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Onimusha: Warlords

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Although Japanese traditions and demonology feature heavily throughout it’s 6-hour-odd adventure, the central plot to 2001’s Onimusha: Warlords is one you might have experienced over a decade beforehand: rescue the princess. This time around, the main protagonist (Samanosuke) is armed more appropriately for the task, with a sodding great sword as opposed to a clunky pair of brown brogues. Vague similarities with Miyamoto’s Super Mario Bros. end there, but Onimusha also draws huge inspiration from other titles a little closer to home.

Any remaining doubts that Onimusha: Warlords is from the same stable as the monstrously successful Resident Evil series are dispelled within minutes of taking control of Samanosuke (Sam from here on in), and hearing the hilarious localised voice acting come tumbling from his digitised lips. Elsewhere, as Sam crosses a bridge framed with a fixed cinematic camera angle, familiar-sounding crows squawk noisily before flying off-screen. For every typewriter in Resident Evil, there is a Magic Mirror here. For zombies, read demons.

And, boy, are there demons. They infest every nook and cranny of Princess Yuki’s castle, in which the action of Onimusha unfolds. Some bear skeletal faces, others spring and strike like ninjas. Still others are tall as houses. Some, like the crazed scientist Guildenstern, relish in creating yet more demons, such as those that sprout slimy, flesh-coloured tentacles that clone themselves should you slice them open. And then there is the king of demons, Fortinbras, snake-like and enormous, ready to bless the blood-filled skull of the princess so that Nobunaga, resurrected warlord of the Oda clan, can derive immense power from drinking it in order to crush his enemies. Keep up!

Fantastically absurd plot aside, it’s little wonder that Capcom chose to channel their flagship series for the creation of Onimusha – no series (perhaps with the notable exception of Silent Hill) has come close to matching its compelling slice of atmospheric puzzle-based action adventure. Onimusha’s additions to the formula were welcome ones. Combat plays a much more central role in the experience, with pistols and shotguns replaced with katanas and fire arrows. Souls from vanquished combatants also feed into the game’s RPG-like upgrade systems, where red souls can power-up each of Sam’s weapons that he obtains throughout the game.

It’s these weapons that form the crux of the progression through Onimusha’s early areas, with the Thunder, Fire and Wind orbs – which comprise the core of Sam’s various samurai blades – acting as keys to unlock further areas once inserted into his magic gauntlet (given to him by the oni at the beginning of the game). Backtracking and heavy use of the map are still familiar themes, but progression moves along at a fair clip. Puzzles are again integral to the experience – some involve simple number-matching logic problems to unlock trick treasure chests, while others, such as the rearrangement of blocks to save Sam from an early watery grave, are more challenging. More powerful items, which upgrade Sam’s health and magic meters, are stashed in boxes requiring codes to unlock. The answers to these cryptic questions can be pieced together by picking up Seiryus and Genbus, dusty old tomes written in Japanese glyphs.

When the bread and butter gameplay threatens to turn stale, Onimusha furnishes you with control of Kaede, Sam’s orange-clad ninja sidekick, in a dual character mechanic that could possibly have influenced the ‘partner-zapping’ gameplay of Resident Evil Zero, which released a year later exclusively for the Nintendo Gamecube. The onus here is different, thanks in no small part to Kaede’s lack of a gauntlet and associated upgrade orbs, thus relegating combat to a meaningless chore. It’s far more prudent to simply run past any adversaries in these sections, a tactic that reinforces Onimusha’s similarities with Resident Evil even further. Her smaller, un-upgradeable health bar makes her appearances throughout the game more difficult than Sam’s, where the consumption of precious herbs and medicines is a necessary setback. But these quibbles aside, her inclusion in the game adds variety to otherwise one-note gameplay.

It’s difficult to look back on Onimusha and its ilk without a huge degree of fondness for a genre that has largely become defunct. There’s a certain charm about fixed-camera action-adventure games that is absent from their contemporary, third-person counterparts. The smash-hit success of Resident Evil 4 sounded a death-knell for the fixed camera perspective in that series, with Resident Evil 5 taking the action and combat elements even further to the detriment of the series enduring quality. Returning to the illustrious roots of the horror franchise now would be too risky for Capcom, who are hedging their bets on third-person handheld title Resident Evil: Revelations and multiplayer shooter Operation Raccoon City. But with Onimusha, a series that has seen no new entries since Onimusha: Dawn Of Dreams in 2006, perhaps the time is right for a glorious return to its old-school origins. There is arguably no series that engenders the warm fuzziness of nostalgia as the Resident Evil franchise, and with younger brother Onimusha bearing most of its classic hallmarks, there’s no better IP for Capcom to resurrect to its former glories.

eBay Price Guide: Onimusha: Warlords sold over 2 million copies worldwide, so there’s no shortage of the game on eBay. At the time of writing, you’ll only be spending between £1-£3 (excluding postage costs) to pick up this classic. It’s sequels are numerous and similarly cheap too, with the exception of the afore-mentioned Dawn Of Dreams, which is a little pricier (and which incidentally features in this week’s IC Update!).

Here’s a spoilerific look at Onimusha’s final battle, for those that wish to hear Fortinbras’ dulcet tones again:


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