Reviews
[Review] ‘Onimusha Warlords’ is a Standard Remaster of a PS2 Classic
Capcom’s other great demon-slaying classic from the PS2 era returns. Find out if it’s a warm welcome in our Onimusha Warlords review.
It’s been almost two decades since Onimusha first slashed its way onto screens, quickly becoming a PS2 favorite. After a glowing reception, Capcom was quick to follow with four mainline sequels and then, with the launch of Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams, the fledgling action game series just disappeared.
For close to fourteen years, the only glimpse of a new Onimusha came via a 2012 browser game that was exclusive to Japan. Apart from that? Zilch.
At the same time that Dawn of Dreams launched, Capcom was already starting to pivot more towards a western audience. The Xbox 360 was just on the horizon and so too were Dead Rising and Lost Planet, both of which performed well for the publisher. Capcom doubled down, however, and those westernized games that followed (its Bionic Commando reboot and Dark Void, just to name a couple) didn’t go down well.
In a way, Onimusha being benched during the past console generation may not have been such a bad thing after all but for years fans have waited for its return. And here it is: a full remaster of 2001’s Onimusha: Warlords.
For those who skipped the original, Onimusha is a combat-heavy action game set during the Sengoku period in Japan. The land is in turmoil as warlords muster their clans and go to war, Nobunaga being chief among them, a powerful daimyo often referred to as the “demon king” in most pop culture. That moniker takes on a more literal meaning during Onimusha’s epic opening as he falls in battle, our hero Samanosuke returning to his lord’s castle only to find that Nobunaga has risen again, a demon horde now at his command.
Originally, Onimusha was pitched as a Resident Evil game under the title Sengoku Biohazard. Although Capcom decided to steer the project in a different direction, it’s hard not to look at Onimusha as a game heavily inspired by the world-beating survival horror franchise. From the tank controls (which we’ll get to later) and enemy types, to a familiar approach in level design, the two have much in common, Onimusha also acting as somewhat of a precursor to Devil May Cry.
As Samanosuke, you must repel the demon invasion and thwart Nobunaga’s quest to conquer Japan under this dark new regime. Most of your time will be spent dueling with his minions and exploring the game’s vast castle complex which, in a way, mirrors the Spencer Mansion of Resident Evil.
Combat is swift and skillful. Samonosuke’s moveset is somewhat limited though unlocking and switching between various weapons and magical powers add new flavor to the fairly basic gameplay. Naturally, there’s a samurai-esque quality to the way he fights using precise sword strikes, counters, and blocks, encouraging players to circle around individual targets and wait for an opening.
Where most games of this ilk can be incredibly linear, Onimusha: Warlords involves a surprising amount of exploration and puzzle-solving. You’ll often need to loop back and revisit areas in order to find clues and key items in order to progress, again, much like Resident Evil.
For a game that’s almost pushing twenty, this isn’t the prettiest remaster you’ll come across on current gen hardware though it definitely has a nostalgic charm about it. Some of the static backgrounds can look oddly out of place but there’s an appeal to them you just don’t get from full 3D environments.
Aside from sprucing up the visuals, this remaster makes some other noticeable changes. Inventory management can still be a hassle though equipping weapons is now be done at the press of a button instead of diving into menus. You can now move your character using the analogue stick too, supplementing the admittedly archaic “tank” controls that featured in the original release.
While it would have been nice to see Capcom tart up those three original games and present them in one package, simply wanting more of what this remaster has to offer is a good sign. Beneath a new lick of paint and some clever adjustments, Onimusha: Warlords doesn’t make for an essential action game in 2019 but it’s a great modernization all the same and hopefully we’ll see more Capcom classics undergo a similar makeover.
Onimusha Warlords review code for PS4 provided by the publisher.
Onimusha Warlords is out now on PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PC.
Killer shark movies seem to be riding high this year, more in quantity than quality, but still – they’re one of the most ubiquitous subgenres in horror right now. The latest entry comes from Jesse V. Johnson, an established action director dipping his toe into the realm of animal attack cinema for the first time (despite what the titles of his films Savage Dog and White Elephant might suggest). Above & Below features some very hungry sharks alongside a substantial body count, but it’s some very bad men who rack up most of the kills.
A group of friends is enjoying a fun vacation in Mexico when the screw-up of the bunch, Kyle (Diego Llinas), brings them an offer they can’t refuse. They’re being treated to an exclusive cage diving trip on a big, beautiful, luxury power catamaran with a guarantee of seeing some sharks up close. Kyle’s sister, Tatiana (Laura Marano), is hesitant, but she’s overruled by her boyfriend TJ (Donncha Tynan), and their couple friends, Kayle (Christina Ochoa) and Danny (Ryan Bertroche).
