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The Best in the Series!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: May 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First off, I see a lot of people here at Amazon, cutting down on this game and giving it bad reviews, In response, I'd like to say that I think individuals who do not like this game and compare it to dozens of others just to show how many games they have played are simply saying that they, in fact, have no life and spend way too much time in front of the TV.

Though the Onimusha series has a reputation of being a game that is easy for any player (from Novice to Expert) to be able to pick up, play, and enjoy, this is the most challenging game in the series. The enemies are tougher and slightly more numerous than before.

The game played has evolved once again, and now instead of automatically changing into the Onimusha after collecting 5 purple souls, you have the choice of changing when you desire by pressing the R3 button after souls are collected, or if you die while having 5 purple souls, you will be revived automatically as the Onimusha. Definite bonus!

Though, the major movie is at the beginning, the game-play itself is nice. (by nice I mean, I love it) It's in the same fashion as previous Onimusha games (beat-up bad guys, solve puzzles, fight bosses).

A bunch of you are complaining that you can't get Samanosuke to run on walls like he did in the opening movie and what I'd like to say is... Come on guys, it was a movie, of course the game play will be a bit different. Also, I would be disappointed if the style and format of the game was too different from the original two games. There's a reason why this game has so much success. The gameplay works almost flawlessly.

Finally, this is a much more adventurous game than the previous two. In the first game, Samanosuke stays around the same Japanese temple the entire time. By the next game, Jubei visits the same temple, but journeys to more of the surrounding towns. This time around both Samanosuke and Jacques Blanc (from France 2004) cover more ground of both Japan and France in both the past and future, thus leading to more a journey for those who like that kinda thing.

I love this game. I think most people will who aren't so fickle and picky over anything. If you don't like the game that's cool too, but if you're going to gripe about how bad you think it is well, then...... Let's see what games YOU'VE made, and then your arguments might have some credibility and even be taken seriously.

Great Game!!!

Best Onimusha

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: July 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game truly lives up to its hype. The opening cinematics and the cutscenes are great, one of the best I've seen in PS2. I really liked the game play and as in previous Onimusha games, bosses are challenging, and if you die a certain amount of times it gives you the choice of continue play in easy mode. They took away the friends side quest of Onimusha 2 that was boring. Although Jaques has diferent weapons and moves it's easy to pick up. ANOTHER GREAT IMPROVEMENT ARE CONTROL SCHEME, not like Resident Evil or Atari 2600's Combat. You might question the fixed camera, but you can ignore that with such artistic environments, specially the Arc De Triumph, and cutscenes. This is at least a MUST PLAY game. Even if you are not familiar with Onimusha, you will really enjoy this game.

Onimusha 3 is the best of the Onimusha games!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: May 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Capcom's newest - and officially said to be last - game in the venerable Onimusha series takes all the minor complaints people had with the first installments (prerendered backgrounds, ''Resident Evil-style'' controls) and completely eliminates them, resulting in a crowning achievement for Capcom and a fitting end to Inafune's story that bred (and comprises in it's entirety) the ''Sengoku Survival Action'' genre.

STORY:
It so happens that Oda Nobunaga - one of the ''3 Unifiers'' of feudal Japan, it's first Christian leader, and the historical figure that is perhaps the most familiar to Japanese schoolchildren and adults alike (think of him as a sort of Japanese version of George Washington but replace the wooden teeth and boy-scout honesty with a sword and a healthy dose of sadism) - that inhabits the Onimusha games has been resurrected after a grisly death or two by dark forces and now works to take over the entire world with a demonic army. We know this from the first game and it's even better sequel. What's new here is that he no longer seems to be satisfied with the time frame his world inhabits. He has more sinister schemes this time around and thanks to his head scientist Gildentstan (my own translation of the Japanese name, so please don't e-mail me to say that I spelled it wrong as katakana can be interpreted many ways and I've not played an English version of an Onimusha game and therefore am unfamiliar with the ''official'' English rendering), he has hatched a nefarious plot to twist the fabric of time itself, allowing him to take over several time periods at once. A brilliant scheme indeed, and one that would no doubt be successful if it weren't for the triumphant return of the wandering swordsman Akechi Samanosuke (played by Japanese movie star and hearthrob Kaneshiro Takeshi) and the assistance of French paramilitary trooper and doting single father Jaques Blanc (played by French action star and proof that ungracefully ageing men with bags under their eyes can inexplicably be considered international sex symbols Jean Reno). I won't spoil the finer points of the plot, but suffice it to say that there will be many creative uses of the time travel aspects of the story, and a fairly interesting cast of supporting characters, of both the villianous and heroic variety. Onimusha 3 is a sweeping epic that straddles two countries; two cultures; two time periods and keeps the pace of the story moving at a nice clip. Figure in a few cool scenes of culture/time shock (what would a samurai from the 16th century make of handshakes, not to mention cellular phones?) and you have a winner of a storyline.

