Keep and eye and follow Samanuoske and Reno journey to find out what you are missing! Simple: A Great action game!
Feudal Japan: Samanoske is about to fight Nobunaga, when suddenly he is imprisoned in an orb of electricity. He then suddenly vanishes, he finds himself in a strange place.
Modern Paris: Jacques, a member of the French army is called to assist with the sudden appearance of monsters in Paris. He saves his close friend, but is transported to some odd garden.
If you haven't guessed already, there are two main characters. Their events lead to new things happening in their alternate times. While Samanoske has to journey around Paris alone, Jacques finds a past version of Samanoske, and trains with him to kill the Genma. Their stories are linked in game via a tengu spirit. The plot in this respect flows well, but sometimes the plot just seems to get a little perculiar, especially scenes with Jacques' son and new wife.
The gameplay is as fantastic as ever, and features some major improvements. Not least the control system now uses the Left Stick to move like most people would be used to (Rather than Resident Evil). The backgrounds are now made using typical background style, rather than pre-rendered screens from Resident Evil and the first two Onimushas. This gives the game a fresh feel, and because killing Genma was fun to begin with, its now a little less stressful. Actual combat remains the same, and combined with the new controls, its possible to take on hordes, rather than maybe two at a time.
Because the backgrounds aren't pre-rendered, you'd expect the quality of the visuals to let up. This is far from the case, as especially the Parusian streets (and Arte de Triumphe) look as amazing, if not more than the first two games. Characters move fluidly, and the frame-rate holds very well. The third installment also recaptures the decent sound quality of the first game, and the voiceovers are extraordinarily good. Those who don't speak french may be detered by the French at the beginning and end of the game, but its welcome once you realise the actor based on Jacques' character, Jean Reno (he's the best french actor by miles!) does the French voice. While its unfortunate he couldn't do the English voice, you'll hardly tell the difference from his speaking patterns.
My one major concern with this game however is the oddness of some of the puzzles. There is a section where both characters are at the same location at different points in time, where the puzzles link to the other character. These puzzles may be too hard to do unless you are incredibly bright, or have help. The difficulty everywhere else is fine however, and the game otherwise is very balanced.
Its not quite perfect, but Onimusha 3: Demon Siege is a fitting end to the trilogy that started some years before.