The original demon-slicing, ultra-hard, sword-wielding samurai is back and this time he's got help from the most unlikely of places - namely France. And so Samanosuke Akechi leaps into action in 21st century Paris whilst French tough guy Jacques Blanc fights his way through 16th century Japan. Confused yet?

The story in Onimusha 3 is actually pretty simple, as fans of Capcom's brand of survival horror have come to expect. The evil Demon Lord Nobunaga has risen yet again (having been destroyed in both Onimusha and Onimusha 2) and Samanosuke is back to stop him. The freaky-looking demon scientist with the wobbly voice and creepy laugh, Guildenstern, is back too and this time he's messing about with time travel. And so it is that soon after the game starts, a temporal rift of some sort causes Samanosuke and Jacques to swap places, which is a nice touch, as both heroes are now in worlds very different to those they know. Aided by several new characters, they must work together in order to defeat the demons and save both of their time periods.

It has to be said that every PS2 owner should at the very least rent out this game, if only for the jaw-dropping movie introduction. This is without doubt the finest CGI sequence I've ever seen in any game, surpassing even the divine sequences of the Final Fantasy games and, indeed, the FF movie as well. From the amazingly imaginative and otherworldly designs of the demon hordes to the epic scale of the scene to the photo-realistic animation and the superbly tense fight scenes, everything about this sequence is simply stunning. Your jaw will hit the floor. You will want to watch it again and again. You will wish that there could be a whole Onimusha movie to watch.

However, there is a downside to having such an incredible movie to introduce the game - it makes the actual game graphics and game engine cut scenes seem quite lame in comparison! Sure, everything is looking very nice but it also looks a little dated too, especially with the likes of Ninja Gaiden available on Xbox. I know this is an unfair comparison, but the very fact that Ninja Gaiden exists and I've played it makes Onimusha 3 feel just a tiny bit retro. It hasn't moved on much since Onimusha 2 and it feels like more of the same, which it largely is.

Anyway, getting into the game itself, there are plenty of cool new features to keep things varied. For starters, there are triple the amount of weapons available, as there are not one, not two, but three fully playable characters to work with. Samanosuke and Jacques both get three increasingly kick ass weapons each to work with, whilst Michelle, Jacques' French girlfriend, is armed with unlimited ammo guns, which when combined with the contemporary setting of 2004 Paris, makes things feel more than a little like Resident Evil - never a bad thing.

Samanosuke's weapons are of the blade variety as usual, with the toughest being a very hefty axe that unleashes all kinds of hell on your hellish attackers. Jacques' weapons are even cooler though, all based around an energy whip. The sword he gets extends in sections on a chain, as does the double-ended spear and finally the massive mace. Each of these weapons are very satisfying to use and each can be used to grab your enemy, hold it captive while Jacques shoots it with his pistol a few times and then fling it across the screen, knocking over any other enemies in its path. Jacques can also use his weapons to hook onto fireflies that allow him access to areas he couldn't otherwise reach.

A big part of the combat is still sucking up those enemy souls - red for experience to enhance your weapons, armour and orb glove, yellow for health, blue for magic and purple to fuel your special demon mode, where both characters can transfer into their powerful demon alter-egos for a limited time. However, after completing Ninja Gaiden [You just had to get that in there, didn't you? Show off! Ed], I have to say I found the combat system in Onimusha 3 disappointingly limited. It has its subtleties but they are so frustrating to use. If you hit block a split second before an enemy strikes you then immediately hit the attack button, you'll pull off a lethal attack that destroys most enemies in one strike. A similar attack comes from dodging an attack then hitting the button. However, getting the timing right on this is really tricky and although the training sections are quite helpful, I never really felt like I'd got the hang of these techniques nor could I pull them off regularly. Other than this, there is only one attack button, which results in different moves depending on which way you push the left thumbstick. Whilst it all looks very luscious on screen, it feels a little too simple.

