Onimusha 3: Demon Siege Review

By Kristan Reed Published 6 May, 2004

Find out what Jean Reno gets up to in his spare time...

Version tested: PlayStation 2

When your parents come out with gems like 'the years go by so quick when you're old' it's not just because they're turning into senile doddering old cretins that rarely know what day it is anymore. It's true. In fact, it seems scarcely credible that it's nearly three years ago since Onimusha: Warlords bestrode the summit of the UK's game chart. No wonder time travel seems so appealing to the nefarious types in Capcom's latest attempt to bring feudal-era Japanese hackandslash to the masses - they're fed up with constantly being told how old they are, and want to nip back to their early 20s to recapture their glory years. Who can blame them?

In the third episode in the all-action series Capcom has taken the innovative step of enlisting the services of French movie star Jean Reno (Leon, Subway, Ronin, Mission: Impossible) to co-star as modern day cop Jacques Blanc alongside series stalwart Takeshi Kaneshiro as the ubiquitous Samanosuke Akechi - in a time-travelling battle against the evil man's evil man, Nobunaga and his seemingly endless collection of loyal minions.

Essentially the premise of Onimusha 3 (lets call it O3, shall we?) is the usual good versus evil romp - but with that old gaming fallback Time Travel allowing Capcom to bring it bang up to date while simultaneously keeping the series faithful to its 16th Century roots.

Call him Nobby for short, that'll really wind him up

'Onimusha 3: Demon Siege' Screenshot 1

Chief villain Nobunaga and his faithful sidekicks Ranmaru, Gildenstern and company have worked out a way to mess around with Time Folds, which effectively allows them to spew forth their demonic Genma hordes wherever and whenever they choose. Mwuahahahaha. Samanosuke has other ideas, naturally, and the game kicks off with the manic sword wielding action hero transported to modern day Paris, with Jacques busy gunning it out against a posse of undead samurai scum. It all goes a bit pear shaped when he finds his girlfriend Michelle injured in the melee, and then finds himself whisked off to 16th Century Japan to do battle alongside Samonosuke against a seemingly endless procession of respawning Genma evil. Accompanying them almost every step of the way is the giggling Ako, a flying pixie 'Tengu' who helps them by opening up chests and retrieving health upgrades and ammo, as well as providing curious 'vests' which help Sam and Jacques in all manner of semi-useful ways, such as recharging lost health and sucking the souls out of enemies.

The game basics work in more or less the same way as the previous two titles, albeit with some welcome tweaks and additions. As ever, you're largely involved in a series of mass brawls with enemies - who often respawn when you return to the same area on the hunt for important objects and keys. Boiled down to its bare essence, it's that same old Capcom survival horror template, where you're trotting around looking for a way to the next section while keeping a close eye on your save game management and health status. But to bracket it as a mere hackandslash version of Resident Evil would be a little unfair, however valid those comparisons are in reality.

As before, you build up a selection of gauntlets which act as both your choice of weapons and a means of collecting the 'souls' of various colour that spew forth from every defeated victim (Red for enhancing weapons/armour, blue for magic/ogre power, yellow for health, purple for the 'smart bomb' Onimusha mode). Combat is very much a priority, and the more souls you collect, the more you can upgrade your weapons and armour, the better your special attacks become and the greater chance you'll have against the many bosses you'll face along the way.

Porno for pyros

'Onimusha 3: Demon Siege' Screenshot 2

As a combat system it's beautifully designed, and works even better now that Capcom has finally woken up to the option of allowing players to use the analogue stick for movement. In conjunction with L1, R1 and the face buttons, the correct timing allows you to pull off some majestic attacks - but never more complicated than a couple of button presses, unlike some combo-obsessed games of this ilk. In O3, it's all about the timing and positioning, but the acrobatic pyrotechnic results are never less than impressive, even if you decide to settle for merely mashing the square button.

Perhaps the most obvious advancement is the use of a more flexible graphics engine, which gives you a far more dynamic view of proceedings. Camerawork is handled entirely by the game as ever, but the 3D engine makes the view not only far more cinematic as sections pan and scroll by as required, but not at the expense of the lavish pre-rendered detail of old. There are still occasions when you're forced to fight enemies off screen, but the use of R1 to lock your target generally takes care of such instances. The last quarter of the game is blighted by some serious slowdown issues, but you're talking about a minute out of a 12 hour game, so we can definitely live with that when the visual quality on show is so unflinchingly high.

