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 Thankfully, medieval Japan is overrun by demons yet again in
the fourth Onimusha chapter, which effectively wraps intense
action and solid puzzle-solving in a lavish presentation,
just like its predecessors.
The Good: Fast-paced, responsive combat rewards skill and
timing; great mix of pure action and puzzle-solving; epic-sized
quest takes a while to finish and gives you good reason to
come back; excellent audiovisual presentation.
The Bad: Noticeably recycles content from previous Onimusha
games; some bad dialogue and implausible plot points mar the
story.
Don't call it Onimusha 4. This latest installment in
Capcom's flashy samurai action adventure series delivers the
same impressive presentation and fast-paced combat fans have
come to expect. And it's a significantly bigger game,
sucking up two discs' worth of demon killing and chatty
cutscenes. About the only thing missing are celebrity
likenesses--the previous game, 2004's Onimusha 3, featured
Jean Reno (The Professional) and Takeshi Kaneshiro (House of
Flying Daggers) in a costarring role. In exchange, Onimusha:
Dawn of Dreams offers a lengthy new quest, five different
playable characters, and a good amount of replay value, not
to mention that distinct anime-meets-soap opera style.
The history of Japan, as told through the Onimusha series,
involves lots of bloodshed, treachery, demonic infestation,
and feathered hair.
 Previous Onimusha games pitted you against the forces of a
demonically possessed Oda Nobunaga, a Japanese warlord in
league with evil forces called genma. This time around, not
only is there a new villain in Nobunaga's successor, the
squat and instantly unlikable Hideyoshi, but there's also a
new hero. Dawn of Dreams is the story of Soki, a bleached-blond,
blue-clad warrior single-handedly trying to save medieval
Japan from yet another demonic invasion. He's a feared
swordsman but an affable guy, though his blond hair and
horned headband make him an odd sight for 16th-century Japan.
His journey will be joined by an equally unlikely group of
companions, ranging from a young ninja girl named after a
legendary samurai, to a frilly collared Spaniard with arms
like Frankenstein's monster. In turn, they'll run into many
more villains than just Hideyoshi, and many of these bad
guys just...won't...die.
This is a weird, long-winded story that's at times both
disjointed and awkwardly translated, but it sure is pretty.
You'll see frequent, well-choreographed cutscenes using the
game's 3D engine. Between missions, you'll get to nag your
companions for background information, though it's all in
text and tempting to simply skip. There's also plenty of
chatter during the missions, along with lots of optional
reading material to be found--diaries, memos, and other
little notes. It's nice that the game does so much and tries
so hard to tell a compelling story, but the results are hit
and miss. The quality of the voice acting is above average (both
English- and Japanese-language options are available), but
the script is riddled with clichés, from maniacally laughing
villains to multiple instances of the expression "last hope
for humanity." At least there's this one amazing use of
profanity to look forward to near the end of the game. Other
than that, though, the story just never quite takes off,
despite a few decent twists and references to the previous
games. It's ultimately very similar in tone and style to
previous Onimusha yarns, so if you've played those games,
you know what's in store.
 The same can be said for the gameplay itself. You'll run
through numerous enemy-infested stages, almost constantly
battling demons, but also taking the time to solve various
puzzles. The combat is fast-paced and responsive. It's very
simple at first--you just hack at foes and block their
incoming attacks. But you learn more and more abilities as
you go, even as your enemies keep getting bigger and tougher,
and suddenly you're using practically every button on the
controller. You get to use magic, special purifying attacks,
transformation moves, evasive maneuvers, and all kinds of
different attack combinations. Perhaps best of all, you can
dish out lightning-fast, lightning-deadly critical strikes
by attacking your foe just as you're about to get hit. You
can also perform critical strikes after using your magic or
after a carefully timed defense. The fighting gets pretty
crowded, but you can fiddle with the camera angle using the
right analog stick and lock onto nearby foes at the touch of
a button. In some scenes the camera angle is locked in
place, which can be a little disorienting, but isn't a big
deal.
Soki is a master swordsman, and he'll be joined by a number
of similarly skilled companions, each with his or her own
unique moves and abilities.
The same underlying mechanics apply to all five of the
game's characters, but other than that, they each have
distinctly different moves and fighting styles. Furthermore,
during most of the game, you'll be fighting alongside a
computer-controlled companion, and you may switch to
directly controlling one or the other at the touch of a
button. You can give basic orders to your companion using
the D pad, but by far the most useful of these is the one
that makes your companion rest up. When tasked to fight,
your comrades will often get beat up badly, whereas if you
make them stand still, they'll automatically block almost
all incoming attacks while regenerating their health. You'll
find various healing items as you proceed through the game,
but it's viable to just keep switching characters and
recovering your health that way. Of course, that little
trick will only get you so far.
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 date
d'entrer au Maroc:
14/02/2006
machine:
version: 
publisher:
Capcom
Developer:
Capcom
Nbre
de joueurs:
1-2
note
d'intérêt
MAZGAMES:8,5/10
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