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Onimusha Tactics

by Zosha Arushan - November 14, 2003, 4:01 pm EST

This is the year of Strategy-RPGs, it seems...

Onimusha Tactics follows the adventures of a young warrior by the name of Onimaru. He and his sister Oboro (who has the most annoying idle animation I've seen in an SRPG,) had lived in the Ninja village of Iga for all of their lives. When the evil King of Genma demons, Nobunaga, attacks their home, Onimaru swears revenge. Their foster father gives him the Oni Gauntlets, which have a mysterious power. He then reveals that the two of them are actually of the legendary Oni clan, and that Onimaru may have the power to rise above Nobunaga's ambitions (har har) and become the Onimusha.

Considering this is Capcom's first foray into the genre, I can't say they're doing half badly. After playing through the first seven maps, there have been a couple of things that stand out considerably. The graphics (especially background tiles) are remarkably similar to Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis. Also, dialogue has been on the campy side, sounding like a bad Hong Kong action flick.

There are a couple of things concerning battle that leave me a bit discontented. Spears have the ability to attack two spaces away from you, but since the game has no counterattacking ability, what's the point? (Technically there IS a countering ability, but I'll get to that in a minute.) The only advantage to having a spear-user is to attack a character on higher ground. Also, you cannot hurt two enemies (or one enemy and one ally by accident) if you attack through two characters who are lined up. There's a spell named "Double Thrust" that does enable this ability for spear attacks, which is the same thing that most SRPGs do by default.

In addition, it doesn't matter which side you approach an enemy, as the enemy will turn towards you. Thus, it makes little sense to bother getting behind anything you attack. The only strategy you really need to follow to get the maximum amount of hits in is that you make sure there's enough "room" around your target so everyone can get an attack in. Getting back to the subject of counterattacking, there is only one way to get your character to do so: the Issin command. Occasionally characters will get the command "Issin" within their menu options. If you select this, your unit will defend, and the next turn, if he is attacked, he will block it and destroy the enemy.

Everything isn't bad though. I've just gotten a taste for the Item Creation system. When you kill a genma, there's a chance they'll drop a Genma Stone. By combining different stones together, you can create powerful weapons, armour, and items. To do this you select the stones you want to try, and then Onimaru will use the Oni Gauntlets to unlock the power within. The first item you can make (it is mandated by story) allows you to cast a spell when it is equipped. All characters seem to learn certain spells by gaining levels, and to cast one costs a varying amount of SP (special points). When you run out of SP you're unable to do any special moves for the rest of battle.

So far Onimusha Tactics has been an extremely easy ride, and while it isn't a bad game, there is plenty of choice for SRPG fans at the moment.

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Genre Strategy
Developer Capcom
Players1 - 2

Worldwide Releases

na: Onimusha Tactics
Release Nov 11, 2003
PublisherCapcom
RatingMature
jpn: Onimusha Tactics
Release Jul 25, 2003
PublisherCapcom
RatingAll Ages
eu: Onimusha Tactics
Release Dec 05, 2003
PublisherCapcom
Rating7+

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