Worth a playthrough
The first fourish levels go by in only about an hour; they are very short and very easy. I started having second thoughts about the game at that point hoping that it wouldn't all be that way because if so it was going to be a definite waste of money, but sure enough the game went on and on......and on. Maybe a little to much. With plenty of recycled bosses and way to many boss fights in a row towards the end this game dragged on a bit much.
The story had some excellent parts and some boring parts. You can learn a lot by reading things you find a long with talking to your party members several times in between missions, but it doesn't always feel worth it. You have to read all the text and some of its just lame. Wishful thinking though.
There's tons of items in this game to collect, many of which come from the puzzle boxes found throughout the worlds. Since I mentioned them I might as well go ahead and say that the puzzle boxes were definitly cool. I loved them in Onimusha 3 and I was glad to see a new style that was fun and very challenging at certain times. I always had the will to finish them though because I knew a new weapon or useful item would be inside not just something silly like a healing item. However, if you can't get one open there's always the option to "break" it, but then you'll have to pay to be able to use the item (which you can do between missions). You can also buy weapons and items between missions granted you have the souls to do so.
Of course Capcom also pulls out some worthy puzzles as in most all their games. There's some of the same old in this game, but not to much. Theres a lot of new puzzles that take advantage of your companions special abilities and are pretty cool.
The main problem I had with the game was its numerous reused bosses, it felt like it dragged on a little to much, and I grew fond of one of my companions and got that one super powerful then got screwed over when I had to fight as each individually. I wish the game would have encouraged using each of them a little more equally (or at least hinted at me in advance I'd be using them at some point and would need them leveled up). I suppose that's simply my fault though.
Anyone who's a fan of Onimusha should definitly check out this one and if your not already a fan this is a great place to start.