Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams Review

By Kristan Reed Published 29 March, 2006

Quad damage.

Version tested: PlayStation 2

Four games in the same series within five years is likely to prove a test for even the most ardent fan's enthusiasm, but it's not much of one for Capcom, which has been testing the laws of diminishing returns for as long as we can remember, and does so again here with an extensive but no-frills update to its hackandslash series.

Nearly two years ago, Capcom tried to sprinkle a little more of a Western flavour into the mix with the third in the series, and did so with a fair amount of success. Throwing Jean Reno into the lead role made for an entertaining time travelling adventure that (gasp) even made concessions for guns - a radical shake-up given the game's 16th century feudal Japanese-era roots. Sure, it was essentially more of the same at the core, but the balance between compelling combat and puzzling was almost spot-on - plus Capcom sorted the niggles that many of us had with the controls and camera.

But the fourth episode, Dawn of Dreams, is one of those incarnations that has a gentle whiff of "shall we pretend the last one didn't exist?" about it, and slinks back to focusing on the familiar 16th century formula that its native audience presumably prefers. As ever, the story's the usual demon-slaying bobbins that's either been translated to make Westerners care as little about it as possible, or just really is that unengaging. Whatever the truth - for the record - this one's set 15 years after you managed to defeat 'evil overlord' Oda Nobunaga, with Japan 'waking up to a blood red dawn'. It turns out that Emperor Hideoyoshi is uprooting the cherry trees (Sorry? What?!), and has somehow managed to command the (endlessly respawning) Genma demons to return to frontline action, along with a plethora of beefy henchmen. Cue lone hero to the rescue.

Same old story

'Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams' Screenshot 1

Looks pretty enough on an old TV, but it scales surprisingly badly.

The premise may be a bit rubbish and contrived, but then again when isn't it? In this case, you get to control a young blonde-haired, blue-eyed warrior in the shape of Soki. As generic as he is (complete with a Dante-esque penchant for wearing his swords on his back), it doesn't detract from what is another fast, furious sword-waving, magic-casting, demon-slaying, puzzle-solving epic that's easy to get straight into and provides 15-20 hours of good hacking, slashing fun. And much like the last game, there's even a plethora of additional playable characters to add to the variety (skinny fast girl, beefy bloke, arrogant warrior) who you get to meet at various stages of your adventures. In short, it's not going to change your world, but there's little wrong with it and for fans of the series you can't go far wrong. Think of it as an expansion pack.

In keeping with the rest of the series, the gameplay pretty much follows the exact same template as before, with most of the action focused squarely on intense bursts of combat, punctuated with odd bit of object-hunting and puzzle-solving. As ever, this essentially involves studious use of the attack, block and magic buttons to scythe your way through an almost endless procession of foes. Although the combat's far simpler than, say, Devil May Cry (or even God of War), careful timing helps you clock up combos and critical strikes, not to mention allows you to evade even the most deadly assaults.

Predictably, the death of every enemy allows you to suck up their souls and pick up their gold, which in turn allows you to level up and enhance your skills and weaponry - a very refined experience system that works as well here as it ever has. Within a few hours you'll be able to power up your various capabilities, which in turn opens up new combos, making the combat gradually more complex and involving as you go along. From being an utterly simplistic button-masher at the start, it's not long before the game starts to become a lot more involving, requiring plenty of strategy and skill once the game gets going.

Command and conquer

'Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams' Screenshot 2

Pink neon was all the rage in 1596.

One major new addition in Dawn of Dreams is the new command system, allowing you to deliver basic orders to your cohorts via the d-pad, such as all-out attack, attack and follow, wait, as well as a character-specific skill. As useful as it sounds, it merely shows up the limitations of the buddy AI, with characters either far too gung-ho for their own good or not effective enough. To get around these limitations, downed buddies never actually 'die' no matter what, meaning that they'll wake up and rejoin the battle after while. Not only that, ordering them to wait recharges their health halfway (which is a bit of a cheating fudge) or you can go the whole hog and take full control of them and take advantage of whatever special abilities they might have (while cheating and allowing your other character to recharge their flagging health). For example, certain characters can squeeze into small gaps or can communicate with the dead, while others have explosive abilities or can use a grapple. As such, this teamwork ethic is a reprise of the kind of environmental puzzles seen in Capcom's Resident Evil Zero, and often forces you to traverse seemingly simple locations methodically pulling levers, operating lifts and picking up otherwise inaccessible objects. All the while, the Genma hordes keep on coming, always giving you a chance to flex your combat muscles in the process.

