Details Title:
Platform:
Release Date:
Genre:
Pros:
Cons:Onimusha: Warlords
Playstation 2
25 January 2001 (JP)
13 March 2001 (US)
6 July 2001 (PAL)
Survival, Horror
Great music and visuals
Short completion time, generally below average English voice acting.
Review This is a game that's loosly based upon Japanese history. In 1560 AD, Nobunaga Oda's 2000 man army defeated the Suruga army and its warlord, Yoshimoto Imagawa. However, Nobunaga while enjoying this great moment of victory, Nobunaga is killed by a stray arrow.
A year later, soldiers and workers have begun disappearing from Inabayama castle. Princess Yuki, fearing the worst, sends a plea for help to her cousin, Samanosuke Akechi. But by the time he gets to the castle, Princess Yuki is abducted by a demon.The graphics are good, but that's expected for a PS2 game. All characters and enemies in this game are made up of polygons, while the scenes are all pre-rendered, but there's no falter in the visuals whatsoever. Despite my views on this, opinions on the use of pre-rendered backgrounds in 3D games are divided among gamers.
All of the background music is orchestra, and it even changes to match the mood of the scene, so if there's a fight, the music will become more dramatic. Sound effects weren't too bad, and did match what was being shown, such as blades piercing flesh and such.
As for voice acting, the platinum version of this game doesn't have the Japanese voice dialogue, so I'm left with the english. I didn't really like it that much, as most of the character voices sounded forced or annoying, though I was pleased with Kaede's voice, which sounded just right for her.The controls are a bit difficult to grasp at first, since your perspective is always changing, but arrow direction will always remain the same (i.e. up is always forward and so on), and it won't take too long to catch on.
The game allows you to play with two different characters, in different portions of your quest. Each of them are different in their own way, and you can't do certain parts of the game without a certain character. On an interesting note, you can find notes and encyclopedias littered throughout the game. While they're not necessary for the game, it does give some insight to the legend that you're told at the beginning, and what exactly you're up against.Completion time of this game falls short. I finished this game in 5 hours on my first attempt. However, you're graded on your performance at the end, including game time, demon's killed, souls absorbed and flourites collected. Depending on how well you do, you get rewarded with extras, including a trailer for the sequel, mini-games and different costumes for the characters.
If you've played the Resident Evil series, think of this game as Resident Evil set in feudal Japan. While it doesn't take too long to finish, this is a perfect rental game for the weekend. I suggest giving this a try if you plan to play any of the sequels, especially Onimusha 3.