Playstation 2 owners met the demon-slashing Samanoske last year in Capcom’s million seller Onimusha. He’s back in a more fitted samurai suit in the Xbox upgrade Genma Onimusha. The title uses several techniques to enhance gameplay, and for the most part, pulls it off with flying blood splats.
Genma Onimusha takes place in feudal Japan. Warlord Yoshimoto Imagawa fights to unify Japan to serve under his rule. Warlord Nobunaga Oda doesn’t take the news kindly and makes a surprise attack on Yoshimoto’s camp. Nobunaga defeats Yoshimoto and his men, but is pierced in the neck by an arrow and dies. One year later, soldiers and workers disappear from the Mino prefecture, and at the same time a Princess Yuki is kidnapped. Samanoske sets out to rescue the princess and rid of a mysteriously resurrected Nobunaga.
Onimusha on PS2 was relatively easy, but the folks at Capcom have made the Xbox upgrade a much bigger challenge. There are several enhancements that make Genma Onimusha more interesting than its first outing. The first is Samanoske’s new charge attack. By holding the attack button players can charge the sword to three levels. When players slice an enemy at a full charge, the enemy emits a green orb – another new addition. The green souls can be collected and sucked in by Samanoske’s gauntlet. Once five green souls are collected, Samanoske can release its power to form an invincibility shield. The shield only lasts a few seconds but is very useful in tough enemy battles.
The enemies are tougher in Genma Onimusha. Whenever a green soul is emitted from a fallen enemy, nearby enemies can suck in the soul and become maniacal. To keep enemies from grabbing green orbs and going berserk, Samanoske can tug the soul back towards him with a rapid A button push. The tug of war aspect adds a tough and more tactical new dimension to gameplay.
Downsides to the tougher gameplay is the fact that Samanoske isn’t the most maneuverable character. He controls Resident Evil style (turn character left and right, then walk character forward or backward) and getting overwhelmed by enemies is common. Even more so now when you have worry about tugging green souls away from enemies. But in most cases, players don’t have to fight all enemies if they don’t want to. Enemies keep regenerating and can be killed at your leisure.
Genma Onimusha looks great on Xbox. Samanoske and friends are sharp and textures spread clean. The most noticeable non-gameplay element are the fast load times. The PS2 has to access longer between each area, and in Genma it’s almost a non-issue. What might be an issue to players is the somewhat clunky D-pad. It’s a bit low on the Xbox pad and isn’t at the most comfortable play position. The distant black and white buttons don’t help when you need to unleash green souls or make a quick 180 degree turn. Plus, pushing the right analog in to get to the inventory screen doesn’t make to much sense.
Genma Onimusha is a polished upgrade to the original. The deeper gameplay system lengthens battles and doesn’t let you sprint to the end. The few new areas, enemies, and costumes won’t lure back previous players. But Xbox owners who haven’t sliced into the demonic world of Onimusha, should.
