Am around four hours into this now and have some initial impressions. I wonder if this game has come along at the wrong time, only last week I played the impressive looking Ninja Gaiden with its natural and deep combat mechanic which makes Onimusha 3 look shallow in comparison. Or maybe thats slightly unfair as the games are quite different, but either way the shine I was expecting is missing from this, a game not entirely dissimilar to its previous two titles.
You will feel right at home playing this if you have played Oni 1 and 2. You can control the main charecters by using either the D or Analogue stick, Ive noticed though that performing certain actions with the analogue is a lot harder than the D pad, particularly the kick, but on the flipside D pad control in a 3d game like this is very clumsy and only saved due to the thoughtful inclusion of a 180 button. By holding down R1 you can activate a power-up attack or use it in combination with Square to shoot arrows and so on, whilst pressing in the R3 stick transforms yourself into a powered up version of your charecter which is now thankfully controllable rather than Oni 2 whereby as soon as you got the 5th orb you would transform automatically.
Graphically its a mixed bag. The locations are all nicely drawn and in full 3d, however I find the graphics to be rather grainy, and aside of one of two very nice effects (in particular the use of fire) there has been little to really amaze me so far. What does shine once agian, is the charecter design, both Samanoske and Jacques Blanc are nicely drawn whilst the enemies are of similar quality. Worth noting is the rather graphic but highly impressive intro sequence, I might capture this footage later on for you.
Puzzles are fortunatly easy to work out, I say fortunatly as there is no English text here, you miss out on the story details but it appears reasonaly easy to follow and so Id say this was import friendly. Use of Gamefaqs.com will be needed for non-Japanese speakers at some points though, particulary on doors which require combinations.
The relationship betweek Samanoske and Jacques Blanc is quite under-used, I think there is an awful lot of work to take place before you really feel as though you are fighting and completing tasks with a computer controlled charecter as opposed to them just being there and (amazingly annoyingly) getting in the way - many times Ive been running against a charecter in a small alleyway gradually moving them along in order to pass them, its infuriating when it happens and a glaring oversight on Capcoms behalf. The locations are mildly interesting, but it does feel very out of place seeing Samanoske in modern day France and Jacques Blanc in 15th Century Japan.
There are training modes which are tricky to work out due to the Japanese text, you are required to pull of X number of blocks, attacks or counters before completing the task. The deadly slash makes a welcome return although Ill be damned if I can figure out how to actually pull one off when wanted. The other weird addition is the fairies, Im really not sure I like these as they are kinda annoying and look very out of place, they aid in pointing out secrets, healing you or reaching out of reach objects however.
Safe to say those who liked the last two will also like this, but Im not convinced of Famitsus high rating for this or that it will convert those who didnt like previous titles at all. More as I progress, Ill capture some footage today and post it here.
You will feel right at home playing this if you have played Oni 1 and 2. You can control the main charecters by using either the D or Analogue stick, Ive noticed though that performing certain actions with the analogue is a lot harder than the D pad, particularly the kick, but on the flipside D pad control in a 3d game like this is very clumsy and only saved due to the thoughtful inclusion of a 180 button. By holding down R1 you can activate a power-up attack or use it in combination with Square to shoot arrows and so on, whilst pressing in the R3 stick transforms yourself into a powered up version of your charecter which is now thankfully controllable rather than Oni 2 whereby as soon as you got the 5th orb you would transform automatically.
Graphically its a mixed bag. The locations are all nicely drawn and in full 3d, however I find the graphics to be rather grainy, and aside of one of two very nice effects (in particular the use of fire) there has been little to really amaze me so far. What does shine once agian, is the charecter design, both Samanoske and Jacques Blanc are nicely drawn whilst the enemies are of similar quality. Worth noting is the rather graphic but highly impressive intro sequence, I might capture this footage later on for you.
Puzzles are fortunatly easy to work out, I say fortunatly as there is no English text here, you miss out on the story details but it appears reasonaly easy to follow and so Id say this was import friendly. Use of Gamefaqs.com will be needed for non-Japanese speakers at some points though, particulary on doors which require combinations.
The relationship betweek Samanoske and Jacques Blanc is quite under-used, I think there is an awful lot of work to take place before you really feel as though you are fighting and completing tasks with a computer controlled charecter as opposed to them just being there and (amazingly annoyingly) getting in the way - many times Ive been running against a charecter in a small alleyway gradually moving them along in order to pass them, its infuriating when it happens and a glaring oversight on Capcoms behalf. The locations are mildly interesting, but it does feel very out of place seeing Samanoske in modern day France and Jacques Blanc in 15th Century Japan.
There are training modes which are tricky to work out due to the Japanese text, you are required to pull of X number of blocks, attacks or counters before completing the task. The deadly slash makes a welcome return although Ill be damned if I can figure out how to actually pull one off when wanted. The other weird addition is the fairies, Im really not sure I like these as they are kinda annoying and look very out of place, they aid in pointing out secrets, healing you or reaching out of reach objects however.
Safe to say those who liked the last two will also like this, but Im not convinced of Famitsus high rating for this or that it will convert those who didnt like previous titles at all. More as I progress, Ill capture some footage today and post it here.
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