It's hard to find fault with any of the visuals, in fact. The character models are outstanding throughout (okay the giant slugs are a bit throwaway), with wonderful attention to detail in every element you could care to zone in on, from the spot-on facial likeness of Jean Reno to the costume design, right down to the improbable array of manoeuvres so expertly animated. The backdrop to the proceedings is pleasantly varied throughout also, largely thanks to the game's ability to keep switching back and forth between the 16th and 21st century. Even with that in mind, it keeps throwing surprises at you (which we won't spoil for you, but we're itching to talk about), taking in an almost mind-boggling array of unlikely settings (which must number in the dozens) over the course of what is a much bigger game than previously. Variety over the previous titles is evident right from the word go.

Multiple organisms

'Onimusha 3: Demon Siege' Screenshot 3

Another facet introduced this time around, and fairly in keeping with Capcom's games down the years, is the use of multiple playable characters which switch in and out of control in keeping with the storyline. Samonosuke and Jacques take the lion's share of the game, while Jacque's abundantly breasty partner Michelle has small cameo roles towards the end of the game. Each has their own unique weapons, and this, again, helps keep the game fresh whenever it's in danger of becoming a tiresome slog against the legion of annoying respawning bastards. In its favour, though, unlike other games, the respawning enemies in O3 actually help you in the sense that the payback is upgraded weaponry, while the combat in itself feels exciting enough to rarely feel like a chore - apart from those occasions where you're just plain stuck and having to backtrack to find something you missed.

The time travel aspect also adds a neat element to the puzzle aspect of the game, with Jacques and Sam regularly forced to trade objects through time in order to get past something blocking them. We recall a similar system working extremely well in LucasArts' adventure classic Day Of The Tentacle, and it's just as ingenious here as you're forced to rack your brain to work out what effect certain objects and actions will have.

Elsewhere, O3 regularly presents optional block-moving puzzles of increasing difficulty in return for health and magic upgrades. Some will literally have you cursing for 20 minutes or more, and it's an even greater joy to discover that one of the game's unlockables is a suite of three puzzle games - each of which are more than worthy additions to a good value package.

Easy is the new Normal

'Onimusha 3: Demon Siege' Screenshot 4

In keeping with other Capcom titles, the game also offers an Easy route to success at a crucial crossroads point in the game about 20 per cent in. Although this won't help you solve the puzzles any quicker, it's a boon to not have to stress about health packs quite as much, and naturally the normally brutally hard bosses crumble relatively quickly - although nowhere near as quickly as you might expect. Suffice to say that Capcom has judged the difficulty level pretty much spot on in that adventure fans won't feel alienated by hardcore combat, while those of a masochistic bent will be guaranteed of an often brutal challenge that will last much longer than previous games in the series.

From our obvious Western bias, it's fair to say that massive compromises have been made to the original vision of the game in an attempt to appeal to our tastes. Sometimes it comes off, sometimes it seems schmaltzy, but is typical Capcom through and through with the usual posse of demented megalomaniacs cackling at your all conquering attempts. In traditional fashion, the whole game is littered with journal scraps and miscellaneous fragments for you to piece together in your own time. As ever, the more time you spend consuming these seemingly random ramblings, the more coherent the whole tale becomes. As Capcom-related stories go it hangs together better than most, but is still as trivial as ever and not exactly essential.

On the down side, there's nothing especially new or stand-out exciting about O3. As enjoyable as it undoubtedly was, it's largely a case of more of the same, albeit with a grander setting and a movie star playing a lead role. In terms of actual gameplay mechanics, very little has really changed in those three years. If anything, this is more of a back to basics return to the action-packed style of the original, with none of that pointless object swapping Shenmue-style of Mk.2, but in terms of originality or refreshing new features, you might come away undernourished.

Voicing disapproval

Given that we've reviewed the newly released NTSC version here, it's perhaps premature to criticise the voice acting, but the game kicks off with Jacques spouting his native French before quickly lapsing into a broad American accent so out of character it immediately loses credibility. Surely a French actor's voice speaking English would have been infinitely preferable to someone's voice that plainly doesn't fit the character? The others are reasonably acceptable, though, in a fairly camp operatic guffawing nefarious way. The ten year-old Henri, however, grates from the first line to the last. Kill! As for the rest of the audio, it has that typically dramatic, surging Capcom feel that appears in Resi Evil games, and for the most part clangs away in the background without really registering a response from the synapses.

Coming at this fresh, what you will find is a highly polished, mostly highly enjoyable hackandslash romp with only occasional lapses into tedious gaming by numbers same-old-same-old object hunting and respawning enemy laziness. Some of the more experienced campaigners might find it a little on the easy side, but that loosely translates as 'most people might actually have a chance of finishing it' - so that's a good thing in our book. In the context of the series, it's an excellent follow up, and would certainly be a great introduction to a compelling series if you've missed out to date, while acting as a satisfying next chapter for the fans. Xbox owners, however, might want to consider a certain Tecmo offering due out in the not too distant future...