GAMEPLAY:
Take the survival horror style item conservation and puzzle solving and the simple to learn but difficult to master combat engine of the first two games, add the variety of a second character, smoother controls, more moves at your disposal including a Final Fight style throw system for our friend Jaques, and a much longer quest fraught with original puzzles and plenty of variety in the environments and you have one nice package. This game takes everything that made the earlier games in the series winners and expounds upon them, offering up more of the same in greater quantities and still managing to throw in plenty of fresh new ideas. Another welcome addition is Ako, a fairy of the Raven clan who can jump time at will, facilitate communication between speakers of different languages, and even assist in combat thanks to an array of equipable clothing available in the game. Depending on what she wears, she can increase the speed of the gauntlets' soul absorption, heal your character, show an onscreen life gauge for enemies, and much more.
The puzzles are difficult but don't quite reach the level of frustrating and the combat can be intense and pressure filled, but never quite cross that line into the realm of ''so hard it's no longer fun'' territory. An easy mode becomes available if you die too much in succession and a hard mode is available from the outset, so gamers of all levels of experience can enjoy this game equally. The Phantom Realm areas are back, but this time they're more plentiful and they branch out into multiple paths instead of being a simple journey from top to bottom. Also new is a training mode wherein you can practice the various techniques available in combat.

CONTROL:
Following Outbreak's lead, Onimusha 3 allows for both traditional ''Resident Evil style'' controls using the D-Pad for Onimusha purists and ''Devil May Cry style'' controls using the left analog stick for those more accustomed to that sort of action game. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Walking/running around narrow areas is certainly easier with the analog stick, but combat moves like the kick and straight thrust are more easily accomplished with the D-Pad. What's great is that both control schemes are available to you at any time by simply changing the position of your left thumb, so it's easy to switch on the fly during combat or exploration scenes.
The Square button unleashes your character's main attack and the Triangle button activates the special attack. The X button sucks souls from vanquished foes with your gauntlet. Circle - when used in conjunction with the R1 button - fires arrows with Samanosuke and grabs climbing implements or activates a secondary combo set (whether used with R1 or not) with Jaques. The L1 button blocks while R1 locks the direction you're facing into place while moving. The R2 button initiates a 360 degree turn for D-Pad aficionados, and holding the L2 button for a few seconds calls up the map screen. Clicking the right analog stick (R3) tunrs your character into his demonic self, provided you have absorbed enough purple souls. Start opens the menu screen and Select pauses.
The controls are responsive and intuitive.

GRAPHICS:
These are - hands down - simply the best graphics I've seen on the PS2. The developers somehow managed to come up with an engine that incorporates stunning real time light particle diffusion (you can see a hazy field of light just inside the outlines of solid objects directly in front of a light source), fully polygonal 3-D backgrounds, jaw-droppingly gorgeous fire and water effects, and insane amounts of enemies on screen at once with virtually no effect on the 60fps frame rate or slow down except in the most extreme of situations - and even then it seems to be there deliberately to enhance the effect of breaking ice or multiple issen (death blow) chains. The environments are as breathtakingly varied as they are beautiful. Lush forests, craggy cliffs, bustling trading villages, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, a rain soaked zoo, a snow and ice covered Lake Biwa, a battlefield teeming with soldiers in combat, a Parisian sewer system, and plenty more await your exploration and admiration. The best part about the backgrounds is that everyone's favorite complaint these days - the camera angles - are so well thought out and presented that you will likely never even notice them change. They're so intuitive that you never find yourself in Devil May Cry style directional confusion following an abrupt angle change and you never find your view blocked by unseemly background elements.
The characters are also well designed and drawn and move with a lifelike fluidity.
In addition, the opening CG sequence is an absolute masterpiece.

SOUND:
Not only are the multi-lingual and professionally acted voices fantastic; not only are the sound effects well timed and designed; not only is the orchestral music well suited to the game's various locales and themes; it's all presented to you in Dolby Digital ProLogic II Surround Sound. In addition, you have the option of choosing to listen to the surround sound from the point of view of the camera or from the character himself. The results are amazing. It may be ProLogic, but it'll sound as good as legitimate 5.1 to even the strictest audiophile.

And who ever said we wanted Jubei back??????? Nobody wanted him back. Half the Onimusha fans wanted Samanosuke. Jubei and the other characters from Oni 2 were just too stupid. And please people don't think your going to play the game like how the intor looked. Give me a fucking break.

