[Update: Onimusha 3 also gets bonus points for giving a credit to a man(?) named “Yoda Poon”. Now that’s an unfortunate visual.]

Check off my first game of the summer: the final installment of the Onimusha series ate the bomb last night with my defeat of Capcom’s Onimusha 3: Demon Siege (warning: turn down your sound if you’re at work or if you hate Mozart). To those of you who remember my dissatisfaction with the first two installments of the game let me say that they finally got this game right. This is a good game.

Damn we look heroic.

Onimusha 3: Demon Siege finishes the story of the rise and fall of the demon king Nobunaga Oda. In this installment, Nobunaga finds a way to manipulate time and sends his arch-nemesis and all around hero Samanosuke Akechi into the future (a la Samurai Jack), accidentally bringing new hero Jaques Blanc into the past. Gamers play the role of three characters at various times (noble samurai Samanosuke, grizzled commando Jacque, and hot SWAT officer Michelle), jumping back and forth in time to defeat Nobunaga.

Battle of the ridiculously named Frenchmen: Marcellus vs. Jacque

Onimusha 3 impressed me for two reasons. First, I have always felt that the controls in Onimushas 1 and 2 were hard to manage and made two great games into mediocre games. There’s a new control scheme in Demon Siege that finally takes advantage of the analog stick. The previously unused left stick controls motion relative to the screen while the directional pad retains its control of motion relative to the character. I give great credit to sequels that make up for the sins of their fathers.

Second, the production value poured into this game must have been huge. The two main characters were not only face modeled against two major actors, Jean Reno (”The Professional”) and Takeshi Kaneshiro (”House of Flying Daggers”), but they were also motion captured for the in-game action and provided the voice acting. These weren’t the only two actors involved, either. In a surprise twist, the cut-scene and in-game combat was choreographed by Donnie Yen of “Iron Monkey” fame. Well, relative fame. Some of the locations are also modeled after real places, including the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and Honnou-ji temple in Japan. Capcom really put a lot of effort into making this game as good as they could, and it shows.

It’s gettin’ hot in here…

The action in this game is great fun, the puzzles are challenging, and the special features are worth playing (including a fourth playable character). It’s about a 20 hour game, and my gripes are minimal. I felt one boss was too difficult for no reason, jumping back and forth in time was a little irritating at certain points, and the carpal tunnel got bad; but I say these things mostly out of a sense of balance rather than any real angst with the game. I will admit to not having played this game out fully - it turns out there are a lot of unlockables in this game (including the panda costume), but some of the requirements are so ridiculous there’s no chance in hell I’ll unlock them.

In short, play this game.