Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams accomplishes a better battle system while sacrificing puzzles. There are flaws with it though.
The story although linked quite nicely to the original three, is unique. Nobunaga Oda was finally killed, and his retainer, Hideiyoshi Toyotomi has taken the throne. Soki, a blonde haired Japanese warrior notices Hideiyoshi’s sudden interest in Cherry Trees. He’s ordered his soldiers to go and fetch lots of them. Soki believes something is up with these trees, and seeks out to destroy Hideiyoshi’s plans.
Okay, so it’s not obvious from my description, having said that, the story is quite easy to follow at first, mainly because it points itself out in certain points. The story tends to go on a tangent at some points, where you’d think they’re just going straight towards the boss, but in fact, they’re just going on another quest leading up to the boss. This makes it harder to follow, but I suspect these areas would be summed up a little more.
Dawn of Dreams isn’t as much about puzzle solving as the other Onimusha’s were. Instead, Capcom have gone for a more combo orientated game, displaying lots of enemies on screen at once and giving the characters to play with a lot more to do. This is a positive step forward, as killing Genma was awesome. There are a variety of combos to do, and you can upgrade your character after they level up. That’s right, Level Up. The game is now also part RPG, with characters using different weapons, bought with money in shops. If you want a good way to describe the system entirely, think MMORPG, but with character switching.
There are a total of around five characters in the game to play with. Soki acts pretty much like Samanoske did in the third game. Jubei, a young girl (and no, its not the Jubei Yagyu from Onimusha 2. It’s all explained.) Who can move swiftly and strike with her katana. Tenkai, a monk with a spear, who can boost the attacks of the other member on the field, Roberto, a brusier who can punch enemies to oblivion, and Ohatsu, who wields a rather nice gun. The variety of character styles means that the game encourages you to play in all the different ways possible. This lengthens interest in the game.
The fact this is possible means that the visuals don’t go to waste. They look even better than Onimusha 3: Demon Siege did. The fact Dawn of Dreams utilises a user operated camera also helps matter greatly. There are occasions when frame rate does slow down dramatically, such as one of the bosses, but this doesn’t happen too much. The game sounds mostly great, though the little mascot that hangs from ceilings sounds as if he was an adult trying to act thirteen, In other words, annoying. The game does contain extra content after completion, but don’t expect that too soon, since the game is far larger than normal Onimusha’s, by a whole disk!
If you’re a fan of the series, then you won’t be disappointed, even if you have to get used to the more battle orientated style of this game. Newcomers won’t necessarily feel confused by the narrative, but some people who’ve played all of them might be confused with some of the references. Those who want to hack down monsters in a number of ways, won’t be too disappointed.