Customer Reviews

Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I've played through Onimusha 1&2. I watched a friend beat the Onimusha 3. They weren't bad games, but they weren't great either. They seemed to lack some advances in the genre that had already been implemented by many other series. Onimusha is the answer to all of these issues. Dawn of Dreams is such a big improvement that I've been calling it "Onimusha: Fixed" among friends.

The biggest aspect that has made the past Onimusha games seem archaic is the fixed camera. It's the rare action game that can pull off a fixed camera these days. Devil May Cry 3 and God of War manage to do so only because the depth of their combat systems means the player has little time to focus on a camera. The onimushas have always been slower paced than these other 2 titles, so the fixed camera always felt claustrophobic- especially since backgrounds had a painted look rather than being rendered in 3d. But that's in the past now; Dawn of Dreams features a fully controllable camera. There are some places where the camera can't be manipulated, but these places are the exception rather than the rule, and they occur at places where camera use would be of little benefit.

The first 3 Onimushas also played like a an action-rpg-lite. Neither the action nor the rpg elements were terribly deep. Beyond the challenge of pulling off countermoves, there wasn't much to do beyond mashing the square button constantly. Sure, there were some minigames involving giving allies gifts, puzzle boxes, etc., but the meat of the gameplay could get stale after a while. Here, too, Dawn of Dreams provides a solution. On the action side, characters have a sizeable number of moves and special attacks...probably in the neighborhood of 15-20 different moves. Oh, and did I say characterS? Yeah, there are 5 playable characters. In some games, that might mean 5 scoops of the same vanilla- not here. The characters use roughly the same controls, but they play VERY differently. I could try to describe this difference, but it's something that pretty much has to be experienced. In addition, you typically use one character while another is fighting alongside you. You can switch between these characters on the fly and issues commands to the character the computer is controlling. This spices up the action a good bit. So the action definitely works quite well.

Then there's the improved rpg aspect. In the other Onimushas, characters had 2-3 weapons that could be upgraded from time to time. Dawn of Dreams allots 20-30 weapons to EACH character. These weapons are all upgradeable and grant a variety of bonuses. Also, the characters themselves level up. Through leveling, the player can choose what skills to upgrade, which can unlock new moves. Meanwhile, items can be combined to form accesories and weapons. Taken together, the rpg aspects here are surprisingly satisfying.

Dawn of Dreams is a LONG game for an actioner. The main quest takes about 20 hours, and there's a lot of side stuff to do. You can take characters to old levels to reach areas you couldn't get to with that character. Most importantly, the Dark realm returns- and it's 100 levels long. Plus, each character can find unique items in the realm. To beat it all, you'd have to fight through 500 levels! While this might have been tedious in past Onimusha games, the combat system is robust enough here that the dark realm is a blast. I've already spent a good 6 hours (and quickly counting) on the dark realm alone.

The other aspects of the game are well above par. The soundtrack is enjoyable and the story is better than I would have expected. Puzzle boxes return in slightly different form, but this is one part of the series I've always enjoyed, and this one continues that. My only complaint is that the story could have felt truly EPIC had there been more cutscenes. There ARE a lot of cutscenes, but much of the supporting story and character background is found only by reading unspoken dialog. Furthermore, the large majority of the cutscenes are in-game engine. I know pre-rendered stuff is expensive, but a game like this begs for beautiful cg treatment- the more, the better. This should be taken as a very minor complaint, though- the story comes off quite well as is.

Overall, Onimusha Dawn of Dreams is a gameplay tour de force that should please any action game fan. Highly recommended

After playing the amazing movie-like experience that is Onimusha III, I must say THIS game is definitely not stunning enough to be a game that goes down in history. But, this new addition to the demon-slashing series is definitely good enough to maximize game-play experience for every player.

This title depicts an ancient Japan heavily infested with demonic energy, and it is up to a young man, Soki, to save the people. The story is not exceptionally unique, but it can engage the player enough to make him/her sit in front of the PS2 for several hours.

While playing the game, you'd realize that you are keeping your fingers really busy. As the player advances in the story, the character acquire new skills with a "point-adding" system, in which the player acquire points by fighting the Genma soldiers, which are found almost everywhere, and other different monsters in specific encounters. Making use of almost every single button on the controller to make different combinations will allow the character in the game to perform various attack styles and skills. It is all up to the player's preference on what skill to upgrade, what skill to use and when to use it. Also, with the ability to use two players at a time, one being controlled by the player and the accompanying one follows the orders of the controlled character, and to change the accompanying fighter at save points, the player finds himself making use of each character's unique abilities to solve various puzzles and gain access to areas certain characters are unable to reach. Strategy plays an important part in the whole game. It is all up to the player to utilize the various ways to get around each scenario.

