In the past year or so there have been a ton of Japanese games that have been localized and released in North America that were not the first entry into the series, were localized but released under a different name or were released decades later after the initial release. Games like Langrisser (Warsong in North America), Utawareumono (the first entry was first released in 2006 on PC, later re-released in 2020 as Prelude to the Fallen) and the various Kunio-kun games are examples of games that were once only in Japan but now had Western releases. You can also add Onee Chanbara to that list as well.
While we did get an Onee Chanbara game here in North America (Onee Chanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad) and continued to still see them localized and released here, that one isn’t the first one in the series. The first game in the series was called The Onee Chanbara for the PS2 under D3’s Simple 2000 series. The Simple 2000 series was a line of various budget games that D3 would publish (this includes their own game series, Earth Defence Force) for under 2000 yen or about $20. This brings us full circle to today’s review Onee Chanbara Origin for the PS4.
Story
Even though Onee Chanbara Origin is the latest game in the franchise, it’s actually a remake that combines the stories of The Onee Chanbara and its sequel The Onee Chanbara 2. The first twelve chapters of the game covers the first Onee Chanbara game. Aya is an Undead hunter searching for her father, Oburo, and half-sister Saki. At first Aya is just wanting to reunite with her father and sister, but then Aya starts to learn more about her past, the curse of the Baneful Bloodline and reason for the increase of Undead. Turns out that she has been blamed for the death of her mother and that Saki wants to bring her back by using Aya’s heart. This all leads to a showdown with Saki, which has been revealed to be her full blood sister.
The next thirteen chapters covers The Onee Chanbara 2 and picks up where the first game leaves off. After battling each other and Saki coming to her senses, Aya asks her for help to find Eva, the woman who actually killed their mother, and avenge her death. Saki says yes and the two set off, eventually encountering Lei/Rei, Aya’s informant. The three set off to find Eva and end her war on the sisters.
The game’s story, while not the deepest, is pretty fun and entertaining. Much like the graphics (more on them in a bit) the remake’s story feels more anime inspired and lighthearted than brooding and “serious” as the original games were trying to pull off. I also like that the stories from the two games were connected into one continuous story for the game.
Gameplay
By their very nature, hack n’ slash games are very repetitive and can get boring after awhile. This was very true in the 90’s as most games that were hack n’ slash (beat em’ up included) felt the same gameplay wise. When games like Devil May Cry and God of War came along on the OS2 in the 2000’s, they took that hack n’ slash formula and made it their own. For Devil May Cry, the developers made the gameplay as stylish as possible. As for God of War, its developers made their gameplay very gritty and visceral. Both their gameplay mechanics were very repetitive but player never got tired of trying to get that SSS ranking or seeing a Greek warrior getting sliced and diced blood splattering everywhere.
Onee Chanbara Origin shares that same gameplay feeling. It has hack n’ slash mechanics that can get repetitive but has enough combo depth and the ability to switch between two different weapon styles to make for a fun experience. That experience is then doubled once Saki joins Aya and not only do you have access to two new fighting styles but have the ability to tag between the two sisters. And if you tag either of them during combat, that extends the combo chain making for even more fun slicing the undead. Individually each sister is fun to play as. Aya is a master with the sword and has the ability to switch from single to dual wield. As for Saki, she too is skilled with a sword but is a master at unarmed hand to hand combat, due to the fighting style she had inherited from Tsubaki before she died. Being able to start a combo and then tagging in either sister and continuing that combo is very satisfying.
Graphics
Graphics in the previous Onee Chanbara games have gone with a realistic approach. To be honest, I didn;t really like how they looked at the time. I mean this is a game where you have a bikini clad samurai zombie hunter fighting the undead, you would think there would be a bit more flair to the graphics. The graphics in Onee Chanbara Origin however do have some flair to them as they have been changed from realistic looking to a 3D-cell shaded anime style. While some of the base zombies look bland, there are some zombie designs that look really cool, mainly the boss zombies. There are also some zombies that have their mental capacity intact that Aya encounters that also have really cool designs. Speaking of Aya, her character model and the character models of the other female characters look way better in this new 3D-cell shaded style than in the previous games’ realistic style.
Sound/Music
Onee Chanbara Origin has some good musical tracks that have a bit of electronica, metal and Jpop mixed in. The stand out track for me is Ai wo Kimi no Mono (Love is Your Thing). As good as the music sounds, the character audio is a bit of a mix bag. By that I mean that the voice actor’s audio seems to be a bit out of sync. There will be points during a cutscene when a character is talking but the words don’t match up to the character’s lips, at least in the english audio. Other than that, the game’s dialogue is one big cheese fest and I love it.
Extras
There are plenty of extras to unlock/buy in Onee Chanbara Origin. As you play through the game and complete various actions such as parrying so many times, dodging, tagging in & out, etc you will be able to unlock various images, music tracks and character models. And after you play through the game once, you unlock the bonus missions menu and the first bonus mission Infinite Survival. Infinite Survival is a tower horde mode: fight various zombies on each level/floor while the difficulty gets higher as you progress. Beat all 100 levels and you unlock Lei/Rei. Or you can pay $4 just to download her, which brings me to my biggest issue with the game. For a game that is 7 to 10 hours long, $60 already a bit pricey. Then there’s the DLC which adds at least another $20 worth of content if you buy the season pass. Most of the DLC is mostly extra costumes, new music tracks and weapons, which I don’t have a problem with. The problem I do have is cutting content that is in the game already and putting a paygate on it to access it as DLC. As I mentioned, Lei/Rei can be unlocked by beating Infinite Survival, or you buy her right away. This also goes for the extra missions for Aya, Saki and Lei/Rei. Again I don’t mind if the DLC is content that was created after release or just cosmetics that don’t affect the game, but when its actual pieces of a completed game taken our and used for DLC, that leaves a sour taste.
I’ll be honest, as much as I enjoyed Onee Chanbara Origin, for a ten hour plus campaign the game is a bit pricey at $60, even more so when you add in the DLC/Season Pass. The combat is enjoyable though a bit repetitive, the story is your classic cheesecake B-grade zombie action fun, the new character designs fit the outrageous story, and the music is pretty solid. As I mentioned my main gripe with the game is how some of the content is behind a paywall when it seems most of it is already in game. Right now it only seems that Lei/Rei is the only additional content that can be unlocked by playing through Infinite Survival. If you are a super fan of the series, you might enjoy this, but for the casual gamer who’s just looking for something new to play, I’d say wait for the game to go on sale.