Should be fun, why not, what could go wrong, and so on, but then a pair of quiet heavies (Louis Mandylor, Jess Liaudin) with matching Louis Vuitton bags join the passenger list. And then another boat joins them at sea, and three armed men (including a terrifically entertaining Antonio Banderas) climb aboard. And then those hungry sharks aren’t hungry for long.
Like the recent Dangerous Animals and The Bay, Johnson’s Above & Below takes the wise tact of casting its sharks as an underlying threat instead of the main obstacle. They’re both dangerous and deadly when encountered, but the film blends its genre conventions to zero in on mad, greedy, and murderous humans as the true antagonists. It’s a good thing, too, as the actors bringing those villains to life give the film’s best, most engaging performances.
Writer Anthony Steven Giordano doesn’t give this group of friends much to work with – Kyle is a troublemaker, and Tatiana is planning to break up with TJ, but there’s otherwise very little at play between them in regard to drama or depth. The performances, while mostly competent, match that level of detail, and it’s instead the bad guys who find the most to play with as both characters and performers.
Mandylor carries the familiar but fun bulldog persona he’s mastered through a few earlier films with Johnson (including The Debt Collector and its sequel), and his Martin is the villainous loose cannon equivalent of Kyle’s less harmful but more obnoxious pain in the ass. It’s Kyle’s mistake that lands his friends on this boat, but it’s Martin’s error in judgment that signs nearly everyone’s death warrant. Liaudin has the less showier role of the pair as Garrison, but there’s a charismatic gentility about him running in interesting contrast to his muscular frame and cauliflower ears.
It’s Banderas’ Carlos, though, who steals the show in Above & Below and makes it clear why it’s often worth bringing a name talent into the mix for these direct-to-video genre pictures. (That said, they probably should have bumped his paycheck a little bit higher so they didn’t have to use painfully obvious stand-ins when his character is filmed from behind.) He plays the film’s big bad with a joyous sense of life that he can turn on a dime into abject cruelty. It’s fun to watch, and it adds an entertaining bit of craziness into some otherwise serious and occasionally meandering beats.
Less successful, and the film’s biggest issue on the performance front, is Marano’s efforts, particularly when Tatiana’s talking underwater. The SCUBA helmets are wired so divers can talk to each other, and while the scenes are actually shot underwater (and look good as a result), the dialogue performances were clearly recorded later. Nothing wrong with that in theory, but Marano’s recording booth performance never matches or even approaches the intensity of the underwater scenes she’s voicing – bodies are falling around her, sharks are taking bites, and she sounds like she’s lounging in the bathtub on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It doesn’t get much more convincing once she’s back topside, but the script is equally to blame on that count.
Still, flat performance aside, Johnson knows how to craft thrills and suspense infused with character and even the smallest of action beats. Part of the film sees criminal threats on board the boat and shark dangers below, and he cuts between them while rarely losing their sense of tension. The script also succeeds at keeping viewers guessing as to who will survive the excursion, and that’s no small feat for these kinds of films.
While stunts and squibs keep things somewhat lively above the water, Johnson and friends find some solid set pieces below the surface too. The sharks are CG creations, but they look pretty good – it’s really only the CG blood that screams “fake!” every time it appears – and deliver minor thrills as they glide out of the shadows to take a bite or do a quick drive-by. Characters are in a shark cage that’s been dropped to the ocean floor, and as their air tanks run low, they’re forced to exit the cage and retrieve air from the dead, leading to some fun interactions with chewed-upon dummy corpses. One encounter involving Tatiana, Martin, and a Great White shark is a real high point of creativity and execution.
The film is set in Mexico but filmed in Bulgaria and the Canary Islands. Land sequences are limited enough that you probably won’t even notice, and the bulk of the film is convincing with its offshore setting. Similarly, the underwater filming – presumably in a tank – adds an additional layer to the illusion so that you feel the dangerous isolation of it all.
At the end of the day, it’s Johnson’s direction and the performances by Banderas, Mandylor, and Liaudin that might make Above & Below worth your time. The script teases a recurrent theme about the dangerous outcome of keeping secrets, but as with the characters and anything resembling logic, it ultimately does nothing with it. Johnson and his bad guys fight to keep it all afloat, but a better script could have given them even more to work with. Of course, no one comes to these movies for the script anyway, but you’ll still wish there was far more meat on its bones.
Above & Below swims into select theaters today, July 29.
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