than Jason Vorhees & Michael Myers - returns. This time he's more determined and his conquest isn't limited to just 16th century Japan; the son of a gun looks to dominate the entire modern world as well, and plans to do so by hatching his most insidious plot yet, one that will allow the both the 16th century and modern world to fall within his ruling grasp if he's successful. Dream big or don't dream at all I guess.

Not wasting any time in putting Nobunaga's sinister plan in motion, the evil scientist, Gildenstan, has opened some sort of time portal, allowing the Genma demons to travel through time, warping them to modern day Paris where their invasion begins. With the helpless citizens of Paris mercilessly slaughtered by the invading demons during what has to be one of the finest CG intro sequences ever (see it below), the French military is called to arms in hopes of fending off the advancing demons.

Unaware of the crisis that has just occurred, French military officer Jacques Blanc receives a distress call and soon joins the other troops in their valiant attempt to defend the city. However, the overwhelming assault of the demons leads to the quick annihilation of the French troops, leaving Jacques to fend for himself in an impossible situation, only to be saved at the last minute by Samanosuke, who was unexpectedly pulled through the time warp during an earlier encounter with Nobunaga and now appears in present day Paris in the year 2004.

Unfortunately after the two meet there's no time for them to go have a beer or anything, as Jacques is swallowed up by the time warp as well, landing him in feudal Japan, sometime in the year 1582.

With Samonosuke in present day Paris and Jacques in feudal Japan, both characters are in for a major culture shock! But neither has time for sightseeing as Nobunaga is still lurking, causing major havoc in both time periods. So, with both men temporarily trapped in each other's country and time period, they'll need to work together across time in order to restore both time periods to their original demon-less states - and send Nobunaga in a box straight back to hell.

Players begin their quest as Samanosuke and alternate between using him and Jacques during key points in the game. These transitions are handled exceptionally well, never interrupting the flow of the game.

The game's control scheme remains fairly simple and is very responsive and intuitive. It's great to see that Capcom has implemented both 2D and 3D controls as opposed to just sticking players with the cumbersome 3D controls of the Resident Evil series.

With the exception of different weapons and certain moves, the basic controls are pretty much the same for both characters. Aside from their ability to block attacks, initiate 180 degree turns with the press of a button, absorb enemy souls into their gauntlets, perform special attacks, and even change into a demonic-looking version of themselves after absorbing enough purple souls, both characters are equipped with a small arsenal of attack moves to help them plow through the demons they'll encounter throughout their adventures.

Jacques is equipped with a nice savate kick combo type along with various whip attacks that almost had me thinking I was playing a Castlevania game, especially with the platforming aspects of the game where he's able to latch onto floating objects with his whip and swing across platforms. His whip throw is also quite cool, allowing you to wrap your whip around a demon and fling them onto other enemies or blast them a few times with his pistol while they're entangled and then add insult to injury by slamming them to the ground!

Samanosuke on the other hand sports traditional Japanese blades that he can use to perform his attack combos, sword thrusts, as well as counter attack moves. He can also obtain a bow and arrow that's effective in bringing airborne enemies down. While the arrows he initially finds are pretty weak, requiring multiple hits in order to subdue even the weakest enemies, he can obtain more powerful arrows later in the game that pack quite a punch.

Onimusha 3's gameplay is uterly solid, boasting excellent controls that complement the highly addictive play mechanics. Combat, hacking and slashing remains pretty similar to the first two games. As you kill off each enemy they'll release soul orbs that can be absorbed by the gauntlets on the arms of Samanosuke and Jacques. The more powerful the enemies, the better the souls.

Not satisfied with the volume of souls you can obtain from some of the weaker enemies? Then a well-timed, critical hit will do the job just nicely, causing them to release more orbs upon their demise.

While the majority of the enemies you encounter throughout the game don't pose much of a challenge, boss battles up the challenge considerably, pitting you against monstrous fiends that will test your combat skills.

Despite some basic features being carried over from its predecessors, Onimusha 3 also sports some excellent new ones that set it apart. For instance, the time traveling aspect of the game is a superb idea that's quite creative and adds a whole new dimension to the Onimusha franchise.

The coolest part about it all is that both characters can help each other by sending items back and forth to each other through time. For example, if Jacques has trouble with a certain puzzle and Samanosuke happens to have the piece needed to solve it, it's just a simple matter of teleporting the item.

There are also times when solving certain puzzles or performing certain tasks will produce effects that affect both time periods, providing the characters with access to areas that were previously inaccessible. While both characters can traverse some of the same areas albeit in different time periods, using his whip swing, Jacques can access certain areas that Samanosuke can't and remove certain obstacles and unlock alternate entrance points so Samanosuke can proceed.

When you really think about it, it isn't all that different from the partner system used in Resident Evil Zero and adds a great element of play that keeps the game from becoming stale too quickly, and rather than just having two famous faces thrown into the game just for the heck of it, the dual hero system is actually well thought out. Sure there may be a few inconsistencies here and there, but who cares.