8 / 10

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Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ssuellid #1 8 years ago

    Does Reno do his own voice acting or have they just borrowed his image?
    Edited by 1 at 06/05/04 @ 14:40

  • krudster #2 8 years ago

    That, I don't have a definitive answer for. For the few lines of French it certainly sounds like him, but the manual can't verify this.

  • Nemesis #3 8 years ago

    First two are dirt cheap now and supoib.

    Flying baddies aside, that is.

    /fights with digital controls.

    It's nice to see the move across to analogue at last and I'm really looking foward to playing this one.
    Edited by 1 at 06/05/04 @ 14:52

  • krudster #4 8 years ago

    And YES it does have m0t0rbik3s in it.

  • jaa #5 8 years ago

    Finished the first game but the second can't-be-won battle with the master swordsman in the second game was too much for my patience and I gave up.

  • renzo #6 8 years ago

    What about d3cap1tat10ns?

    *groooaaan*

  • Nemesis #7 8 years ago

    Stop that it's silly.

    Anyone gonna get the plastic katana? No? Oh.

  • pjmaybe #8 8 years ago

    I want the Katana...!!

    But then I just want it to flog on Ebay in a few years time.

    Peej

  • renzo #9 8 years ago

    Stop that it's silly.

    Yeah, sorry. That was the last time I promise.

  • Nemesis #10 8 years ago

    /takes screengrab as evidence.

    He promised!



  • krudster #11 8 years ago

    Confirmed: it is Reno for the French voiceovers.

  • WoodenSpoon #12 8 years ago

    So the French version gets him all the way through?

    I still think they should have stuck with the pre-rendered backdrops, I never understood why everyone hated them, especially with the modern tech, since you can hardly tell between what is pre-rendered background and what is an animated thingy.

    I mean REmake looked great!

  • hamsterdance #13 8 years ago

    Someone posted on IGN's message boards that Reno's voice is replaced by a Japanese actor's voice in the Japanese version of the game too. The only folks who will get to actually hear Jean Reno all the way through are buyers of the French version of the game.

  • WoodenSpoon #14 8 years ago

    "Errr...WoodenSpoon, it's pretty easy to tell what's prerendered and what isn't - the camera can't really move over prerendered backgrounds (except for a bit of panning of course)."

    The camera really does not bother me in games like this.
    I know that, sorry, I didn't make my point very well, what I meant was that Pre-Rendered graphics simply look better, to me at least.
    On the PS1 in say Resident Evil, you could easily see what could be picked up and what couldn't, which light fittings would drop from the ceiling and so on, because they stood out.
    This was the only real thing that bothered me with Pre-rendered backgrounds.
    Now, it's much harder to tell the difference between the two when playing in a pre-rendered enviroment.

  • Retroid #15 8 years ago

    /Hopes against hope that we europeans will get the choice of using subtitles

  • 3william56 #16 8 years ago

    Bbbbbut... Jean Reno speaks perfectly good (if French accented - duh) English... and usually sounds bl**dy suave in that irritating "I'm French so I can forget to shave, wear an unironed suit and still sh*g all your women" Froggy way (see Godzilla for details). So why would Capcom want a lousy American accent for a French character, again?

    /scratches head/

  • Nemesis #17 8 years ago

    I doubt he was cheap to hire, so it's madness not to use his voice and get full value for money.

    Ne'mind.

  • Sid-Nice #18 8 years ago

    I seen the intro on Cybernet, when the french bloke was warped back to ancient Japan or whatever. Then he became a Samurai, the graphics looked great but the story left me thinking wtf.

  • Machiavel #19 8 years ago

    The last quarter of the game is blighted by some serious slowdown issues, but you're talking about a minute out of a 12 hour game

    Extra maths homework for that man!

  • krudster #20 8 years ago

    You misunderstand....there are *instances* of slowdown in the last quarter of the game, not the WHOLE last quarter!

  • Freek #21 8 years ago

    Why'd they get somebody else do his english voice over? The man speaks english just fine. And why not give us the option for his voice to be in french with subs? Hell, 9 out of 10 games with english voices in them still have english sub titles optional!

  • APHIZM #22 8 years ago

    Is the PAL version 60Hz? This will be the deciding factor on whether I buy it or not
    Edited by 1 at 09/07/04 @ 17:30

  • Senor_Sanchez #23 8 years ago

    Just got this the other day - its great. Stunning realtime backgrounds, nice baddies, great central characters and overall fantastic production values.

    Downsides are the little pixie thing with the obnoxious cute american voice - dreadful AND of course the jump to dreadful bland american voice overs. as the review said - it killed the immersion.

    Still a cracking piece of entertainment though

  • BeefSausages #24 7 years ago

    Loving the slow-mo scene with Henri.

    /Still thinks Samanosuke is better than Jubei.

    Jolly grafics!