On top of that, the game also offers up optional puzzles in the form of simple (yet fiendish) challenges that task you with lining up three rows of coloured blobs within a set number of rotations. With special (often more powerful) weapons and defence/attack boosting trinkets up for grabs, the ends are mostly worth the means.

But on the whole, the game is an incredibly formulaic grind that settles into an immediately identifiable pattern right from the beginning - just like the previous games in the series. The carrot of all those upgrades, new skills, new characters and the end-of-level boss encounters always seems within reach, and thanks to the bite-sized level design you're always motivated to continue until the next section... and then find yourself poking around the one after too. The one major issue we had was more to do with general gameplay balancing, with certain bosses seemingly only there to hold you up. After something as revolutionary as Shadow of the Colossus, this dead-eyed return to boss-by-numbers feels positively cute. They're all of the three-attack-patterns-on-rotation variety, and finishing them is more of a war of attrition than a test of skill. Old school fun, but nothing you haven't seen 50 times over.

More is more

'Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams' Screenshot 3

Where's the blood?

Unlike the previous sprawling adventures, Dawn of Dreams is divided very specifically into 17 stages (which you can revisit between levels with the newly unlocked characters), spread over 2 DVDs, making it (by some distance) the biggest in the series to date. More doesn't always equate to better, as you know, but at least it should keep those folks quiet who complained about previous Onimushas being too lightweight. On the other hand, it also goes some way to making you even more aware of the slog. Whereas previous games in the series left you wanting more, halfway through disc one of Dawn of Dreams you're already wondering whether you can take another 10 hours of repetitive demon slaying. It's not as if the unravelling story offers any great incentive, and with so much to read, and so many incidental conversations to wade through between levels, it's often quite a drag. The fact that there's an unlockable hard mode and a two-player arena battle mode when you finish the game isn't much of a draw.

An unfortunate side issue is the game's lack of technical merit. Although it's solid and pretty enough (certainly no worse than previous efforts), things have once again moved on from where this engine was a few years ago. Stood next to any comparable title in the genre, Dawn of Dreams is looking sub-par. Lacking the progressive scan and widescreen options of other recent Capcom releases, the game suffers. Next to, say, God of War, Resident Evil 4, or even Devil May Cry 3, it's looking quite dated. The backdrops, character design and animation's fine up to a point, but the problem is we've seen so much better - and things like the blurry cut scenes seem rushed and point to a general lack of attention to detail. As with Onimusha 3, the game offers two-stick movement/camera controls for much of the game, only to revert to the frustrating old static camera angles of the past, complete with disorientating viewpoint changes. It's not a deal-breaker (especially as the lock-on button is a useful aid) but we really wish they'd make their minds up.

'Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams' Screenshot 4

I've got soul(s).

The RPG-elements are a bit broken too. As gratifying as it is to level up all your characters abilities and weapons, the fact that you can keep switching between characters to get around your failing health is a ruinous mechanic that you can't resist using. As a consequence, nothing's ever that much of a challenge, and getting through the game feels less satisfying than it used to. Evidently they either didn't think this through, or they're making concessions to the masses, as usual. Either way, it's not a smart move, especially when the game checkpoints before every screen regardless.

Rather in the same way that Capcom milked the Resident Evil series to death before it reinvented itself, Onimusha is one of those really enjoyable games that's now been left behind and seems content to be stuck in a rut. In isolation - and compared to the other games in the series - it's a game you can get really engrossed with, but also one you can get quite tired of. The combat's fluid, relatively deep and involving once it gets going, but it's also a wholly repetitive game that's been surpassed in so many meaningful ways that you can't simply be content with 'more of the same' anymore. By all means rent it; die-hard genre fans won't complain, but if you're looking for the next big hack and slash epic that does something new, there are more exciting options around than Dawn of Dreams right now.

