| If
you've ever played a PSOne Resident Evil game, you'll be more than a
little familiar with Onimusha's gameplay. It has the same style of
control that doesn't seem to care which way your character is
facing, and every single backdrop is pre-rendered. This style has
worked very well for the relatively slow and suspenseful Resident
Evil series, but Onimusha simply doesn't fit into this system the
same way.
The first thing I noticed about
Onimusha was its high level of difficulty. Combat is heavily
emphasized with regenerating enemies that attack from all sides at
once. They have strong attacks and the fact that the control is
completely separated from the camera angle makes it tough to accurately
and consistently fight back.
After approximately the tenth time
that I inadvertently led the hero Samonosuke to a premature death,
the game flashed a message that an easy mode had become available.
Thank goodness, because I found the game a miserable experience at
the default setting.
Once I spent some time with the game
at a bearable level of difficulty, the rest of the experience began
to sink in. Onimusha is a uniquely Japanese game. If you don't know
a lot about Japanese history, much of the story will blow right past
you. Most of the plot is set up in the stunning opening (pre-rendered)
FMV. The quality of this movie is startling. I actually got goose
bumps watching it for the first time. Picture a step or two down
from the Final Fantasy Movie trailer and you'll have an idea of what
the human characters look and move like in this amazing bit of
prerendered CGI. Anyway, the plot involves a pact between the dead
leader Nobunaga and some demons who will reincarnate him in exchange
for his help. You play Samonosuke, who must stop the demons and save
the captured Princess Yuki and her brother. Samonosuke is given a
special gauntlet from a clan of mystical Ogres that absorbs the
souls of conquered enemies.
It's the magical gauntlet that makes
Onimusha a unique brand of Resident Evil-style adventure. Absorbing
souls into the gauntlet can restore life, replenish magic power, or
most importantly, can be traded-in to power up weapons. To proceed
past certain doors, specific weapons must be powered up to a certain
level. This means that a good chunk of time must be spent endlessly
hacking the regenerating hordes of demons. Level building in an
action game. Go figure.
The combat is somewhat fun at times,
but the limitations of the Resident Evil interface hold things back
from ever becoming more than marginally entertaining. It is
extremely frustrating to have the entire screen shift during battle.
Because pressing up on the d-pad always moves Samonosuke forward,
such a sudden shift in the whole screen's perspective often results
in disorienting control that unexpectedly drives the player right
into the hands of the enemy.
Due to the nature of the pre-rendered
backgrounds, I found it necessary at times to simply wander around
repeatedly pressing the X button in an attempt to "item
mine" the background. It's just too hard to pick out some of the active
objects from the numerous inactive objects. I also found it aggravating
that there's no way to look around the corner without changing screens and changing the entire viewpoint. It
is very easy to either get completely turned around and lost, not
notice a subtle pathway, or even to inadvertently walk right into a
horde of waiting enemies.
Despite its problems, I really
enjoyed playing through Onimusha. This is a great game to rent and
play through over the weekend. I found the dramatic plot intriguing, though my lack of
knowledge about Japanese history left me scratching my head at
times. A word of warning though: the ending is a real downer, so be
prepared for a bit of an emotional let-down.
Onimusha has little if any replay
value, though once finished you can play
through this gory slasher wearing a cuddly Panda Bear
suit. Taking turns with a friend of mine,
we finished the game on Easy in just over 5 hours. And that includes
getting the special sword that can only be obtained by fighting 20
rounds of enemies in the Demon Realm.
To sum things up, Onimusha uses the
PS2's DVD storage for some impressive backdrops, but the game itself
is nothing more than an action-packed PSOne-style Resident Evil with Samurai. That's not necessarily
a bad thing, but it's hardly the exciting stuff PS2 owners are
looking for. Nonetheless, I highly recommend renting it and playing
through it the next time you find yourself looking for something to
fill up a dull weekend.
| Overall
Rating: Rental Only |
|
