ONIMUSHA: WARLORDS

Still big Oda here after all these years

Everything you know about history is wrong, according to noughties’ Capcom. In the Resident Evil dev’s hands demons are everywhere, corrupting Japan’s Sengoku-era clans and generally goofing around with historical events. Playing as Samanosuke, a samurai of the Akechi clan, you witness the death of Nobunaga Oda on the battlefield and it’s ass-pats all round for the victors. Or so you think. A year later Samanosuke receives a letter from his cousin, Princess Yuki of the Sait clan, who fears for her life.

On arriving at Inabayama Castle you’re immediately sword-deep in zombie samurai and demonic giants, and somewhere in the mazelike corridors and catacombs of the castle are Yuki and a resurrected Nobunaga. Remember, all these characters are real historical figures; it’s like finding out Henry VIII was really an ogre.

Odd timey-wimey setup aside, the Resident Evil influence is all over Onimusha: Warlords. Like Capcom’s classic horror this is a fixed-screen adventure littered with puzzles, item collection, and exploration. Unlike the zombie classic there’s a greater emphasis on combat. A demonic gauntlet enables you to suck orbs and souls from defeated enemies to heal, power magical attacks, and upgrade weapons.

RAIZAN THE ROOF

You’ve three weapons to swap between – a katana (Raizan), a broadsword (Enryuu), and a twin-bladed staff (Shippuu) – and each has advantages and disadvantages to master. Enryuu is perfect for breaking shields but slow against nimble ninja.

As well as being used to upgrade weapons, souls are also used to enhance embedded orbs that open like-coloured doors. The need to upgrade orbs spurs you on to grind back and forth through the castle’s chambers, and doing so you’re often rewarded with the chance to collect new weapons, such as the flintlock rifle that makes one particularly buzzy boss (a giant half-wasp, near-naked sexy concubine) a breeze.

It’s moments like this, particularly some of the lingering camera shots, that remind you this is a PS2 game. That and the requisite jiggle physics of Samanosuke’s ninja sidekick Kaede. Play switches to her on occasion, and lacking the breadth of abilities of the samurai, you need to rethink your approach to surving the castle. She’s nimble, as befits a ninja, but can’t suck healing souls, so there’s a genuine anxiety to Kaede’s cameos.

While this remaster is mostly cosmetic, a new widescreen mode reveals more of the detailed pre-rendered stages, and the addition of analogue movement makes combat more accessible. But old idiosyncrasies remain – you can swap weapons on i but not mid-fight (you need to go into the menus).

That said, Onimusha: Warlords is still fun, and has the added bonus of corrupting a generation’s view of history.

VERDICT

“A NEW WIDESCREEN MODE REVEALS MORE OF THE PRE-RENDERED STAGES.”

Playing fast and loose with historical fact, Onimusha: Warlords remains a PlayStation classic. Even some of its questionable design choices can’t dampen the fun. Ian Dean