The game allows the player to re-access the areas they've been to, to obtain any items they had missed out during the actual mission and to use a different character to gain access to a secret area to obtain item(s). As certain characters are only available after the player goes way into the story, this feature of allowing the player to revisit the places, makes sure nothing is missed. Most maps are explorable and the player should make it a point to revisit the places more than once in order to gain all available items. During a "revisit", the player can challenge a mini-game known as the Test of Valor again, regardless of whether they passed or failed in the initial mission, in which the character must defeat the stated number of enemies within a certain time limit. Each Test is graded with a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal, in which each grade signifies the quality of the item the player will receive after each attempt. A Fail does not award the character with anything.

The animation and graphics in the game can be considered brilliant, marked improvement can be seen from the previous titles in the series. All character and camera movement is smooth and synchronizes perfectly with the player's intention. Cut-scenes are beautifully rendered and as usual, the superb Voice Acting just goes on to prove that all the cut-scenes are wonderfully crafted. However, during normal dialogue where there is no voice-over, the movements of the speaking character are actually programmed in a loop. For example, if the dialogue's mood is angry, the character will perform actions in the "angry loop", if the dialogue's mood is normal, the character will perform actions in the "normal loop". The character's actions will repeat after one round, and it doesn't fit with the words in the dialogue box. Sometimes, the character movements are too exaggerated and seems a bit unnatural and unreal. For example, when Soki's dialogue shows that he's angry, Soki seems to be shivering too much with rage.

The music does not really fit with the time-line of the game's story, but it fits the game ambience totally. Traditional music instruments are used sometimes to combine with the pop/rock music in the arrangement. With this kind of arrangement, the music cannot fit with the story's time-line, and only serves as a simply "fit-with-the-player'' music. The music will be good enough to the target market, which are the teenage gamers, as the rock/pop music is what these people of this age group are fairly interested in. However, as perfect as milk goes well with cereal, the rock/pop -style music fits with the game ambience perfectly.

Although there may be some weak points in certain areas, this game is still worth-playing, and with an open-mind, a player can be totally immersed with the game. It is undoubtedly another great addition to the series. The future still looks bright for upcoming Onimusha titles. I hope they hire some Hollywood talent on the next project, to set it at the calibur it deserves to be.

Ive played all the onimusha games, I was hooked. What I love about the game is that if the bosses are too hard, you can always go to previous levels, fight and earn more power so you can whip the new bosses *****. Save at different levels so you dont have too far to go back. I did do the cheat that unlocks the 2 player mode right away (press r1 & r2, as well as L1 & L2 at the same time, when your partner does the same on another remote, but have the partner then at the same time press "start"
at the "load" part of the game. It is the funnest game in the world on 2 player mode. The interchangeable characters is a blast and you can play single mode at any point of the game if you want to. I play with my 10 year old daughter and 6 year old son, alternatively and we cant stop playing. But if by chance they dont play with me, I continue on with the game in single mode, and they can join me later!

The game was fun, but it did not live up to the series. There was alot of cool things to do and wepons to get, but it was still lacking. It had all those characters and side stories but I felt cheated somehow. I didn't like the main character and the game was not any better than the 3rd one, from a visual aspect. It is interesting to play and it held my attention to the end but ........... You know....I'm going to just ignore this game.

First off I am trying to figure out why Amazon reviewers have it in to give this game such bad reviews. gamespot this game is rated 9.0 and this game is as good as the first 3 Onimusha if not better. I feel this series has always been overlooked, but Onimusha Dawn of Dreams is better, then the original, because it has updated graphics, better story/characters and the controls and camera are better as well. I personally think Onimusha 3 and this one are the 2 two gems in the series as the first onimusha was way too short and the 2nd one is easily the worst in the series. Anyways just disregard the 1, 2 and 3 star reviews this game is a 4 or 5 out of 5 and is a solid title worth purchasing and playing.