6 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
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.

You may also like...

Comments (29) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • kebab #1 6 years ago

    yawn... first!

    /goes back to bed
    Edited by 1 at 29/03/06 @ 07:38

  • laur #2 6 years ago

    Oh well, after Onimusha 3 was so good I would have expected his to be a lot better.

  • gamerbunny #3 6 years ago

    6/10.....
    I was expecting much better.
    /Goes back to playing SotC

  • DUFFMAN5 #4 6 years ago

    So this would be the 4th one in the trilogy!!!!
    I thought 3 was a great game.

  • drumbaby #5 6 years ago

    I'd give it a high 7. Mainly for the fluidity and depth of combat, the variety of weaponry/ characters, and the excellent boss fights.

    But it does go on a bit though, doesn't it? I'm on stage 16, and I feel like the game peaked a good few levels ago, whereas with all the other Onimushas I was always a bit sad when they'd finished.

    I can see this having great pick-up-and-play replay value once I'm done, but imho the Onimusha series peaked with 3 (which I replay constantly), was surpassed as a hack 'n' slash game by the daddy, Devil May Cry 3, and left looking a bit ancient as an action adventure by God of War.

    I'm a die hard Onimusha fan, but I'd have a hard time proclaiming this a AAA title like the excellent Onimushas 2 and 3.

  • Decoded #6 6 years ago

    I enjoyed the game (enough to sink 28 hours into it), but the review is fair and makes some good points. And I too am wondering what this "overhaul" they referred to actually was, because aside from the RPG-lite elements the gameplay remains essentially unchanged.

    I'd still recommend it, but perhaps not at full price - and it won't be there for long, I wager.

  • Mr.Small #7 6 years ago

    Hazzah! 6 / 10 suits me fine. I've played all the Onimushas to date but I just didn't feel in any way excited by this one. So a painfully-average score and criticisms of long, repetitive gameplay mean that I can skip this title without feeling guilty.

    /Pushes gamerbunny off seat and plays SotC

  • WicKeD #8 6 years ago

    I thought the previous Onimusha games were pretty good, nowhere near Ninja Gaiden good, but cheap and cheerful all the same. Looking at this review, seems the franchise is becoming a bit stale and uninteresting now. I kinda hoped Capcom might have done a bit of a Resident Evil 4 with this, redefined the controls, unhooked the camera and injected a bit of spice into the combat / gameplay.

    Ahh well, I still might pick it up for a fiver on eBay at some point in time.

    /Izuna Drop.

  • Darren #9 6 years ago

    gamesTM also gave this game 6/10...

  • absolutezero #10 6 years ago

    Actually gamestm gave it an 8 it was Edge that gave it a 6.

    I just got it yesterday, plugged 5 hours into it in one sitting and I can say im enjoying the hell out of it. Everything has been improved, the animations are smoother, the VA's sound like actual voice actors and not just a bunch of random developers roped into helping out. The character swapping is very well implemented, so well that you can swap mid-combo and continue on as the other character. The story is actually interesting this time, its not just kill all the Genma save Japan, its more sinister and entertaining.

    There are downsides though, for the game moving into fully 3D environments it does'nt really change any of the gameplay, apart from getting used to the Third person camera that is, which is pretty easy.

    If you enjoyed the past 3 games then I'd say get this, if you've never played an Onimusha before then get this, its the most complete in terms of gameplay, acting, story and pure fun.

    To me looking with un-biased eyes Im enjoying alot more than I did 3, about the same as when I first played 2 actually. Jean Reno with an American accent just made me want to snap the disc into lots of little bits. Also running around Paris was distinctly un-Oni.

  • Drakron #11 6 years ago

    I played and return it for store credit.

    Its much harder that the previous 2, I found myself in need of constant healing and it throws boss fight after a boss fight, I rarely get some yellow souls, Issen is much harder to full of ...

  • tengu #12 6 years ago

    A shame it wasn't better, but from what I've seen it seems like a laugh. It was never going to be better than Onimusha 3 though unfortunately, as that was basically the pinnacle of games like this.

