Onimusha Tactics E3 2003 Preshow Report

With two full-on action games under its belt and a third one on the way, Capcom's Onimusha series has established itself pretty firmly alongside the company's similar offerings in the Resident Evil and Dino Crisis lines. Now Capcom is branching the series out with a fighting game and an upcoming Game Boy Advance strategy RPG called Onimusha Tactics.

Following in the footsteps of other games that have "Tactics" in their title, Onimusha Tactics focuses on large-scale strategic battles in which you'll control up to eight players in combat against the evil forces of Genma. You'll mainly control a character named Onimaru, who returns to his homeland of Iga to find Genma's forces invading. As you move from battle to battle, you'll earn Genma stones that can be used to create new armor and weapons. Your characters' battle abilities will also improve over time.

Graphically, the game has a similar look and feel to Square's classic strategy game Final Fantasy Tactics. You'll traverse multileveled terrain in maps, and you'll also see story sequences that play out using the same engine that powers the battles.