I like this game a lot. It brings something new to the table for the Onimusha series, specifically much more in depth RPG elements and a MUCH longer and involved story. The gameplay is very similar to the previous games, but also adds new elements: some good, some not so good. This game takes place roughly 15 years after Onimusha 3: Demon Siege where Nobunaga's right hand man Tokichiro Kinoshita, now known as Hideyoshi Toyotomi, has ruled over Japan after his master's fall. Surprisingly, it was only recently that Hideyoshi started going mad with power and brought the genma back from exile to once again ravage the land. The main character is known as Soki (Oni of the Ash), who apparently has it in for Hideyoshi and wants to take him out. You also play as 4 other supporting characters who share the same sentiment: the new female Jubei Yagyu, the monk Tenkai Nankobo, the muscular priest Roberto Frois, and Soki's love interest Ohatsu. Exactly who all these new characters are and how they seemingly possess some sort of power relating to the Oni you'll have to find out for yourselves, but rest assured the connections they all have to certain legendary characters from the previous games will blow you away... or at least slightly impress you. Like I pointed out earlier, the RPG elements in this game go far beyond what they were in the first three in terms of leveling up your characters. For one thing, the characters ACTUALLY level up and this affects their melee attacks, magic attacks, weapons, and armor like in the first games, but to a greater degree. For example, you can equip items like rings and necklaces (you don't actually see them on your characters) to give your characters added benefits to defense, offense, and magic. They could also slowly replenish your health and magic over time. Soki is the character you start every level as, but you normally have one of the other characters to accompany you, and you usually (but not always) get to choose which one fights alongside you. Allies can be switched at save points and you can switch between Soki and his ally during combat with the push of a button. The D-Pad lets you issue one of four commands to your allies: stay put/block (which restores up to half of the ally's health), attack, go all-out (which increases rate of attack and decreases health) and special skill (varies with each character). Movement is now done solely through the analog stick, which is fine in this game since the camera is no longer in a fixed position and can be rotated by the player.

Since this game is split into episodic chapters, you'll spend lots of time between missions in hub-like hideouts where Soki can get to know his allies through optional dialogue which is displayed in text and actually makes for some entertaining reading for these moments of downtime. While in the hideouts you can also customize your characters and even revisit previous levels with different characters so you can reach certain areas that Soki cannot normally access on his own. Now for the game's combat: the basic elements are mostly unchanged, but the new added techniques and attacks you acquire as your characters level up keep the combat from getting stale and make better use of more numerous button combinations. The characters' fighting styles also differ greatly from one another in a similar manner to Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny. Soki is a balanced character who wields large swords, Jubei is speedy and wields smaller blades, Tenkai wields spears and staves that give him a longer reach, Roberto uses gauntlets that let him attack with close-range punches and jabs, and Ohatsu uses a variety of short-range and long-range firearms. They can all perform their own Oni awakenings as well, where they all become invulnerable and perform their own styles of powerful attacks (Soki is the only one who physically transforms into an Oni). Old and new genma enemies and bosses offer a decent (and at times unfair) challenge. The music has changed since the previous games as well, but fortunately the themes are mostly catchy and fit the overall tone of the levels and enemies. There are now less orchestral scores and many more pop, rock, and what sound like dance themes. There's even one theme that sounds like it's from Pirates of the Caribbean. As good as this game is, it does have a small number of noticeable issues. The cutscenes look good, but are bit on the grainy side in terms of resolution (except the CGI scenes, they're beautiful). The dialogue is unusually hammy at times, even for a Capcom game. When a cutscene occurs while the characters are in the hideouts, the in-game animations make their body movements and mannerisms appear greatly exaggerated and twitchy to the point where they appear like strung up marionettes being controlled by drunken puppet masters. Their mouths don't even move in these scenes, which is unacceptable to me in a PS2 game. Final complaint goes to the boss battles. Some are reasonably challenging, but others are unreasonably brutal, especially the last three bosses. Whether they're easy or hard, all the boss battles are long and drawn out since they all possess health bars longer than the 7 mile bridge. Even some regular enemies have this same annoyance. Despite these meager faults, this game is a lot of fun. With its emphasis on character customization and level exploration, this game lasts easily twice as long as the 3rd game, running between 20 to 30 hours (assuming you go through all the levels of the dark realm, which I could never do). Fans of Onimusha MUST get this game and hack'n slash fans should at least give it a shot.

I've played all of the Onimusha series, and this is a great installment. The graphics are amazing for a PS2 standard, and there are a lot of voice acting (you can choose between English and Japanese). The control scheme is the same as the previous Onimusha entries and the story can be a bit cliche at times (felt like a predictable anime movie). It has a lot of replay values too (I clocked in at least 40 hours and still have not got 100% out of the game yet). If you like the Onimusha series with some new fresh faces, pick this one up.

Fun game, but loses its appeal very soon. I could play the first three from start to finish, but this game, I never got pass disc 1. Let a friend borrow it, and he lost the second disc. So, oh well. CBF to buy this again, unless i see it at a local gamestore or something.

this is a better version of the other onimusha's even if you haven't played pther versions this is excellent... when i got the cd was in excellent condition.. no scratches at all

I have played through Onimusha 1-3 and now most of Onimusha 4 Dawn of Dreams. This one has the most depth by far. There are countless weapons and items to collect. This is the first time in the series where you get five different characters to control and they all have slightly different playstyles. The main character uses a trusty sword, but support characters use fists, guns, spears and dual blades. I have put over 40 hours into the game so far, and I'm still upgrading my weapons. The amount of cutscenes may be the only weak point of this title since there are fewer in this game than in past games, but I still think this game deserves more respect as one of the PS2's best action games.