Onimusha: Warlords and Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny
The Onimusha series may be long forgotten, but back in the early days of the Playstation 2, there were few moments in gaming more awe inspiring to me than watching the first Onimusha game or it’s sequel in motion. Much of this shock and awe was a consequence of the majority of launch titles for the Playstation 2 failing to live up to the all consuming pre-launch hype. The bad blood didn’t last long though, and I could see the tide turn as I popped the Onimusha game discs in and played what I (still) think are two of the best games of the past generation.
Not only were you greeted by some of the best pre-rendered CG sequences (by ROBOT) ever in gaming, but the visual fidelity didn’t let up when you switched over to actual gameplay. Extra special (to the cinophile in me) was how Capcom used real actors to base their heros on. Takeshi Kaneshiro and the late Yusaka Matsuda oozed class and the feudal Japan sets and environments (all lovingly pre-rendered) chanelled the bes
t parts of every Samurai film I’d seen. The attention to detail didn’t stop with the visuals though. The Taro Iwashiro (Memories of Murder, Red Cliff) composed score never failed to inspire you, and the art direction (from the meticulously researched village settings to the props) was awe inspiring. Although a hack-and-slash game at heart, Capcom seemed to know they had something special in their hands as there were cleverly placed lulls in the action that let you soak in the atmosphere and prep yourself for the next encounter, mo-capped katana at the ready. The games also blended their fantastical story with characters and clans from Japan’s rich history. Battling Oda Nobunaga had never been done better, before or since.
One can only hope that Inafune-san comes back to Onimusha sometime in the near future. It would make more sense than another Bionic Commando debacle at the very least.