This game is one of the best games from Capcom

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: May 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Onimusha 3, is by far better than the other five games in the Onimusha series. Enhanced graphics, better bonus games, a great difficulty. If you want a great, long-lasting action game, this is the game for you.

GRAPHICS: 9
Like you may already know, there are now fully 3-D graphics. At first I thought that would be a bad thing because the pre-rendered graphics in Onimusha: Warlords and Onimusha 2 were already great. I was wrong. The enviornment in this game had a lot of effort put into it. With great special effects. The graphics in this game are better than most other games for PS2 already.

SOUND: 8
I really don't care about sound too much, but there are some great music in here with good sounds. The voice actors were great (discluding Sam in the beginning when he was first transported to France). Jean Reno did a great job. The part I disliked about the music is that if you change charaters through the time portal the music changes. It seems a little awkward for me.

GAMEPLAY: 10
This is the best part about the game. With the 3-D graphics, you can use a normal analog stick way to control or the "Resident Evil" way. Most players will probably use the analog stick because it's easier for beginners. Also there is a load more weapons in this game, there are 27 weapons in total. Ranging from a grenade launcher, to an Oni whip, and the Bishamon sword, found in Onimusha: Warlords. Another great thing about the weapons is that you can get the original three weapons again, all automaticly upgraded to MAX. They are a fun reason to play this game again. New to the series is Ako, the Tengo. It is like Navi from The Legend of Zelda, but can change vests that can give you powereups like the ability to see enemy HP and having an automatic critical hit everytime. Ako can also lock on to enemies letting you move around more easily.

REPLAY VALUE: 9
There are any great bonus games including a fourth playable charater minigame and the famous puzzle realm, featuring puzzle types from all three games. There are four unlockable costumes also, 7 total.

GRAPHICS: 9
SOUND: 8
GAMEPLAY: 10
REPLAY VALUE: 9
AVERAGE: 9/10 (4.5/5)

This game is one of the best games if you want a fun long-lasting game. I recommend that this game should be bought by Onimusha fans, and rented by people new to the series.

This is epic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: April 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This, the third in the series by Capcom, is set over five centuries from 1582 to 2004 where monsters called Genma travel through time and attack Earth. The whole game is fun, from seeing a Samurai in France to a gunslinger in Japan! Onimusha 3 is looking better than ever before with a new game engine and wholly CG (computer generated) cut-scenes of the two main characters in this 15-hour journey through place and time. Nobunaga's Genma (assortment of monsters and deformities) begin figuring out how the Oni technology works and making it their own to conquer time and the pitiful planet we humans call Earth! There is a movie planned to go alongside this game, which is why the graphics are vastly better than the second game. The music and audio have been cleaned up, with ambient and environmental sounds all cinematic, as well as some of the voice-acting being noticeably better this time around. The plot involves the same good and bad guys as the first game, but French movie star Jean Reno is another main character. The reasons to buy Onimusha 3 are many, since it has improved controls (analogue stick works), fluid motion and easy-to-get-into fight sequences, and hence no training required. The game twists are welcome, and the most interesting fights are enjoyable and fun! There are some extras, which could add another five hours to the game if the puzzles and chests are all included. Samurai Samanosuke and cop Jacques get time-shifted when the attack occurs and battle for their lives, freedom and the Earth.

Great Onimusha game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: April 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The third installment in the series vaguely deals with the other two. Of course, some enemies return and Samonosuke returns as well. Also, the game now features two main characters with the ogre gauntlet.

Basically there is a rip in time, and genma have traveled 500 years into the future, into Paris. Samonosuke gets sent to Paris, while Jean Reno gets sent to Japan.

Visually, the game is stunning. The graphics are great and the cinematics are probably the best ive ever seen. The game also features that really cool whip of Jeans and his gun.

The combat is basically the same. Samonosuke has pretty much the same style of combat as always, but with some new swords. The new combat stuff is Jean Reno's whip and gun. Jean can whip his opponents and throw them. He can also shoot them but he can't do that from far away. He has to shoot them on the ground or grab them first. This is still cool and makes the combat more fun. They also kept those really cool white counter slashes. The first boss is fun because Samonosuke can slash the room up and the environment looks spectacular. Also, like the other Onimusha games, the heroes get help from NPC's which are relatively good at fighting.

The story is pretty good. The interesting part is how the past affects the future. You can travel through time to distribute items or when you successfully changed the past. This system works well and is fun to use.

The game is pretty much like the other two games. It isn't really creepy anymore, and there are less of those "Find the key!" puzzles. It is more of a hack and slash but doesn't have that town thing like Onimusha 2 did. This is still good. In fact, the game resembles MGS2 at times with the constant cinematics. They rock though so it's fine.