The way the story and the action flips back and forth between Samanosuke and Jacques is very well done; because of this you never get bored and it gives the game more variety than its predecessors. This is achieved thanks to your new pal Ako, a Tengu that takes the form of a tiny winged girl, who can time travel back and forth at will to keep both our heroes informed as to what is going on. However, in certain areas the effects of that annoying Guildenstern's time machine mean that Ako can only travel back and forth using a device that is stuck in one place. In these sections both Samanosuke and Jacques are in the same location but 500 years apart. Cue some quite original puzzles then, where each character can only progress by helping the other one out. For example, Samanosuke might find an item that Jacques needs, send it back to him via Ako and then Jacques can use it to access an area that unlocks a barrier for Samanosuke in the future, and so on. These sections are never too tough but they are very satisfying to complete. It's a nice touch that during these times you can also share your inventories, meaning that you can send health items to the other character and Jacques can send over all the arrows he's collected to Samanosuke. This adds an extra dimension to the gameplay and really helps to keep your interest.

As with the previous games, there are various collectibles to be found that aid you in your quest. Those fiendishly designed trick chests are back (you know, the ones with the slide tile puzzle where you must move the tiles to link the shapes together using a very limited number of moves) and they normally contain jewels that enhance your maximum energy or magic. There is a generous helping of health items to be found too. You will also find Eco Spirits, which you collect to activate the various jackets that Ako can wear. Each jacket has a power, for example one restores your health if you stand still, another turns all enemy souls red and increases their value, another increases the speed of soul absorption and so on. Having these jackets adds an extra tactical element that is most welcome.

Graphically, everything is nicely polished, although it can look a bit pixelly at times, especially when the camera angle views things from a distance. The animation is as super smooth and spectacular as ever; there is no question that the combat moves look wonderful and feel very satisfying to pull off, despite their limitations. The enemies all look very nice, with a mixture of new and old foes teleporting in to attack you. The Resident Evil style camera work remains in effect but it doesn't feel as clunky as RE does and works in a very atmospheric fashion. The attention to detail is very good and each of the many different environments you come across feels complete. The demon realm has also been beefed up to look better than ever, with a new mapping system and groovy new music as well.

Sound wise things are also of a high standard, with powerful sound effects as you hack and slash your way through the demon hordes (the sound of that mace making contact is spot on) and atmospheric music that never fails to entertain and enhance. The voice acting is a strangely mixed bag however. One of my favourite actors, Jean Reno (probably most widely known for his role as the hitman with heart in Luc Besson's classic movie, Leon), plays Jacques Blanc. At the start he is talking in French and the voice acting sounds great, but then suddenly Ako uses her power so everyone can understand each other and all the characters talk in English with no hint of a native accent. It really doesn't sound like Reno from hereon in and the script is so cheesy and forced that his talents would have been wasted on it anyway. This is a crying shame, as I was expecting to hear Reno speaking English with his usual French accent, which would have sounded much more natural and might have helped that cliché ridden script. Ah well.

As I mentioned, the dialogue can be pretty dire at times and the whole sub-plot about Jacques' ten-year-old son Henri and Jacques' fiancé Michelle learning to get along is cheesy in the extreme. It really had no emotional impact on me at all, although maybe I'm becoming cynical and jaded in my old age. Still, the story serves its purpose in moving the action from one location to the next. Other than that, there isn't much to criticise here and the level designs are very well implemented with plenty to keep you hooked until the end. Capcom know what they're doing and they keep things varied enough that you don't get bored or lose interest. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of alternate paths, as with Onimusha 2, so the replay value is limited, but it's still a big game that will take most gamers at least 15 hours to play through.

Onimusha 3 makes the effort to evolve itself whilst keeping its successful core in place but somehow the feeling of déjà vu creeps in. There are a few cool new features and ideas, plus the novelty of the partly modern day setting, which I'm sure will have some fans delighted and others outraged. If you're a fan of the series then you won't be disappointed and this is without doubt a very enjoyable and compelling action game - however, I think some more innovative and radical changes are needed if a fourth in the series is to materialise.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).