Game Review: Onimusha Warlords

Onimusha: Warlords has had a long, arduous journey across three gaming platforms. It was originally planned for the Nintendo 64, but was soon converted to a Playstation project. After a long development cycle with many delays, the game's final destination was shifted to Playstation 2. Capcom's years of hard work have paid off, resulting in a beautiful, exciting, action-packed game that will please gamers everywhere.
Onimusha is the story of Samanosuke, a skilled Samurai in service of the princess Yuki. While Samanosuke is fighting against the army of warlord Nobunga Oda, princess Yuki is captured by demons. After Samanosuke is knocked unconscious by a giant monster, the mysterious Ogre clan revives him and gives him a gauntlet that has the ability to absorb the souls of enemies. Samanosuke thus begins his quest to save princess Yuki along with his female ninja partner, Kaede.

Fans of the Resident Evil series will be instantly familiar with Onimusha's presentation and controls. The controls are relative to the direction Samanosuke is facing instead of his relation to the screen, so it may take some getting used to. It doesn't take long to readjust your thinking, however, and soon you will be able to control him fluently. Battles in Onimusha are fast paced and exciting thanks to the tight, responsive controls. The gauntlet creates an interesting balance to the action: you must absorb souls while keeping distance from the enemies. Unlike Resident Evil, in Onimusha you don't have to run away from enemies or conserve ammunition. Samanosuke is armed with three deadly swords and can carve up legions of enemies with blinding speed. After enemies are killed, the gauntlet can absorb their souls, giving Samanosuke extra health, experience and magic power. The red colored souls in particular allow you to enhance your weapons and items into more powerful versions. Swords and magic orbs gain strength, arrows become fire arrows and herbs become medicine. A welcome deletion from the Resident Evil games is the absence of the limited "ink ribbon" save system which forced players to use expendable items to save the game's progress. Instead, Onimusha allows you to save an unlimited number of times at the shrine locations. Puzzles are also prevalent in the world of Onimusha, requiring you to use your brain just as well as your swordfighting skills. The puzzles are interesting and fun, with the exception of a maddening time-limited slide puzzle that may take several tries to complete.

Onimusha's graphics are gorgeous. Capcom used pre-rendered backgrounds which are filled with details and color, with little animations to bring the normally static images to life. The 3D characters are constructed of up to ten thousand polygons each, with semi-realtime lighting effects, producing a convincing, realistic appearance. A common problem with Resident Evil games was that the blocky 3D polygonal characters stood apart from the pre-rendered backgrounds, but Onimusha's characters are so detailed that they blend in with the surroundings perfectly. Onimusha also contains two absolutely stunning CG movies at the introduction and conclusion of the game.

The soundtrack is a wonderful mix of traditional Japanese music and epic orchestral pieces. Onimusha's music enhances the mood of each scenario and location, and never gets repetitive or boring. Sound effects are crisp and precise, from clashing swords to bloody slashes and grunts from enemies. Sound cues can help you hear enemies before seeing them, a useful tactic against the deadly assassins.

Onimusha's main problem is that it is relatively brief, taking only about eight hours to finish the first time. However, those eight hours are packed with enjoyment and suspense, as Onimusha does not require a lot of tedious backtracking found in most longer games. Your skill is rewarded at the end, which may encourage players to try again to achieve a higher score in order to access special features.

Capcom's experience in the genre of action/survival games has crafted a masterpiece of a game in Onimusha. It is well polished, presented beautifully and executed skillfully. Onimusha will make a welcome addition to your gaming library.