    Oh well, I'll still be giving this a go when I get a chance.

  • Feanor #13 6 years ago

    They should have made this shortter and Genji longer and made everyone happy.

  • Feanor #14 6 years ago

    Well, that statement with no supporting argument what-so-ever has convinced me.

    Your posts are rubbish and you should never post here again. Was that enough to convince you?
    Edited by 1 at 29/03/06 @ 20:35

  • kentmonkey #15 6 years ago

    Hmm, believe 2 lines by Bored_Gamer or about 200 well researched lines by Kristan.....hmmmmm, tough one but I think I might just go for the 200 liner ta very much.

  • kentmonkey #16 6 years ago

    See I'd consider 10 hours excellent entertainment as worth buying, not 30 hours of "seen it all before" & "god I'm still on the first disc" gameplay as worth buying. Not having a dig at all btw asmol01, I know some people like long games. However I prefer to be entertained for a shorter period than play a game and wish it finished hours earlier.

  • Drakron #17 6 years ago

    Because it is ...

    You have the choice of revisit the previous states and milk then of healing items and buy in bulk on the hideout but when they stuff a 15 limit you start to see the failure of such system.

    I am not overall keen in MMORPG farming goals being aceptable.

    Enemies simply deal too much damage without golden souls being common enough to offset that issue, maps also lack healing items so the biggest challange is having enough healing when you get the real boss of the state since its going to be a long and boring battle.

  • kentmonkey #18 6 years ago

    Totally agree with you about some big games, Metroid being a great example.

    I get confused when a reviewer (often in the printed press) slates a great game just because "it only lasts 15 hours"...what! £30 for 15 hours great entertainment and you're knocking it? You pay £7 going to the cinema's for a 2 hour film, times that by 7 and that's a lot more than £30.

    King Kong was great, simple fun whilst it lasted (reader review later this week), double that and it would have gone down a mark or two in my estimate.

    Ninja Gaiden however didn't get boring for me and that probably kicked in around the 20 hour mark so I'm sure they can make this genre that long if they must, but equally I wouldn't have felt short-changed if NG clocked in around the 12 hour mark either as it was so well done.

  • Pastici #19 6 years ago

    I loves it myself, is like got a slight sprinkle of DMC to it. I find the story acctually better than the others.

    Anywho I'm out to kill some Genma.

  • absolutezero #20 6 years ago

    Ok so I just read the review again and second time through it reads even more like "This is'nt Resi 4 for Onimusha. Thus, it is shit."

    Sorry but did'nt Oblivion just get 10/10 for not changing very much from Morrowind? (ooohhh shocking, we can't mock Western games anymore can we. WEST POWER)

    I also seemed to sense a whinge about Capcom "making lots of games". Sorry, what? Its not like most of them drop in quality and sheen so why is it a bad thing that there have been 4 Oni games in 5 years? Take a look at each and they get progressively better and better, as do most Capcom franchises. (Who's going to be first to bring up Street Fighter and Megaman? Ill hug you if you do you know)

    Not all directors have the guts and backing to make such extensive changes like what happened with Resi 4.

  • toy_brain #21 6 years ago

    I've just gotten round to finishing it a few minutes ago, and I have to agree with the review score. 6/10 sounds about fair to me.

    One of my major gripes is they way the game recycles locations a bit too much. Like the crystal powerstation parts - you essentially have to do that twice - yes they mix the puzzle-order up a bit, but its the same damn environment and you essentially do the same thing.

    Also, Ohatsu is stupidly overpowered in the game. Typically I just put Soki in 'defend and recover' mode to act as bait for the enemies - then used Ohatsu to pick them off from a safe distance. Its still quite fun to utterly dominate the Genma with her, but it does make the game horridly unbalanced if you are ever forced to use someone else..

    Still, I guess I had fun. It was entertaining enough for me to put over 20 hours into it (a lot of it Dark Realm soul-harvesting), and at £25 brand new its pretty damn valuesome.

    But Onimusha 3 is the better game.
    Actually, Shadow of Rome is also better.

