Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams
Capcom messes with a good thing and makes... a good thing.
Published: April 15, 2006
Upgrading the base attacks opens up sub-attacks that work as sort of mini-super moves. They aren't quite as satisfying as linking together six or seven dashing finishers, but they do allow you to hit multiple enemies or knock them back. These too can be upgraded as you level up your characters. Finally, each character has an Oni Mode similar to past games where you they become invincible and attacks are much, much more powerful -- so long as you have enough juice. The elemental attacks that are unleashed normally with a press of the Triangle button become super moves in their own right, but each character has their own specific attack they can do even out of Oni Mode with a press of the R2 button that is slower, but much more powerful.
These in particular play towards the characters' differences, and they are significant. With the exception of Soki and to some extent Tenkai, all of the characters in the game play quite differently from the leads in previous games. Ohatsu has a gun that's great for ranged attacks, Roberto is all close-range fisticuffs and Jubei... well, she just kicks ass as a super-agile version of Soki or Tenkai that can unleash huge combos before enemies can react. Because you now carry a partner with you most of the time, you're able to mix up how you go into battle, and it's a very welcome way to custom build partner support in a given level.
The addition of a second playable character (you can even use a hidden two-player mode that's undocumented and a little clunky) allows you to use each character's strengths; Ohatsu can swing across gaps, Jubei can crawl into narrow passages and tightrope walk skinny passageways, Roberto can move heavy blocks and Tenkai can free the souls of the dead, giving you valuable items or information. Soki... well, he just cuts stuff up real good.
The second character is handled by the game's AI, but you have limited control over their aggressiveness, allowing you to have them follow and attack, go all out, guard and recover up to 50% of their health or use a special ability like absorbing souls, boosting the other character's attack, laying down covering fire, and so on. The AI is usually fairly smart, and Capcom wisely mandated that if your partner is killed, they'll eventually come back to life if you stay alive long enough, so you don't have to babysit them all that much.
It's hard to understate how much the infusion of new combat and faces has changed things up. This feels very much like a new Onimusha game, and the heavier RPG elements actually allow you to do stuff like powerlevel if that's your bag. In between levels, you can talk to your party, have them combine items found in chests and dropped by enemies to make new, more powerful stuff, shop for weapons, armor and restoratives, or revisit old levels with a new partner to use their skills to unlock side paths. Even the Dark World levels make an appearance, but they're playable with all five characters.
I mentioned that the storyline can be a little obtuse in its themes at times, but there are a couple of interesting subplots and a few nice twists. Soki has the dubious honor of holding within him a power that's greater than even the Onimusha, and should he fall to the dark side (Hideyoshi is his dad, after all) it could mean the end of all mankind. The love triangles and family disputes makes the game fun to play through, and at two DVDs there's a ton to play through.
