- Choose from 5 new playable characters
- Play 2 characters on the screen, at the same time
- New co-op mode
- Open-ended gaming environments – go back to previous levels to seach for additional items
- Test of Valor to obtain new items not found within the game
Product Description
Onimusha: Dawn Of Dreams brings the gaming masterpiece into a new era! It’s a completely new chapter of the Onimusha legend, picking up 15 years after the original trilogy. Choose from 5 original playable characters as you embark on a new story, enshrouded in mystery and suspense. Stunning graphics, special effects and relentless, action-packed gameplay all combine to redefine this action epic…. More >>
I’ve played through Onimusha 1&2. I watched a friend beat the Onimusha 3. They weren’t bad games, but they weren’t great either. They seemed to lack some advances in the genre that had already been implemented by many other series. Onimusha is the answer to all of these issues. Dawn of Dreams is such a big improvement that I’ve been calling it “Onimusha: Fixed” among friends.
The biggest aspect that has made the past Onimusha games seem archaic is the fixed camera. It’s the rare action game that can pull off a fixed camera these days. Devil May Cry 3 and God of War manage to do so only because the depth of their combat systems means the player has little time to focus on a camera. The onimushas have always been slower paced than these other 2 titles, so the fixed camera always felt claustrophobic- especially since backgrounds had a painted look rather than being rendered in 3d. But that’s in the past now; Dawn of Dreams features a fully controllable camera. There are some places where the camera can’t be manipulated, but these places are the exception rather than the rule, and they occur at places where camera use would be of little benefit.
The first 3 Onimushas also played like a an action-rpg-lite. Neither the action nor the rpg elements were terribly deep. Beyond the challenge of pulling off countermoves, there wasn’t much to do beyond mashing the square button constantly. Sure, there were some minigames involving giving allies gifts, puzzle boxes, etc., but the meat of the gameplay could get stale after a while. Here, too, Dawn of Dreams provides a solution. On the action side, characters have a sizeable number of moves and special attacks…probably in the neighborhood of 15-20 different moves. Oh, and did I say characterS? Yeah, there are 5 playable characters. In some games, that might mean 5 scoops of the same vanilla- not here. The characters use roughly the same controls, but they play VERY differently. I could try to describe this difference, but it’s something that pretty much has to be experienced. In addition, you typically use one character while another is fighting alongside you. You can switch between these characters on the fly and issues commands to the character the computer is controlling. This spices up the action a good bit. So the action definitely works quite well.
Then there’s the improved rpg aspect. In the other Onimushas, characters had 2-3 weapons that could be upgraded from time to time. Dawn of Dreams allots 20-30 weapons to EACH character. These weapons are all upgradeable and grant a variety of bonuses. Also, the characters themselves level up. Through leveling, the player can choose what skills to upgrade, which can unlock new moves. Meanwhile, items can be combined to form accesories and weapons. Taken together, the rpg aspects here are surprisingly satisfying.
Dawn of Dreams is a LONG game for an actioner. The main quest takes about 20 hours, and there’s a lot of side stuff to do. You can take characters to old levels to reach areas you couldn’t get to with that character. Most importantly, the Dark realm returns- and it’s 100 levels long. Plus, each character can find unique items in the realm. To beat it all, you’d have to fight through 500 levels! While this might have been tedious in past Onimusha games, the combat system is robust enough here that the dark realm is a blast. I’ve already spent a good 6 hours (and quickly counting) on the dark realm alone.
The other aspects of the game are well above par. The soundtrack is enjoyable and the story is better than I would have expected. Puzzle boxes return in slightly different form, but this is one part of the series I’ve always enjoyed, and this one continues that. My only complaint is that the story could have felt truly EPIC had there been more cutscenes. There ARE a lot of cutscenes, but much of the supporting story and character background is found only by reading unspoken dialog. Furthermore, the large majority of the cutscenes are in-game engine. I know pre-rendered stuff is expensive, but a game like this begs for beautiful cg treatment- the more, the better. This should be taken as a very minor complaint, though- the story comes off quite well as is.
Overall, Onimusha Dawn of Dreams is a gameplay tour de force that should please any action game fan. Highly recommended
Rating: 5 / 5
Ive played all the onimusha games, I was hooked. What I love about the game is that if the bosses are too hard, you can always go to previous levels, fight and earn more power so you can whip the new bosses *****. Save at different levels so you dont have too far to go back. I did do the cheat that unlocks the 2 player mode right away (press r1 & r2, as well as L1 & L2 at the same time, when your partner does the same on another remote, but have the partner then at the same time press “start”
at the “load” part of the game. It is the funnest game in the world on 2 player mode. The interchangeable characters is a blast and you can play single mode at any point of the game if you want to. I play with my 10 year old daughter and 6 year old son, alternatively and we cant stop playing. But if by chance they dont play with me, I continue on with the game in single mode, and they can join me later!