  • krudster #22 6 years ago

    Couldn't agree more.

    I'm really not bashing this for not being revolutionised like Resi 4, but Capcom does have a tendency to get stuck in a rut with some of its brands, and this is the latest example of that. I never said it was a bad game.

  • Decoded #23 6 years ago

    Like the crystal powerstation parts - you essentially have to do that twice
    Argh, don't remind me of that. Shameless recycling and it's not as if the levels were particularly huge and sprawling either.

    I found the game too easy, because potions were too readily available. I went into the boss battles of the last half-dozen or so levels with more oni/magic/health potions than I could have possibly used, so couldn't resist spamming them for very, very easy victories.
    Edited by 1 at 30/03/06 @ 08:34

  • TripleSeven #24 6 years ago

    I also think Onimusha 3: Demon Siege was/is way better. Characters, gameplay and story - just the whole package.
    It's been great to improve Samanosuke's armor and weapons which made them lool different. Just been a stylish game. Capcom imo did a rather good job to implement Paris and some parts of it definately look better than Dawn of Dreams ever does.
    The gameplay is great having you really master the Issen (critical) techniques and 10 point slash - or whatever it was exactly called.

    As for Dawn of Dreams, it's been easy and boring. I mean you could trigger a chain critical move by dropping dead (well almost). Brake an enemies guard > chain, lvl one magic attack > chain, deflect > chain (you got lots of time), standard critical > also way easier
    Countless healing-type items, endless magic powers (two characters) and so on ...
    The characters? - annoying, most of them. Soki imo is one of the worst wannabes I've ever seen. His 'sack of shit' statement at the end totally did it. Be Dante or Samanosuke. It's just two characters. Soki - the blond, american baywatch guy - is just bad avarage.
    Akane - my ears. Ohatsu - no personality. Roberto - well at least he's quiet. Tenkai - the best one of them.
    Story and opponents? Guildenstern and Nobunaga - not even close to them. The story's pretty avarage, too. Boring, that is.

    ***SPOILER***


    /// Turning Samanosuke into Tenkai was a bad move, too. I miss Samanosuke. The real life Ako also felt like a completely different person.///

  • Decoded #25 6 years ago

    Roberto - well at least he's quiet

    Heh. Nice rantage there, would've been proud of that one myself.#

    I'd also like to say that I found the whole "friends are important" subtext rather nauseating. Capcom: if you're going to go down that road then at least ensure I care about at least one of the characters.

  • tengu #26 6 years ago

    Three hours in and 'm absolutely loving this game. It's no Onimusha 3, sure, but it is a damn fine game. The new camera system is okay, but I preferred the old way tbh. The combat is refreshingly familiar, and the visuals are just gorgeous.

    Although is it just me or has the theme song from the Japanese version been removed?

  • TripleSeven #27 6 years ago

    Yep, the Japanese song is out as far as I can tell (2nd time through, didn't hear/recognize it).


    @ Decoded:

    SPOILER:

    Good point. The whole give me your power sequence at the end reminded me of the worst Power Rangers movie ever. That and Soki is just too much.





    Edited by 1 at 30/03/06 @ 22:56

  • FiOth #28 3 years ago

    I agree with the score but this review couldn't make me stop thinking that the critic really isn't a big fun of CAPCOM's work.Refering to Onimusha 3:Demon Siege as a "successful" title really doesn't say much about it's greatness, and I am saying this after spending much quality time with all of the grand action games of the previous generation.After all, DoD imo is more of and action-jrpg than something familiar to the previous games.

    As I said the grade is almost spot-on but the critic doesn't look at the games actual problems (scenario that's got inconsistency issues, poor voice acting, no lip-sync, less demanding battle system than in previous Onimusha games) but goes all the way to prove that the company responsible for the game keeps milking the cow...I mean, we already know that but that doesn't say anything about a titles quality by itself.

  • Perlfc #29 3 years ago

    i managed to ruin my game and now it doesn't sell in the stores here in norway anymore someone please help me i really want a new one so any help would be very helpfull

    thank you


    and please add me golden_sun_@msn.com its faster to get in touch then