Onee Chanbara Origin Reviews
Perfomance issues and a lack of what made the originals great cripples what is a great art direction for a series on its last legs
While the gameplay itself is competent, this is short, shallow game with very little enemy variety, poor level design, and some egregious price-gouging.
It's easy to pick it up and play short bursts. While the story isn’t the most unique it’s interesting enough to have you see it through and the game looks great.
But otherwise? Caveat emptor. This is a fun game when it works, but the “working” part isn’t assured. It’s just that the technical issues don’t render it unplayable.
While there's a chance you can't play it without fiddling with things, there's a fun game in here. It's expensive, with far too much DLC, but it's fun.
Oneechanbara Origin rights a lot of wrongs found in the early entries, yet it still feels oddly antiquated. The combat is riotous and entertaining, but the overall experience becomes monotonous after a few hours of play. Plus, it's barebones. With only a campaign and an endless wave survival mode, the game is slim on content, unusual since previous entries offered a lot of bang for their buck. It has a B-movie charm that's hard to resist, but other titles of similar fare have shown its possible to mix titillation with action to make a great time.
Issues aside, there's a cool, fun game to play on offer here (albeit somewhat bare-bones), marred by technical hiccups and an awful DLC policy. We can't fully recommend this game despite its merits. Once the technical issues get resolved and the pricing lowered then it might be worth a look.
Onee Chanbara Origins lacks a lot in terms of content and its combat has simply not progressed well with the new changes. It's a title that, perhaps, will become a foundation for a special game in the future, but for the moment, I can recommend only to the most dedicated fans of the series.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
while I had a fun time mowing down the Undead, I wouldn’t really say Onee Chanbara Origin is a great game. The characters are shallow, obviously designed to be something nice to look at, which doesn’t sit well in a modern context. The story doesn’t make much sense and the small bits of lore the writers tried to toss in doesn’t make an impact on the actual gameplay experience. Onee Chanbara Origin remains stuck in the early 2000s, unable to make the transition to modern audiences with higher expectations.
Onee Chanbara Origin is a repetitive hack-and-slash game that would be a fun rental at best.
Onee Chanbara Origin is what it is: a remake of a couple of simple and repetitive action games that largely rely on titillation and buckets of gore to keep players’ eyes glued to the screen. Dig beneath its shallow exterior, however, and you’ll find a combat system that’s surprisingly rewarding when the camera isn’t working against you. It’s just a shame that there’s not much content to it. It’s hard to recommend Onee Chanbara Origin at its full price unless you’re really keen to hack and slash zombies as a bikini-clad badass. When that price drops a little, though, it’s worth jumping on if action games are your thing.
Odds are if you're reading this review, you know what to expect from Onee Chanbara Origins. It's Dynasty Warriors with fewer characters, smaller stages and instead of historical figures, it's zombies and cute girls. This is enough to make it fun and give the experience value, though it's hard to really suggest it to anyone else. Between the lack of story and limited content, there isn't much really much of a reason to check it out unless you want to get into the series or already love it.
Onee Chanbara Origin remains a cathartic, bloodthirsty, and goofy bit of chaos, whose aesthetic charms have been boosted thanks to Tamsoft's excellent audio/visual upgrade. Unfortunately, the passage of time has somewhat dulled Origin's gameplay, which has been far superseded by other franchises. Offering a short campaign, above-average action, and a slim package, Onee Chanbara Origin is for franchise fans only - and not at its $60 asking price.
Onee Chanbara Origin is a hack-and-slash that does nothing more than any other hack-and-slash available. It’s best moments are the fluid and fast action when you’re cutting through hordes of enemies at a smooth frame rate with oceans of blood spraying all over. The series seems to be having an identity crisis about how it wants to continue. It needs to make a choice, keep the bikinis and have a bit of more campy fun with these characters, or lose them entirely and create a more polished action experience.
Onee Chanbara Origin isn't a great game, but it has much more fun combat and smoother visuals than previous entries in the series.
The whole essence of the title revolves precisely around its desire to bring back to our times a title of 16 years ago: without having these premises in mind, the risk is to see only the defects that the game undeniably brings with it: a simplistic graphics sector and a gameplay that is far too canonical as it is fluid, these are only one side of the coin, while on the other there is a really commendable work by the developers to give birth to what is a real remake. Long-time fans of the series, however small and rare these are in the West, will find in Oneechanbara Origins a heart-warming return worthy of the best nostalgia operation, while those who didn’t know the franchise will be able to get closer to it thanks to this production and get a culture about it. No, I never thought I would say "get a culture" about a girl in a bikini and a cowboy hat who cuts zombies like fallow, but I suppose that this is just the magic of Oneechanbara.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A true and fun action, sluggish by outdated graphics and a longevity below expectations.
Review in Italian | Read full review
I have to say, Onee Chanbara Origin is a solid series entry. The new art style looks great, the music is fantastic and the gameplay is really fun. The problem here is I feel like the pricing on this one is a bit much. The base price of $59.99 for a six hour story mode is steep. Also, there are no unlockable costumes in the game. Those have to all be purchased as DLC. They do offer a Deluxe Edition for $74.99 that includes all the DLC costumes and missions. This is a much better deal than just buying the base game since there is quite a bit of DLC content, but I’m not a big fan of this pricing structure. The PC port has some issues as well, but I do feel like most of these will be taken care of with patches down the line. If you’re a fan of the franchise, you will probably want to jump on this one ASAP. You’ll find a lot to love here, and since it’s been a while since you got to cut up some zombies with the girls, you’ll be more than satisfied. Everyone else may want to wait a bit for them to line out some of the bugs or a sale before diving in.
Onee Chanbara Origin is going to appeal to fans of the series or those just looking for a bit of mindless hack-and-slash action where they can kind of leave their brains at the door. That being said? The game is fun, the overall package is a nice merging of the first two games in the series and the product values have seen a worthy improvement. Onee Chanbara Origins is a fun way to kill a lot of undead and about a dozen hours.