Onimusha: Warlords Review (PS4)

Introduction

This is the remastered version of Onimusha: Warlords, done by Neobards Entertainment and published by Capcom. This remastered game boasts enhanced graphics, analog movement controls, real-time weapon switching as well as Trophy support. However, like the game's title implies, this is not the remastered version of Genma Onimusha, which have several gameplay updates and new content. This version is simply, the remastered and slightly updated version of Onimsuha: Warlords back on PS2. There are no new content, such as gallery, new areas, and etc.

Story

Samanosuke Akechi is the first Oni Warrior in the series.

Samanosuke Akechi received a letter from Princess Yuki, who mentioned that there are mysterious disappearances of her maids. He rushed back to the Inabayama Castle, and found that she was kidnapped by mysterious demons. Samanosuke was injured in the attempt of rescuing her, but he was granted a power by the Ogre clan (a.k.a Oni), where he can absorb the souls of the demons (Genma) as well as unlock new powers for himself. Samanosuke must save the princess using this newfound power, before it is too late.

The story is a simple rescue plot. Generic, but it works well. Most of the lore about the Demons and Ogres can be read by reading files, which can be found in various areas in the game. Characters are decent, but not all of them are memorable or have decent exposition. For what it's worth, the demons have exceptionally good designs that make them memorable than most human characters in this game. Samanosuke is a pretty good lead character, despite being a generic heroic character. Other NPCs serve their roles well as well, despite limited appearances.

Gameplay

Use the Oni Gauntlet to absorb enemy souls and power up your weapons.

This game is an action hack-and-slash game with fixed camera perspective. The game uses pre-rendered backgrounds and fixed camera perspective like the classic Resident Evil games and Dino Crisis games.

The story progression is simple. You have to go to the next story related room, but you have to explore around in order to trigger a cutscene. You will also be tasked to find key items to unlock a new room/area, unseal a demonic lock, or complete puzzles. It is not a straightforward game, so check your map constantly. There are also optional areas to be explored as well, for finding hidden chests and hidden files.

As you progress in the game, you will unlock new magical weapons for Samanosuke. There are two aspects that you can upgrade for each weapon: the weapon itself and the orb. Upgrading the weapon increases it's attack power, and upgrading the orb allows you to unlock advanced demonic seals that may block your progression to story related areas. To upgrade them, you need to spend certain amounts of Red Souls ,which can be obtained by defeating enemies and absorbing the floating red souls. You may also find additional weapons such as a rifle, new armour sets, and healing items as you explore in the game.

Fight tough bosses.

The combat is simple. You can attack enemies with your equipped weapon, kick them to knock them down, finish them with a plunge, strafe around enemies, and block their attacks. By equipping a magic weapon, you can use a magic attack on enemies to deal heavy damage against them. Take note that it will consume your Magic Gauge.

Enemies come in different varieties, such as skeleton soldiers, demonic ninjas, and etc. Each of them has their own attack patterns, so they can be defeated with ease if you study their attack patterns. Once a demon is dead, they will dissipate into Souls, which you can adsorb using the Oni Gauntlet. There are several variety of Souls, such as Red Souls act as currency, Yellow Souls refill the Health Gauge, and Blue Souls refill the Magic Gauge.

As you progress in the game, you will also encounter bosses. Tougher than the regular demons, and they require more focus and firepower to defeat them. Blocking their attacks is a sound strategy, but not all attacks can be blocked by Samanosuke.

Personally, I think this game has excellent gameplay. Simple and easy-to-learn controls, effective upgrading system, good balance of gameplay section variety, decent enemy variety and great boss fights. The game is also short once you have memorised the puzzle solutions, but that makes it quite replayable if you are going for the Trophies. Solid and impressive gameplay.

Graphics

Good remastered graphics.

This game has good remastered graphics. Impressive looking pre-rendered backgrounds, great looking character models, and good special effects. No bugs and glitches encountered while playing the game so far. Solid framerate as well.

Sound

Fitting voice acting and soundtrack.

Due to a controversy regarding the original soundtrack, it was replaced with a brand new soundtrack for this remaster. Decent and fitting soundtrack to the game's setting, but none of the tracks strike me as particularly memorable.

The Japanese voiceovers are also redone, with Takeshi Kaneshiro reprises his role as Samanosuke. The English voiceovers seem to be retained from the original PS2 release as well. Needless to say, players have the option to switch voiceovers to Japanese or English if they want to do so.

Replay Value

Decent replay value.

This game has decent replay value, if you like the game. You may opt to play the game again and collect everything, collect all Fluorites, complete Oni Spirits mode, and complete the game again in Ultimate Mode. Self-imposed challenges such as no-items or no weapon upgrade playthroughs are feasible as well in this game.

Conclusion

Great game despite the lack of Genma Onimusha's new stuffs.

This is not the remastered version of Genma Onimusha from Xbox, so any fans who are looking forward to play Genma Onimusha on newer consoles will obviously be disappointed.

Regardless, this is a high quality game, but the launch price and the lack of new content may make this game less appealing for many players. If you like an action hack-and-slash games with classic Resident Evil styled camera perspective, then this is for you. Check out gameplay videos before buying this game, and take note this game is pretty light on new content, other than the Trophy support. Highly recommended game and solid remaster, but buy with caution.

Score

Story: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 8/10

Final Score: 8.5/10 or 34/40

Pros and Cons

Pros

- Simple storyline.
- Interesting lore regarding the Ogre (a.k.a Oni) and Demons (a.k.a Genma).
- Great combat system.
- Simple and effective upgrading system.
- Inclusion of analog movement and weapon switching.
- Good controls.
- Great remastered graphics.
- Fitting music.
- English and Japanese voiceovers/text.

Cons

- No new content. even from Genma Onimusha.
- Too short.
- Unskippable cutscenes.
- Generic characters.
- Low replay value, if you don't go for the Trophies or the optional game modes.


**Screenshots are from DreadCentral site.