Onee Chanbara ORIGIN (PlayStation 4) Review

For centuries, generations of the Baneful Bloodline have sworn to keep the Earth safe from the wrath of the living dead. Aya is on such a mission when an informant contacts her with information on the whereabouts of her sister Saki. She discovers Saki intends on using black magic to resurrect their deceased mother and needs to put a stop to it.

Though the story attempts to seem complicated with plotlines involving sibling rivalry, cloning, and other shenanigans, the plot is nothing special. The lively banter between Aya and Saki is fun to listen to, but the story only serves to push things along until the final boss is defeated and the end credits start rolling.

Like its predecessors, Oneechanbara Origin is a hack and slash adventure. Aya and Saki traverse graveyards, hospitals, and other locations to slaughter the undead and stop the culprit responsible for the unrest. Since it is a remake, many problems prevalent in the PS2 titles have been fixed.

Gone are the clunky controls, confusing level design, and poorly explained mechanics. From the get-go, the game controls great and the combat, while simple on the surface, has a lot of depth. Timing is the name of the game in Oneechanbara Origin. Mindlessly pressing square and triangle will not get Aya and Saki anywhere; in fact, it's more likely to make their weapons clog up with blood quicker.

The mechanics are easy to understand. Timing each strike buffs the damage of each subsequent attack, and when an enemy is weakened, it can be finished with a cool combo finisher. Evading attacks is done by dodging or parrying. Dodging at the right time fills up the Xtasy gauge, a special meter that lets one unleash a devastating attack when it's full. When timed correctly, parrying makes bad guys temporarily vulnerable.

Initially, Aya is the only character to play as, but halfway through the campaign, Saki joins the fray. Both girls have different fighting styles. Aya is agile and prefers to use one or two swords to make mincemeat of the ghouls. Her sister Saki uses a sword but is more of a heavy hitter. Her other weapon, a pair of brass knuckles, turns her into a brawler capable of unleashing scores of punches against the undead.

There is a lot of fun to be had slicing or punching zombies and watching the hit/kill counter rise as the two girls cut a path through the living dead. Enemies include standard issue ghouls, as well as police and military variants who are armed. Certain types, like the Mudmen, can only be defeated with certain attacks. Each stage culminates in a boss fight against a bizarre creature. It's not every day players fight a zombie bear or a 50 ft. tall infant that shoots a tentacle out of its navel.

The better you do, the higher the ranking you receive at the end of a level. A higher rank means more experience and currency is earned. Experience results in skill points to apply to a character's health, attack, or defence. Meanwhile, money is used to buy items like health crystals or rings that grant permanent buffs to each girl.

While the combat is fast and fluid, the rest of the game is not as well-rounded. Levels are linear and lifeless. Though the cel-shaded art style gives the locations personality, it doesn't cover the fact they funnel you from one point to the next, with little incentive to explore them. A parkour system was added that lets the girls vault and climb over objects and walls, but it's only used a handful of times.

Even on higher difficulties, the game is a cakewalk. While new enemy types are introduced at a gradual pace, they aren't much of a challenge since Aya and Saki level up quickly and become capable of annihilating anything that gets in their way. Proper difficulty has been a problem for the series since its inception, and as Oneechanbara Origin shows, the more things change, the more they stay the same.