Gameplay
For the longest time, reading all sorts of "Inside info" about the coming game, Rob, and myself thought that it would come to be one of the greatest fighters of all time. I liked a few things however the whole, 3d, side scrolling fighter really killed it. I will admit I did like the fact that you can quickly slip behind your opponet with the press of a button, however that also means that they can do the same to you. Thus it truely does add a competitive edge which will keep you on your toes. Vs. mode is somewhat enjoyable as you can test your skills against your friends and the computer itself, honestly it would be harder against a human player, mabey.
Then if you are a glutton for punishment, play against three computer controlled characters in a cut-throat match... That's all sorts of fun, Granted it's not extremely hard to come out on top but it gets very tedious. You get to play as most of the original characters from the Onimusha series and then a few which you can unlock who are not. Come on people, what the hell does mega man have to do with Onimusha? I understand that it's just a game, but.. What is he going to blast Samanosuke, grab his head and sprout a bigger sword out of his blaster? I realise that Mega man already has a blade weapon but.. WHAT THE!! Anyhow, most of the game play is extremely linear. You can unlock several characters, new costumes, different weapons, and finaly new stages. I played the game for a few hours before I couldn't take it. However if you are a fan of pure linear slashers, you just might enjoy it where I didn't.
Graphical setup
The gameplay graphics were rather nice honestly.
Not to choppy, rather smooth all the way around but for a few spots. The multi-tiered fighting area's were somewhat fun, Almost like Mega man X7 in my opinion. However constantly jumping from level to level was somewhat annoying, honestly I would have prefered full 3d fighting area's as I had originaly thought they would be.
Story line
As I had said earlier about the game being linear, if the story line doesn't prove my point to you, I don't know what possibly could. Far too short, not enough explination as to what is going on for those who have never played any of the Onimusha games. Then to top it all off, it's almost over before you know it.
Overall
I enjoyed the onimusha series, however I guess with this title, I had expected far to much. It was more disappointing than the results of DMC 2. (Devil May Cry) With more story line and more to do than just hack and slash your way through legions of penny players, the game could be very enjoyable.