And what would an Onimusha game be without a series of puzzles to impede your progress through an otherwise pretty straightforward adventure? Despite being a hater of puzzles in games of this type I must say that the ones in Onimusha 3 are implemented quite well thanks to simplicity of design. They're not annoying like those found in some of Capcom's other games - they're actually easy to get into and often fun to solve.

While Samanosuke and Jacques are the main protagonists of Onimusha 3, they're not alone and are aided in their quest by two supporting characters, Ako and Michelle.

Ako is a fairy from the Raven clan and can become quite useful when equipped with any of the special garments you obtain throughout the game. Equipping her with said garments will allow you to benefit from her powers of healing, as well as increasing your soul absorption speed among other useful little tricks of hers. She also has the ability to jump through time at will and interact with your characters.

Michelle on the other hand also happens to be Jacques' fiancé and seems to have a penchant for fire arms as well (leading us to believe that they probably met at a gun range or something). Unlike Ako, she can be controlled for brief periods of time in order to further the story along. While the developers could have easily made her sections into cutscenes they chose to provide players with a little more interaction with her.

Alongside the main gameplay features of Onimusha 3, other features include the return of the Phantom Realm areas, this time they've been expanded with more branching paths, and there's a new training mode that allows you to practice various combat techniques against the demon horde.

For one thing, the graphics look stunning! Onimusha 3 sports some awesome 3D backgrounds complete with sharp textures, beautiful lighting effects, great camera work and imaginitive interactivity with the environments. The non-interactive pre-rendered backdrops of Onimusha 1 and 2 aren't even worth comparing to the amazing graphical showcase that is Onimusha 3. There's just so much to be impressed with here as both the cold, dark locales of present day Paris and the lush, vibrant areas of feudal Japan have been represented remarkably well through beautifully detailed environments.

The quality of the character models haven't been neglected either, and Onimusha 3 is overflowing with well-modeled characters sporting smooth animations. As was mentioned earlier, Takechi Kenshiro and Jean Reno's in game models were crafted with such skill and detail that they're easily recognizable to anyone whose even slightly familiar with both men.

Sure there's some noticeable slowdown when the action intensifies and you're being inundated by hordes of demons, but it never detracts from the overall experience and despite going fully 3D, the camera angles have remained pretty solid, and I haven't experienced any particularly bothersome camera issues.

And as if the great in-game graphics weren't enough, there are a variety of spectacular CG cutscenes shown at the opening of the game that need to be seen to be believed!

On top of the awesome graphics, the epic soundtrack that fills the air also deserves special mention as the game contains a good number of wonderful tracks that put you in the thick of battle and really enhance the experience. While the Onimusha series has always offered great music, Capcom has definitely gone all out with the Onimusha 3's soundtrack.

The sound effects - while not as thrilling - do the job well, and the multi-lingual voice overs sound pretty good, but then again with two super stars lending their voice talents for this epic finale, you'd expect as much.

Overall, Onimusha 3 turned out much better than I expected. Combining a great storyline with excellent real-time graphics, sound, and gameplay, Onimusha 3 serves as a fitting swan song to one of Capcom's best franchises.

Graphics Sound Gameplay Depth Presentation OVERALL 9.0 9.0 9.0 8.5 8.5 8.8

THE VERDICT: Onimusha 3 closes the series in grand style. I was absolutely floored by the many high quality elements packed into this final chapter. Do yourselves a favor: even if you never had any interest in checking out Onimusha 3, do so. There's just way too much quality packed into this game to miss out on. Enjoy your final resting place Nobunaga, your powers of resurrection are no more!

Video Coverage (Latest Videos & Video FAQ)
PLEASE DO NOT DIRECT LINK TO ANY MEDIA FILE ON KIKIZO
Description	Dur.	Size	Details
Onimusha 3 Direct feed E3 2004 trailer (640x480, 1Mbps)	2.28m	18.85 MB	WMV
Onimusha 3 Direct Feed Trailer [520x390, 1896kbps]	2.29min	30.5MB	WMV
Onimusha 3 The stunning intro sequence! [640x480, 1596kbps]	0.49min	7.77MB	WMV
Onimusha 3 Direct feed gameplay video [640x480, 1596kbps]	1.48min	16.1MB	WMV
Onimusha 3 Direct feed gameplay video [640x480, 1596kbps]	1.08min	6.78MB	WMV
Onimusha 3 Direct feed gameplay video [640x480, 1596kbps]	0.44min	5.25MB	WMV
Onimusha 3 Direct feed gameplay video [640x480, 1596kbps]	0.50min	4.12MB	WMV
Onimusha 3 Direct feed gameplay video [640x480, 1596kbps]	0.48min	4.32MB	WMV