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Onimusha 3: Demon Siege Review - PS2

The Onimusha series has been popular ever since the release of the first game in the series, especially with Resident Evil fans; the game featured a very similar style of gameplay. Sword-wielding Samurai Samanosuke is back and better than ever in the third instalment in the series, Onimusha 3: Demon Siege.

Onimusha 3: Demon Siege features a captivating and unique storyline. Engaged in turbulent time shifts and large-scale, merciless attacks, the world is becoming corrupt at the hands of the Genma, an evil race of demons. Akechi Samanosuke, an aspiring samurai from the Age of Warring States in Ancient Japan, is once again involved in the Genma's exploits, sent unwillingly into the heart of Paris in the year 2004 where the Genma have arrived and are beginning their attempt to conquer the city. Jacques Blanc, a French policeman and caring father of ten-year-old Henri, is sent back to Samanosuke's Ancient Japan in a complex twist in a time shift. Finding that there are two completely separate versions of Samanosuke - one in the past and one in the future - Jacques is forced to work alongside the ancient samurai in an attempt to return home to his son, while the Samanosuke of the future attempts to rid the Earth of the Genma's core, an evil man named Nobunaga. During the game, gameplay switches between Jacques in Ancient Japan to Samanosuke in the future, creating an engaging storyline that cleverly intertwines both characters' adventures.

You begin the game as Samanosuke, amidst a fiery battle in Ancient Japan against the Genma forces. Herein the story is progressed through a plethora of cut scenes that play at convenient intervals. As mentioned above, the gameplay constantly shifts between Samanosuke and Jacques - not at with the controlled tap of a button, but after certain cut scenes. Fortunately both characters have similar attacks and controls in general, so there's little confusion after a switch.

The fact that Onimusha 3: Demon Siege takes place in both the past and the future keeps the game's locations nice and varied. One minute you'll be in one of Ancient Japan's lush forests and the next you'll be wandering down a chaotic street filled with flaming cars and dead pedestrians. Mind you, the contradictory locations that the characters are in are quite interesting; a cop laden with ammunition and firearms doesn't fit into a time of swordplay and waterfront trade, and a samurai dressed in armour certainly doesn't fit into a city packed with skyscrapers and modern technology. The environments are fairly linear; there aren't many alternate paths and most of the time you'll be restricted to narrow rooms, areas and passageways, even in outdoor locations. Fortunately there's a bit of backtracking and the like, the catalyst of which being the game's simplistic Resident Evil and Silent Hill style puzzles, but you'll still feel a tad confined.

As you progress through the game you'll acquire new weapons for each character, each containing their own separate inventories. ... (continued next page)