Onimusha 3 PS2

Onimusha 3 PS2 - Like new

Whereas in the movies a third entry in a franchise is seldom a byword for quality, video games seem to suffer more from that "difficult second album" syndrome. In keeping with many recent titles Onimusha 3 rights all the wrongs of its immediate predecessor while taking everything that was right about the original and genuinely improving it.

On a technical level the improvements are obvious, with the backgrounds now being in full 3D, instead of just being static picture postcards, and the control system is completely new--ditching the awkward turn-and-move dynamic inherited from Resident Evil. The story, while still largely perfunctory, also offers a genuinely new setting with the fight against evil taking place not just in feudal Japan but also modern day Paris.

Once the action does get to the City of Love you're given the chance to control French cop Jacques Blanc as well as the first game's Samanosuke. Both characters are given the features of famous movie stars and although Takeshi Kaneshiro is largely unknown outside of Japan, Jean "Léon" Reno provides the face of Jacques.

To make things more interesting Jacques ends up in medieval Japan and Samanosuke has to battle on in France. A helpful little fairy called Ako is able to move between the two eras at will and thereby enables a number of interesting puzzles later in the game. It's hardly a revelation in originality but for simple demon-bashing fun Onimusha 3 is hard to beat.