Onimusha: Warlords Review

September 15, 2008

Action-adventure game filled with puzzle solving and demon hunting.

Story

In feudal Japan, Samanosuke is on his way towards Inabayama castle after receiving a letter from the princess. In the letter the princess writes about how maids and other people have started to disappear recently and that she fears that she will be next. The letter mentions the involvement of monsters and demons which worries Samanosuke even more.
Little does he know where this adventure will take him. A tale of sacrifice and love unfolds.

The Game

Onimusha: Warlords is an adventure game with a great deal of action. You play as the samurai warrior called Samanosuke, and you are investigating the Inabayama castle to find the missing princess. The game mixes exploration, fighting, puzzles and story elements.
This game is strictly a single-player game and it has a few difficulty levels to choose from.

Controls

The controls themselves are rather straightforward; you have your basic attack button, use, magic, inventory, guard and so forth. They are easy to get used to but certain special moves such as the counter attacks require precise timing. There are a lot of maneuvers that you can pull off with a little practice – you can dodge, block, kick and even perform executions whenever you knock an enemy to the floor.

The game has a very simple camera system as well as a simple control scheme. You have no control over the camera as it is static but this rarely gets in the way. There are occasions where the camera will constantly switch between two angles, for example during fights that happen to take place in between such ’camera cuts’.
Other than the difficulty levels mentioned above, there are a few other options you can tweak such as brightness, control layout etc.

Content

Onimusha: Warlords features several different weapons, armors and items which will provide much-needed help when you are fighting some of the demons that occupy Inabayama castle. The most valuable weapon against the demons is a magical gauntlet given to Samanosuke by mystical beings called Ogres. The gauntlet allows Samanosuke to kill demons and extract their souls when they are slain. There are a few different souls each with their own effects. For instance Yellow Souls will recover some of his lost health while Blue Souls will replenish some of his magic power. The Red Souls however are used for a couple of things as they work as a currency when you are buying items or upgrading your equipment.
Completing the game will unlock further options such as silly costumes for the characters in the game.

The gauntlet only allows Samanosuke to kill demons, but it doesn’t actually do any killing. The game has five different swords each with their own special moves and attacks. The game starts you off with a simple sword but as you progress through the story you gain access to the other weapons, often received as rewards for slaying a powerful demon. The weapons themselves are imbued with different elemental powers and they play a huge role in this game as certain doors are locked by elemental locks of different strengths. An example would be; “If the door has two orbs on it, you need a weapon of the same element but also it needs to be upgraded to level two before the door opens”.

As mentioned above you can upgrade weapons by collecting Red Souls and then finding a Magic mirror. The maximum upgrade level is three for all weapons and each level requires a different amount of souls. You can also upgrade other items such as healing herbs and arrows to make them more powerful.

There are a number of different items that will help you during your quest which can be found in chests and on fallen soldiers around the castle. Power- and Magic jewels are quite rare but they increase your maximum health and magic when used. The Talisman is also a rare and powerful item as it allows you to fully heal should you fall in combat. The more common items are herbs and arrows. These can be upgraded to Medicine or Burst arrows to further increase their usefulness.

Samanosuke will also be able to find new suits of armor. There’s only three different suits of armor in the entire game. The armors that can be obtained provide much better protection and they also change your appearance slightly.

The demons in this game are rather varied in both size and design. The most common demon that you will face is basically just an undead soldier. They will often attack you in large numbers but they are neither fast nor have good tactics. You will also face assassins, which are fast moving, hard to hit and can easily take away a decent amount of your health if you aren’t careful. There are bigger demons as well, which will provide some of the harder fights later in the game. There are a couple of odd balls in the as well, such as the Skull Clouds who absorb any souls floating in that area, which essentially means that they are stealing from you. The game has a good deal of deadly traps as well, and they will instantly kill you should you fail.

But despite a good amount of both enemies and puzzles this game is rather short. In fact it can be completed in between three to five hours which certainly feels a little short. The mini-games do add a little extra play time as they provide further challenge, but it isn’t enough to keep you playing the game for much longer.

Some of the puzzles are very memorable and infamous for their steep difficulty level. The same goes for some of the boss battles which are just downright great.

Graphics

While the graphics are rather decent, the animations do feel a little stiff at times. But what really doesn’t do the game justice is the background scenery and its prerendered look. It’s not good but it’s not entirely bad either.
The variation of the scenery and enemies does keep the game afloat all the way through though – despite the short game there is quite a lot to see. The characters themselves are pretty well done, even though some of the NPCs can be rather goofy looking.

Sound

The game has almost no music at all during play, so you will mostly be hearing enemies grunt and yourself running around. The sound effects during combat are decent although a bit on the rough side. The same goes for the English voice acting but it does have it’s moments where it actually works.

Summary

Onimusha: Warlords has a lot going for it despite the fact that the game is rather short. The exploration of the castle is exciting, the combat is fun and the upgrading system is a nice touch.
While the story isn’t all that complicated, it does have some interesting plot twists and it will keep you interested until the end. The bad side of Onimusha is the length, which is disappointing and leaves you with a sour taste. The game is also dragging at times, as you might have to replay certain parts over and over.
The worst part would have to be the replay value which is almost none. Completing the game unlocks costumes for your second playthrough, but that is all. What does save the game some face regarding the replay value is the hidden bonus items and mini-games.
There’s a great deal of value in this game and it’s definitely a decent game despite its flaws.