Rating: 5 / 5
After playing the amazing movie-like experience that is Onimusha III, I must say THIS game is definitely not stunning enough to be a game that goes down in history. But, this new addition to the demon-slashing series is definitely good enough to maximize game-play experience for every player.
This title depicts an ancient Japan heavily infested with demonic energy, and it is up to a young man, Soki, to save the people. The story is not exceptionally unique, but it can engage the player enough to make him/her sit in front of the PS2 for several hours.
While playing the game, you’d realize that you are keeping your fingers really busy. As the player advances in the story, the character acquire new skills with a “point-adding” system, in which the player acquire points by fighting the Genma soldiers, which are found almost everywhere, and other different monsters in specific encounters. Making use of almost every single button on the controller to make different combinations will allow the character in the game to perform various attack styles and skills. It is all up to the player’s preference on what skill to upgrade, what skill to use and when to use it. Also, with the ability to use two players at a time, one being controlled by the player and the accompanying one follows the orders of the controlled character, and to change the accompanying fighter at save points, the player finds himself making use of each character’s unique abilities to solve various puzzles and gain access to areas certain characters are unable to reach. Strategy plays an important part in the whole game. It is all up to the player to utilize the various ways to get around each scenario.
The game allows the player to re-access the areas they’ve been to, to obtain any items they had missed out during the actual mission and to use a different character to gain access to a secret area to obtain item(s). As certain characters are only available after the player goes way into the story, this feature of allowing the player to revisit the places, makes sure nothing is missed. Most maps are explorable and the player should make it a point to revisit the places more than once in order to gain all available items. During a “revisit”, the player can challenge a mini-game known as the Test of Valor again, regardless of whether they passed or failed in the initial mission, in which the character must defeat the stated number of enemies within a certain time limit. Each Test is graded with a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal, in which each grade signifies the quality of the item the player will receive after each attempt. A Fail does not award the character with anything.
The animation and graphics in the game can be considered brilliant, marked improvement can be seen from the previous titles in the series. All character and camera movement is smooth and synchronizes perfectly with the player’s intention. Cut-scenes are beautifully rendered and as usual, the superb Voice Acting just goes on to prove that all the cut-scenes are wonderfully crafted. However, during normal dialogue where there is no voice-over, the movements of the speaking character are actually programmed in a loop. For example, if the dialogue’s mood is angry, the character will perform actions in the “angry loop”, if the dialogue’s mood is normal, the character will perform actions in the “normal loop”. The character’s actions will repeat after one round, and it doesn’t fit with the words in the dialogue box. Sometimes, the character movements are too exaggerated and seems a bit unnatural and unreal. For example, when Soki’s dialogue shows that he’s angry, Soki seems to be shivering too much with rage.
The music does not really fit with the time-line of the game’s story, but it fits the game ambience totally. Traditional music instruments are used sometimes to combine with the pop/rock music in the arrangement. With this kind of arrangement, the music cannot fit with the story’s time-line, and only serves as a simply “fit-with-the-player” music. The music will be good enough to the target market, which are the teenage gamers, as the rock/pop music is what these people of this age group are fairly interested in. However, as perfect as milk goes well with cereal, the rock/pop -style music fits with the game ambience perfectly.
Although there may be some weak points in certain areas, this game is still worth-playing, and with an open-mind, a player can be totally immersed with the game. It is undoubtedly another great addition to the series. The future still looks bright for upcoming Onimusha titles. I hope they hire some Hollywood talent on the next project, to set it at the calibur it deserves to be.
Rating: 4 / 5
I will have to agree, the entire game was terrible and the controls, fun, excitement, and depth was lost.
Do not buy this version.
Rating: 1 / 5
I have played through Onimusha 1-3 and now most of Onimusha 4 Dawn of Dreams. This one has the most depth by far. There are countless weapons and items to collect. This is the first time in the series where you get five different characters to control and they all have slightly different playstyles. The main character uses a trusty sword, but support characters use fists, guns, spears and dual blades. I have put over 40 hours into the game so far, and I’m still upgrading my weapons. The amount of cutscenes may be the only weak point of this title since there are fewer in this game than in past games, but I still think this game deserves more respect as one of the PS2′s best action games.
Rating: 5 / 5