PS2 review: Onimusha 3: Demon Siege

7 January 2006

1 Comment

Posted by:Ferry

In Onimusha 3: Demon Siege the internationally acclaimed film star Jean Reno (Leon, Mission: Impossible, Ronin) playes Jacques Blanc, a French cop caught in the middle of a harrific demon attack upon Paris. Takeshi Kaneshiro returns as Akechi Samanosuke, the original Onimusha warrior who continues his campaign against his arch enemy, the evil Nobunaga.

System: PS2, PC
Genre: Action, Adventure, Hack and Slash
Release dates: February 26th 2004 (JPN), April 27th 2004 (USA), July 9th 2004 (EUR)
Players: 1
Save: 379KB minimum
Developer: Capcom Flagship
Publisher: Capcom
Creator: Keiji Inafune (producer)
Origin: Japan
Rating: M for Mature for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence

In Onimusha 3: Demon Siege, the year is 1582 and 10 years have passed since the events that unfolded in Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny. The stage is set at the burning Honnoji Temple, as the famous Onimusha warrior Samanosuke Akechi (Takeshi Kaneshiro) continues to fight the demons in his path. The moment has finally arrived for Samanosuke to confront the true enemy that has eluded him until now, the undying Nobunaga Oda. Unfortunately before the long-awaited final battle begins, Samanosuke is suddenly engulfed in a whirlpool of light and disappears.

The year is 2004. A peaceful French metropolis is suddenly attacked by demons. In the blink of an eye, the city is transformed into a hellish sea of blood as Genma demons slaughter civilians and soldiers one by one. Within this pit of darkness appears one man who stands up against the Genma demons, Jacques Braun (Jean Reno). As a member of the French army, Jacques is deployed to the nightmarish scene only to discover himself amid a plague of horrific enemies that are beyond anyone’s imagination. An ancient samurai warrior unexpectedly appears to help him defend the helpless city. As they cooperatively fight off the demons, Jacquesis caught in a mysterious vortex and vanishes to feudal Japan, leaving the warrior behind in modern day France.

Why has Samanosuke appeared in present Paris and Jacques in feudal Japan? What fate awaits these two men? The fierce and bloody battle is unfurled as the beginning of the final Onimusha chapter unfolds.

Onimusha 3 Demon Siege is the final chapter in the Onimusha Trilogy. Two heroes from different lands and time, travel through time and space to defeat the evil Nobunaga and his hoards or darkness. Control the fate of both men as you journey from 16th Century Japan to modern day Paris and back. Let the final battle begin.

Onimusha 3 Demon Siege introduces newly designed 3D polygonal environments (instead of pre-rendered backgrounds), the use of analog sticks and D-pad control for character movements, more expansive settings to explore, a new dual hero fighting system, enhanced gameplay and motion picture quality cinematics that the series is known to deliver. Onimusha 3 Demon Siege intertwines two different stories that transcend four centuries from ancient feudal Japan to modern day France.

Onimusha 3 Demon Siege employs a ‘dual hero system’ that offers two very different kinds of action, bringing not only a deeper story but a unique experience that offers the player a diversity of gameplay elements. Not only can gamers experience the exhilaration of slashing enemies with powerful swords but new weapons have been incorporated to add challenge and depth. A whip weapon, especially equipped for Jacques Braun (Reno), lends itself not only for combat situations and to perform combos, but it also helps access new areas for further exploration by latching onto objects and swinging across various platforms. This extra functionality broadens the game’s adventure appeal and adds variety to gameplay.

Watch the Onimusha 3 launch trailer.

Click on the bottom-right corner arrow to view it fullscreen.

What are Onimusha 3′s main features?

* The final chapter in the Onimusha trilogy – the final battle with Nobunaga begins.

* The opening CG movies have been pushed to a new level. Returning to the Onimusha project is Robot, the company responsible for making all of the Onimusha opening movies

* Dual hero system – control the fate of Samanosuke and Jacques Blanc (Jean Reno).

* Journey through time – battle Nobunaga’s demons in Paris, 2004 and 16th Century feudal Japan.

