Though "Samuri's Destiny" still has the same problems as its predicessor. Its definitely as step in the right direction
"Samuri's Destiny" switches out Samanosuke ( the hero of the original game ) with the soft spoken Yagu Jubei. He and the elegant Oyu must take down the deceiving and profound Nabunaga, who has misteriously rose back to power. Along with a rather large band of characters they must do whatever they can to stop him and his legion of demons from destroying the Oni clan.
"Onimusha 2" does a much better job of telling its story then the original game, which at times you couldnt tell where the story was heading. With a well written story and interesting line of main characters "Samuri's Destiny" will without a dought keep the player more interested in the task at hand and the perpuse behind it. However, do to boring and uninterested subordinate characters. "Onimusha 2" does have some moments that are very forgetable. There are also more emotionally charged moments that are ment to make the player feel more close to the characters. However, these moments dont serve there perpose as thoroully as they were ment to be. All in all, "Onimusha 2" is without a dought a not a perfect or masterful story. However, it is a rather large improvement over the original game.
The gameplay the resides in "Onimusha 2" is largely unchanged. From the repeditive slashing to the absince of the analog stick. "Samuri's Destiny will definitly give the player a felling of deja vu. However, it definitely wells much more fun and satisfying. The controlls feel more elegant and fluid. And the boss battles are a bit more fun. Still "Onimusha 2" is a more fun game to play then the original.
"Onimusha 2's" production values are amazing. The enviroments are amazing. Characters and enemies are great, and the CG movies look amazing to no end. There are some fuzzy textures in areas. However, that is definitely forgivable considering how amazing this game looks.
As the sound is conserned. "Onimusha 2" sounds great when it comes to the music that is greatly composed. However, the attack sounds and enemy sounds get grading on the nerves after a while. And the english voice acting isnt very good at all. With that, you also cant change it to japanese voice overs makeing the voice acting that much worse. Its serviceable however, the voice acting will get to you after a while. Still "Onimusha 2" sounds well however, nowhere near perfect.
The lack of replay value that was in the original game, still resides in "Onimusha 2" making its value quite low. The game is a bit longer, lasting about seven hours or so. There are also a few mini-game extras along with a bevey of extra features that present themselves after the completion of the game. However, its does really add a lot to make you come back afterwards. It can be fun to fight more monsters and go threw the game on a harder difficulty mode. However, "Onimusha 2" is still more of a weekend rental then a full purchase.
"Onimusha 2: Samuri's Destiny" isnt the best game ever made or is it a thoroughly thought out game. However, due to the original games major problems. Its quite amazing to see the series take a large step in the right direction. The gameplay is much better, the story (Whiole definitely not perfect ) is better told the its predicessor, and is just much more satisfying then "Warlords" ever was. Its definitely no-where near perfection. However, its definitely a step in the right derection for the series. Lets just hop that the next installment in the series, which saposably is the fanale, is going to acheive the greatness that "Samuri's Destiny" tries to invision.