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Posted: 4:50 AM - Mar 14, 2001
chvstaff
okay, i have no intention in writing a long-ass review. this is NOT a review. these are my impressions of the game, and facts that will help you see what you're risking when you buy the game.
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onimusha is basically biohazard (resident evil in the US) on the PS2.
it has 2D backgrounds.
2D BACKGROUNDS, for @#$%'s sake!!
now, the intro FMV sure IS the most beautiful FMV i've seen (And lo, i would have loved to post it if CHV were around), but that's where the high-point of the game ends.
the game engine, while it is much better than biohazard's, it still makes you feel like you're playing biohazard.
thx to the PS2's immense left-over power, the characters and enemies look really nice. and the special effects from the blades WILL bring a tiny smile to your face the first couple of times you see them.
but that's IT.
as i said, static backgrounds and a five-year old gameplay made less of an impression on me than biohazard did in 1996.
and to make things worse, this game doesn't even have an ending. after the final bossfight (which can be SOOO easy if you get the secret weapon, which isn't all that hard to get), all you get are a few still-framed pictures and ten lines of dialogue explaining what happened.
so if you've downloaded the intro before the game was released, and/or seen gameplay footage from the game, take it from me, you've seen all you need to.
apparently, onimusha is planned out to become a trilogy, and the game even included a 15 second promo video for the sequel. you know what i think? unless they bring some major changes to the gameplay engine, i ain't playing it.
Bo@chv
[Edit: just fixing the broken image links... ]

Posted: 5:36 AM - Mar 14, 2001
vidiotY2k
Im not going to say much...But after playing it myself, I almost disagree with a large amount of things you said...But! Its your review Bo! And I must not angry the CHV gods who created this great site! So, I will shut up an go away......(&*%^#$@^^&^%!@&^%!@^&!!!)
-vidiot-

Posted: 5:01 AM - Apr 01, 2001
Miso Soup
ah poo. and i just preordered this game -_-*
atleast my brother paid for it. sucks being in australia. everything comes out a lightyear late.. and pal!#& >_<
/me flies back to japan

Posted: 2:12 AM - Apr 03, 2001
vidiotY2k
Don't listen to reviews until you have played a game, then figure it out by yourself. A game that one editor hates can be a favorite to someone else. To be honest, I don't think Onimusha is that bad.
-vidiot-
Pre-order EVERYTHING....Unless it has ANYTHING to do with microsoft...

Posted: 5:33 AM - Apr 03, 2001
SkylrRavyn
Yeah I bought Onimusha too. I think it is great. Whenever I get a new PS2 game I have to have my friend sleep over. So he did, and we played it all night long. We beat it like 2 times in a row. I love it. Onimusha is great.

Posted: 6:17 PM - Apr 03, 2001
chvstaff
it's like final fantasy all over again.
i haven't met a single person who didn't like onimusha. they all thought it was great.
and it seems like i'm the only one who doesn't.... actually, no, my friends in the electronics market (where i buy my games) didn't like it either.
ok, i'm not trying to pick a fight, or defend my opinion. this is a pure question to anybody who DOES think onimusha is great.
WHY is it great?
now, please take out the graphics or the FMVs from your answers, because i just won't have it. if i wanted great FMV i'd just buy the toystory 2 DVD. i don't need my $70 PS2 game (japanese game) to impress me with 6 minute computer animated graphics.
so... what am i missing? did i miss something in the story? did i miss something in the gameplay?

Posted: 6:33 PM - Apr 03, 2001
Jim
I don't know about that (havn't played it), but I still stick by the fact that if you never played Final Fantasy (as in 6 or earlier) when they were NEW, then you probably wouldn't get the effect that some of us got.

Posted: 4:48 AM - Apr 05, 2001
vidiotY2k
Yeah, the graphics kick, but the gameplay isn't really a copy of Resident Evil either. Now, you can take the opinion of a average-joe gamer in Red WA, or you can go by yours. You asked a question, I answer. Its true Onimusha has defiantly been influenced by Resident Evil. (RE was influenced by the "Alone in the dark" games, and a large amount of us gamers are pretty much bored with this gameplay) But Onimusha breaths life into this genre. To be honest, after thirty minutes of playing, I was getting bored. It seemd to linear, and the english voice acting was creeping me out. (You NEED to play it with the Japanese voices!) I was impressed by how nicely ol-Samanuska (I know I misspelled his name!) moved like. Your able to strafe, upgrade your weapons, learn new attacks. Its f.u.n. Also, one of the greatest parts about it is that it feels like your watching an old samurai flick. This blends really well with its type of "hack and slash" gameplay. Unlike "RE" instead of running away from your enemies, you run after them. (Something that you guys LIKED about Dino Crisis 2) I don't think gamers actually want to "conserve ammo" and try to run away from a bunch of fast moving monsters, while playing the game with murky controls. Yes, its not "revolutionary". Yes, it uses pre-rendered backgrounds (which kick ass, you cant hardly notice its a 2D static background, gosh should I call it "static"?) But it offers some solid gameplay, and its a cinematic game, which always influences gamers. Its not that bad, its one of the best games this year. But that's my opinion. I respect yours, because ONE of my friends feels the same way. That's it for me.
-vidiot-
HEY JIM! Stop watching that scene with Snake being...uh, "solid" in the MGS2 demo, go play this game. You can find it in EBX, and ETC...Just don't talk to the employees...(They REALLY don't know their stuff...)

Posted: 8:49 PM - Apr 27, 2001
Guest
So, after *finally* getting a PS2 (and Onimusha), I have to say I agree with vidiot. Onimusha is a *cool* game! (for all of the reasons mentioned)
Also, even though Bo said to leave graphics out of this, I can't help it. I am a graphics whore. In fact, even if the rest of the game had sucked, I still probably would have been sold on just the graphics. - Not only the FMV's, but the in-game character models are incredibly well done. They move, blink, and even make facial expressions that look almost real... Especially Keade (the chick?), when she finds you in the room with all the levers, and she starts talking about Princess Yuki's little "brother" . . . I was struck by the way she wistfully walks, as if she was actually thinking... and then when the cage slams down on you, the way she twitched for a sec, ran back and forth, and then started pacing. Her body movement was exactly like what a real person in panick would do. Very impressive.
My one complaint is that the game is a little short, but like vidiot said, it's just like watching (or in this case, playing through) a classic samurai flick, and the eye candy more than makes up for it. - Not to mention the sick burst of enjoyment you get every time you upgrade your weapon, beat the crap out of somebody with it, and go: "Now THAT's a sword, baby..."

Things don't have to be this way.
Catch me on a better day.
[url=mailto:Angelique@DaValkyries.zzn.com]Angelique@DaValkyries.zzn.com[/url].

Posted: 9:14 PM - Apr 27, 2001
Jim
"it's just like watching a classic samurai flick"
Oh THANKS a lot! Now you're going to make me go out and buy a game that I've paid no attention to. You should've warned me about reading this thread right after watching Ran (even though Ran isn't exactly a Samurai movie).