The only bad part about the game is the downshift in creepiness. I was expecting to go through a tight corridor mansion slashing monsters and such, but now it is more slash- away fighting. The other bad part is near the begginning of the game, Jean's voice changes. He no longer speaks French and all-of-a-sudden has a completely new voice actor. You will probably say, "This is retarded". It is, because Jean's voice rocked, but just near the begginning they completely changed it. It is kind of annoying because the new voice doesn't sound like Jean.

Still, the game has some specials for completing it. It also kept those cool white counter slashes which let you decimate foes. I would reccomend purchasing this game if you enjoyed the other two. 4 stars!

This game....BEATS THEM ALL!! (ignore what other people say)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This games story is about a Japanese soldier names Samanouske, has a war against the genma (like monsters) and their leader, Nobunaga. Nobunaga was revived as a demon. I just beat Onimusha 3 today and i loved the ending. Jacques Blanc, a French military guy, accidently goes back in time to Samanouske's time (1582) and Samanouske goes to Jacques time (2004). Play the game to find out the rest.

Educational: This is actually educational because u can learn Freanch and u learn english as well.

Play and everything else: One word. EXCELLENT!

Onimusha Rules!!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

What a superb game..... This is the 2nd Oni series I played after having finished Onimusha 2.. And I quickly bought Onimusha 1 Warlords... Oni 3 is by far best game and I really enjoyed it so much. The fireflies in the game that let jacques reach from places to places.. Time travel with Ako being the little guardian angel from the ancient Fuedal Japan time to the modern Paris 2004 is just so exciting and so much fun to play... Sucking souls from live gemna with Ako's green vest... White vest to restore health... and so much more goodies in the game...Simply fantastic!!! Will play again and again...If the rumours are true...Hope to catch ONIMUSHA on the big SCREEN....It must be transform into a blockbuster movie!!!

Paris With Demons On Top

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 14
Date: December 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

While demon whomping action games aren't my usual type of game, I had a played through Onimusha 2 a while ago and enjoyed much more than I expected to. With the price of Onimusha 3 so low, I decided to try it out. Again. I was happy with the result.

The two games share some characters - Samonosuke and Nabonaga, of course, and a host of monsters. Demon Seige though, breaks new ground. Nobumaga's scientist Guildenstern has figured out a way to fold time, spreading the battle to modern Paris and introducing the complication which makes this game unique. An accident transports Jacques Blanc of the French military to Japan and creates two Samonosukes - one in Paris, and one back in 16th century Japan. In addition to Jacque, we get his fiancée Michelle and his young son Henri.

That this works at all is amazing. The player has to adjust to three different sets of fighting skills and weaponry (fortunately Henri stays a non-combatant) and deal with the occasional complications of having to fighters in play at one time. But work it does - in no time you are winging your way between the Eiffel tower, underwater temples, and the usual Japanese temples and castles. And having a ball solving puzzles and beating up bad things.

Play is straightforward with a small set of fight moves and some interesting weapons. The plot is linear, but the need for the characters in both eras to coordinate their actions creates the sense of a few degrees of freedom that aren't really there. One you've been through it play time should run under 20 hours, even with some extended leveling up.

Artistically the game is superb. Amemiya's influence still shows, and the overall level of detail makes watching almost as much fun as playing. Player action is smooth as is the interface that drives the character. I still think Onimusha 2 had the better story, but from a playing and viewing experience Onimusha 3 is a real improvement. This is certainly worth the price.

A fine game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: June 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have never been a big fan of Console Action/Adventure types of games. I usually get frustrated with all the puzzles and traps you have to figure out. In fact, I was more frustrated with the combat in the game, as I found the first Boss fight to be quite challenging for my old hands to manage.

However, once I got into the game, I found I enjoyed it very much. The story line, while somewhat cliche, is told in an exceptional fashion. This is not high fantasy, or epic quest. This is a struggle of two men, functioning virtually alone, against rather horrendous odds. I liked how the two timelines were linked, and getting moved between ancient Japan and modern France was a refreshing change from many games that are stuck in one enviroment.

I must say that the voice acting of Gildenstern and Ako put me off a bit, but the over all quality of the sound and graphics of this game made me forget most of that. Somehow the Japanese love tiny fairy like characters, and I have started to get used to that.

My only real problem with the game is the complex controls, but I'm getting older, and the reflexes just don't handle many combo moves any longer.

Overall, highly recommended. I notice that many of the reviewers who rated the game poorly either hadn't played it yet, or hadn't played the entire game yet. I'd say you should try it and make your own decision.

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