* Explore new and diverse environments – Onimusha 3 not only includes familiar feudal Japan backdrops such as Anshi Castle, Sakai Town or Honnoji Temple, but also showcases world renowned Paris landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Arc de Triumph, all of which have been painstakingly recreated with such rich detail that it exceeds the scale of the previous incarnations of the series.

* Cutting edge graphics – state-of-the-art motion capture technology and jaw-dropping special effects rival Hollywood’s best.

* First full 3D engine in an Onimusha game – new bold and dramatic camera work. As a first for the series, Onimusha 3 Demon Siege utilizes fullpolygonal backgrounds as Capcom strives to realize the title’s real and dramatic camera work. Gamers will exalt the battle scenes, as they are full of depth and with even more sword slashing action.

* In-depth and complex storyline – intense and thrilling to the end! Flagship, the company responsible for scripting the stories for Onimusha: Warlords and Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny increase the level and depth of the story for Onimusha 3: Demon Siege. With more drama and thrills than before, Onimusha 3: Demon Siege weaves an epic tale bringing the series to a whole new level in this final battle against Oda Nobunaga.

Did you know? The “Katana: The Soul Controller” is a one of a kind limited edition controller for the PlayStation 2. This collector’s item was developed by Horizon Simulation & Capcom to commemorate the release of the third and final installment of the Onimusha series. When playing the game you can swing the controller and Samaonosuke will slice and dice his enemies making the game play more realistic. When not in use, the display stand and sheathe for the controller allow you to decorate your room. This controller can be used with any game.

Watch the Onimusha 3 intro and gameplay from the start of the game.

(It’s a Japanese language track, but the game’s in English)

As a conclusion let’s rate this game on its fun-basis.

FUN FACTOR – 9.0
Onimusha 3: Demon Siege surpasses its predecessors in all areas: gameplay, art, cinematics and technology and is the ultimate installment to complete this epic trilogy. For me this is mainly thanks to the detailed 3D environments and Capcom enlisting the talents of actor Jean Reno and martial arts choreographer Donnie Yen. The game is challenging and awesome to play through. A classic, a must-have for fans of the series and action-adventures!

Graphics – 8.0
After Capcom showed the world what they could pull of graphically with Resident Evil. Onimusha presented gamers with a more action-filled spin-off series. Now with Onimusha 3, the story is told primarily through a mixture of cool cutscenes, which use pre-rendered full motion CG videos by movie director Takashi Yamazaki, and feature some amazing sword fights with lots of special effects. In game there’s full real-time rendered 3D environments. Both the intro sequence and Samanosuke’s sword-combat motion were captured and choreographed by famed Hong Kong movie actor Donnie Yen. This makes for some very smooth character animations.

Audio – 8.0
The game’s fantastic soundtrack is very oriental sounding with dramatic orchestral music coming at you. Aside from the French talking intro, once the two main characters meet Ako, she’ll translate their words into English for the rest of the game. It’s definitely a shame there’s no Japanese audio track switch on the DVD disc. That said, the English voice acting is good, even if it’s not from the original character model actors. The story dialog is very entertaining, even if it’s sometimes overacted, it’s still solid. Sound effects like those of the weapons are effective, the game even allows you to select their direction in the Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound setup.

Ingenuity – 8.5
While the Oni’s action controls are simple and accessible — you can simply buttonsmash (X or square) to execute attack combos throughout the game — but there’s a learning curve for those who want to master them. This time around you can master devastating one-hit moves if you time them before enemies hit you, these moves add depth to the gameplay because they effectively defeat enemies with an one-time dramatic slash. All in all, there’s lots of fast action to have fun with. However, a downside during fights is that there are so many of the same enemies doing the same old attacks over and over again. But that’s a minor quip since you can switch between the two playable characters with different weapons techniques to slash your way through them and move on to progress the story.

Replay Value – 7.5
Depending on the difficulty level you choose, expect to play through the game in about 15 hours. The increased difficulty levels not only give you an action-packed ride from start to end, they also make the game enough of a challenge to replay to see the multiple endings. More replay value comes from unlockable hidden costumes and secret weapons.