The game starts out with Samanosuke Akechi aiding his uncle in a raid on Hinnoji Temple, where the evil Nobunaga is held up. After rushing the gates and eliminating everything in sight, Sam begins to duel with Nobunaga but then is magically transported to modern-day Paris. Meanwhile, in modern-day Paris, Jacques Blanc (played by the ever-badass Jean Reno) has his hands full fighting off a wave of Genma demons that have made their way into our time period. After Samanosuke shows up, Jacques is transported in the same manner to Samanosuke's time period and given the power of the Oni with a magical whip. Together across the boundary of time, he and Samanosuke must aid each other to overcome Nobunaga's latest crackpot scheme: using time warps to control the world!

One of the most noticeable things to happen in this episode of the trilogy is that the backgrounds are no longer 2D, but instead are made of polygons in full 3D. You might not even notice this at first (I didn't, but I knew that Capcom had adopted the change from various news bits and previews), but you'll be glad they are. It makes a world of difference in both aesthetic design and player control. The scenery is incredibly detailed, and you'd think you were really in Paris, or really in 16th-Century Japan. As well, there's this part of the game called the CG intro, which is worth 2/5ths of the purchase price alone. CG ROBOT did a simply outstanding job with the intro movie. It's not enough to watch the computer-codec compressed version of it that was online a while ago when the JP version of the game came out, but watching it on your wide-screen TV in full-frame glory and Dolby Surround is simply stunning.

As for control, the characters do not control like "tanks" anymore. Granted, you're using the analog stick, which makes a world of difference. But if you've adapted to using the ass-backwards Resident Evil "Run - Stop - Turn - Run" control setup, the directional pad still does that job. The rest of the control scheme is right on par too, fast and responsive yet not overly cumbersome. (I'm personally not a fan of that L1 block, but what can ya do?)

The audio is especially great in this version of Onimusha . Playing with a full Dolby DTS setup, you really get a feeling of being in your surroundings. And a really cool option you can adjust is your "Listening Position." You can set the source of the audio to be either the camera or the player. Every hack, every slice, every moan of pain and every soul absorption is crystal clear and sharp as a tack. The bass booms, the treble . . . trebels, and everything is crisp and clear and in 5.1 channels of surround sound bliss.

Like its predecessors, Onimusha 3 is ripe with extras. After I beat the game last night (clocked in around fifteen hours, got a C ranking) I unlocked a new ridiculous cowboy outfit for Samanosuke, two mini-games, a side-story with Heihachi (not Mishima, but a spear-wielding Genma subordinate/double-agent type guy) and the "HARD" difficulty mode. According to the Internet, there's still a whole dump truck full of stuff I have yet to unlock. Also, there's a new Training mode you can access from the save mirrors to earn you items by training you in various aspects of the game, such as archery/shooting and critical hits. On average, it should take you about twenty hours to get through it, granted you're not using a FAQ or rushing through. (I rushed through, hence the five hour differential in my clock time.)

When it's all said and done, Onimusha 3 is a spectacular send-off to the trilogy, and a solid game on its own - in case you didn't follow the story from the first two. It's about average in length compared with other games in its genre, it's packed from ass to appetite with extras, it's got incredible visuals and audio, and it's got Jean Reno. If that's not a selling point, I'm not sure what is.

· · · Jason Jamieson