Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams

It's always a problem when an intended trilogy ends. On the one hand, you want to satisfy an audience who probably wants more. On the other, it becomes too tempting just to go through the motions with nothing new to add to the franchise. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies are a perfect example of this phenomenon. The same can also be said of the Onimusha franchise with Dawn of Dreams feeling just as unnecessary as On Stranger Tides.

Even the story makes this game look like an afterthought. The fourth Onimusha game picks up twenty years after the fall of the demon-possessed Nobunaga Oda who was the villain of the first three games. Hideyoshi now controls Japan and has brought back the Genma. The nation's hope rests with five warriors led by a half-demon named Soki. While the actual plot is a very poor retread of the first game, the interactions among the heroes hold the game together. It's also much goofier than the original trilogy. Some may like that, but I didn't. It detracted from the spooky atmosphere that I always liked about this series.

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While the story is a shameless rehash, the gameplay has noticeably improved from the previous games. The prerendered backgrounds and fixed cameras from the original trilogy are gone. While the camera can be zoomed in a bit too much at points leading to cheap hits from off-screen, it largely works quite well. I had little trouble following the action. The five heroes all feel distinct from each other with their attack patterns and special abilities. I got a kick out of trying them all. The key-finding puzzles and puzzle boxes are present here as well and are just as enjoyable. However, in a really bone-headed move, Capcom took out the ability to store notes that are found. That wouldn't be a problem if the notes just filled in backstory, but they also contained clues to many of the puzzles. I found myself having to check walkthroughs too often after forgetting what I read.

This game really shows what could be done with the Playstation 2 in its twilight years. The game looks gorgeous even on my HDTV with bright colors, brilliant effects, and impressive animation for the heroes and monsters. Best of all, the framerate stays at a perfect 60 fps all the way through. The score has an epic feel that works, but the voice acting is very poor and not even in a funny way like Resident Evil.

There's no denying that Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams is a completely unnecessary sequel. However, there's also no denying that it can be just as enjoyable as the proper trilogy. If you can ignore the rehashed plot, the action can definitely sustain you for a while. It won't stick with you like the first three did, but it's fun while it lasts... kinda like On Stranger Tides.