GSY Review: Onimusha Warlords

Driftwood
Tuesday, January 15, 2019 | 2:55 PM
17 comments

GSY Review PS4 Xbox One

18 years after its debut on Playstation 2, Onimusha: Warlords is back on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC and we're not quite sure it will appeal to today's players. Here is what we think of the Xbox One port. Obviously, the article is accompanied by a few videos recorded on Xbox One X.

Verdict

Onimusha: Warlords and its 2 sequels are without a doubt part of the best PS2 games, but it's hard to be excited by this port on current gen hardware. The paint job is minimum and the graphics clearly show their age, so do the fixed camera angles, which are even more annoying than in the past because that is just not how people like to play games now. The 16:9 aspect ratio is also a bit of a letdown as the camera basically zooms in and cuts off the top and bottom portions of the screen. Maybe it would have been more interesting to release a collection including the 3 games, even more so as the first game offers a very short experience (5 hours tops). When you consider that a true remake of another Capcom classic is on its way, why would you choose Onimusha over RE2? The silver lining is that it will give more people a chance to discover the series today, and maybe allow them to realize that a new episode would make perfect sense in a world where Nioh and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice are kings.

On the plus side
The "return" of an iconic series
Japanese voices are available
The hope of a new episode
Probably more exciting on Switch

On the downside
Quite a lazy port
Graphically dated
English voice acting sounds so tacky
Just as short as before

High quality stream and download

Xbox One - The First 15 Minutes

High quality stream and download

Xbox One - 4:3 Mode

agni_rzm

Commented on 2019-01-15 18:41:04

does anybody remember the opening of Onimusha 3? it was epic. it would be great to see it rendered with today's cgi

In reply to

Sdarts

Commented on 2019-01-15 20:10:26 In reply to agni_rzm

Yes, one of the best openings of all time. Interestingly, I saw it a few months ago and modern games look better than that opening now, though it's hard to judge when you only have access to a 360p or 480p version of that opening - there's no version with a better resolution since it was made so long ago.

PS. Glad to see we can all speak French now. Bonjour!

Driftwood

Commented on 2019-01-15 20:17:38 In reply to Sdarts

Oh man...

I'll fix it asap.

andrewsqual

Commented on 2019-01-15 20:34:54 In reply to agni_rzm

I do remember the 3rd one. That scene when he goes one on one with the enemy, the motion capture is crazy.

The actual game......... not so much. Its a perfect example of a game somehow being worse looking with its sequel, the way here we got a game with STUNNING prerendered backgrounds to the next one meh 3D environment visuals. It happened with Code Veronica on Dreamcast too, a series with usually brilliant prerendered backgrounds and amazing character animations to hilarious bad looking animations and very bland 3D visuals.

The 2nd game is easily my favourite of the series and the only remaster I want. And I still love the opening of that game more where it introduces all the characters in a colorful way and then gets all serious when it gets to Jubei. :)

The worse thing about this remaster is it basically should have been a PS2 HD release for PS4 since there is hardly any real work being done here.

Commented on 2019-01-15 21:33:13 In reply to Driftwood

Posted by Driftwood

All English now. Sorry about that guys!

GunsnSwords

Commented on 2019-01-15 22:16:57 In reply to agni_rzm

Posted by agni_rzm

in-game could do better nowadays.
I always thought Nioh is sort of heir to Onimusha.

Commented on 2019-01-15 23:04:25 In reply to Driftwood

Thanks a lot!

Don't worry about it, we all know you're playing Tales of Vesperia (Definitive Edition) too much and forgot about it. :)

Commented on 2019-01-15 23:24:43 In reply to andrewsqual

Yeah, they should have put the 3 games in one, considering they didn't do much improvement. Then they could remake the 4th one if there was still a demand (at least that is how I expected it happen after Capcom started getting into remakes and stuff).

Commented on 2019-01-16 00:44:16

"- Quite a lazy port
- Graphically dated"

I figured that would be the case. but that's not my biggest complaint about the PC version. ....a GTX 960 for recommended!!! ......??
such bloatware!! and no 4k support.

Commented on 2019-01-16 08:41:40 In reply to Sdarts

Bought it on 360, never managed to get passed the first few hours, so clearly no. :)

gonzax

Commented on 2019-01-16 10:08:49

I tried it yesterday. This deserved the remake treatment, it's a bit of a shame it's not but even so it's still the same wonderful game it always was and it certainly looks better, if not impressive, actually not much better than the emulated version.

I'm all about VR these days but I kind of miss the days of prerrendered graphics, there were so many awesome games. Onimusha is one of the best.

Commented on 2019-01-16 11:36:33 In reply to Driftwood

T_T

It's the best Tales of game and one of the best RPGs of all time. The main character, Yuri, is one of the best main characters of all time - RPG or otherwise. When Namco did "Character Polls" on Japan, he kept winning all the time, so Namco removed him from the polls. lol

I'm actually tempted to play it again, even though I already 100% it on the X360, but this version has a lot of new content. I'm just waiting for a price drop because right now the price is 10 bucks (Brazilian currency) higher than the Resident Evil 2 Remake - which I understand is a 60-100 hours game vs a 15-20 one, but RE2R is like a new game, while ToV is just a port like Onimusha here.

Pricing aside, and it's a very long game, as most RPGs are, but any chance of you ever giving it another go?

Commented on 2019-01-16 12:22:39 In reply to Sdarts

Not one, too little time.

Commented on 2019-01-16 13:13:16 In reply to Driftwood

Yeah, I figured, but had to try.

But you will make time for Resident Evil 2 Remake, right? RIGHT!?! - Asking in a completely non-forceful voice.

Commented on 2019-01-16 13:14:35 In reply to Sdarts

Considering I still own the US version of the original game, I will try yes.

Commented on 2019-01-16 15:44:12 In reply to Driftwood

I still have the US DualShock version of Resident Evil 2, have RE1 and RE3 discs as well. I have some of my PS1 discs, PS2 discs, my PC games discs - back when they released PC games on physical media, StarCraft, Commandos, etc.

But now that you actually made me think of them in many, many years. My PS2, PC discs and movies' DVDs and Blu-Rays are with me, but I don't know if my PS1 discs are here in my current house or if I left them in my father's house.

Weird how that never even crossed my mind until now. And now I don't know where they are. Time to look for some PS1 discs, I guess - or maybe not, on second thought, better not go looking for something that will most likely make me wanna replay some games.

I swear if I find Xenogears... have been thinking of replaying it for the longest time now, almost 2 years, but it's a 120 hours game. If that happens, RIP back catalog.

nostradamus

Commented on 2019-01-19 20:25:20 In reply to Sdarts

Posted by Sdarts

I swear if I find Xenogears... have been thinking of replaying it for the longest time now, almost 2 years, but it's a 120 hours game. If that happens, RIP back catalog.

lol what? https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=11402