Onee Chanbara Origin (English) · Test

Bikinis, swords and zombies

D3 Publishers 3D Hack'n Slay Onee Chanbara, like their biggest hit, Earth Defense Force, is part of the Simple Series that started with the PS2. In Europe, it is initially known as "Zombie Zone", "Zombie Hunters" and "Zombie Hunters 2" on the PS2. Only with the Xbox 360, the Onee Chanbara name was completely adopted.

The developer Tamsoft may seem a bit familiar, as we recently tested their latest game... Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions!

Onee Chanbara Origin is a remake of the first two parts of Japan. Famous for lightly dressed, sword-swinging main character Aya and bloody gameplay, the series has emerged from the Simple Series starting with the Xbox 360 generation.

The previous title Oneechanbara Z2: Chaos was released in 2015 for PS4 and PC.

5 years later it was time for a new game in the series and this time it is a reboot: Onee Chanbara Origin.

New graphics in Cellshading style and a new interpretation of the original story makes it the perfect start for everyone.

Aya and the search for her family

After the death of Aya's stepmother, two years ago, she started looking for her half-sister and father. During the search, she was contacted by a mysterious Lei who promises to help her find her and in exchange hunts the undead.

With the help of her father's sword skills, she then set out into the wide world in search of her half-sister. Against all expectations, Aya gets a message from Saki.

Means to an end is probably the best description for the story and that's not too bad, because this is all about the gameplay. You can see the game's classic roots. Story sequences consist of simple dynamic camera movements and conversations. This is quite normal for relative budget games.

Gameplay & controls

Onee Chanbara Origin is comparable to a mixture of Dynasty Warriors and DMC. Many opponents with combo capabilities, the latter being much simpler and less deep but with other mechanics available.

Cool Combination

All attacks and special attacks have a sweet spot timing where the attacks become faster and stronger. This is indicated by a blue aura. If all of them are hit in a combo, an additional attack is made that goes beyond the standard combo sequence. If you miss it even once within a combo, the Cool-Combination will be deactivated until the end of the sequence.

It works not only with attacks but also with actions like jumping, reload, and dodge. Finding the timing again and needs some training to recover the timing.

Compared to Onee Chanbara ZII Chaos, the timing is much easier.

In Origin, you can get a short slow-motion effect for killing hits, sometimes even with a dynamic zoom-in camera. It is well-meant and looks good visually, but it changes the timing of the attacks and makes it sometimes more difficult, even if it gives you a little bit of extra time.

The rhythm of inputs is extremely important in action games and if you add the Cool Combination to this, the question arises whether this dramatic effect is worth it or at least make it optional.

Break (Stun) and Cool Finish

All enemies have a break bar which is made visible by manual lock-on. For simple enemies, it can be filled up fast with special attacks, and as soon as it is full, the enemies are fixed in place. Stronger opponents must either be parried, hit with an Xstacy attack, or a Cool Finish to fill the break bar.

The Break state unlocks the contextual Cool Finish attack, which is an extremely important element in the fight against larger crowds and stronger opponents.

• Aya strikes with one blow in the sprint, hitting all opponents that are in the way.
• Saki, on the other hand, concentrates with a stronger attack on a targeted opponent, sometimes with wrestling throws.

Depending on the situation, it makes sense to prefer one or the other Cool Finish or to use it in a certain sequence. For example, Saki can immediately finish off a stunned strong opponent who Aya has brought into Break state with her Cool Finish.

The idea of Break and Cool Finish is a good addition, which gives the game a unique play between mechanics. However, there is one point to criticize. The opponents in Break state immediately fall from the air, i.e. it breaks your air combo as soon as the bar gets full.

For an action game with combo mechanics, control over the opponents is very paramount and this should not happen here.

Character Switch

Later in the story, Saki is unlocked, which changes the gameplay dynamics a lot. There are always both characters on the field and the inactive partner is invulnerable and attacks the enemies by herself.

The partner system comes with the following advantages:

• For attacks that last longer, such as the Cool Finish, the pause can be bridged with a character change.
• The inactive partner recovers slowly from a partial amount of the damage received.
• The character change is also available when you are sent to the ground and therefore the recovery can bridge the gap.

The character change is the secret to survive the higher difficulty levels and to optimize your attack plan and save certain resources.

Xtasy Combination

Above the Life Bar is a gauge that consists of one part at the beginning and later expands to 3. The Xstacy attack consumes a part of the bar and therefore up to 3 can be stored. But it is not easy to fill up the bar.

Continuous attacks and Predict dodges fill it up, but it is reduced by enemy hits.

These attacks share devastating damage, which kills most enemies except bosses on a direct hit and alternatively sends them into the Break state. Bosses, on the other hand, take break damage that can normally only be dealt with Parry.

Berserker and Xtatic Form

In addition to the mechanics already mentioned, the Onee Chanbara traditional transformation is added. This time with 2 phases.

• Berserker: Increases speed, damage output and regenerates life energy when picking up Red Orbs. However, the defense is reduced by a lot.
• Xtatic: Activated after further recharge. The character gets an extreme attack bonus, doesn't react to enemy hits, loses constantly health energy, and regenerates through dealt hits. Additionally, the character gets "Hyper Armor" and ignores all attacks. However, the life energy is still deducted and this with even further reduced defense.

This interesting game mechanic comes with disadvantages. On the one hand, the transformation is not controllable, i.e. as soon as the transformation bar is full, it is executed and consumes energy while the character is active.

On the other hand, the transformation animation is in real-time and lasts relatively long. It is recommended to change the character to avoid the animation even if you are invulnerable.

It's strange why this has been done like this because in an action game such interruptions are rarely desired.

One of the strategies is to save the transformed character for stronger opponents. Because in the inactive position no resources are consumed.

Controls and basic mechanics

It is important to take a look at the controls to understand how the game is designed

Attack

The attacks in Onee Chanbara Origin are like a straight line with branches through the Alternate Attack. In this sense, each weapon has a handful of combination attacks that are enhanced with level-ups. Usually, the number is fixed for normal attacks, but through the Cool Combo mechanics veterans can add an extra attack.

Special Attack

The real benefit of these attacks is not to inflict damage, but to cause normal enemies to break and then to perform a Cool Finish.

Besides, the special attack is the gateway to initiating alternative combo routes, such as a sweep combo or air combo.

Use the special attack between the normal attack sequence and you will get an alternative combo as well.

Weapon Degradation and Reload

This is one of the traditional mechanics of Onee Chanbara. With every hit, the weapon gets more and more smeared with blood and loses its edge once it is fully soaked. This is where the “Reload” comes in.

A special movement causes the character to swipe the blood. There are two different ones in this context.

• Outside of a combo: Complete wipe
• Within a combo: 1/3rd wipe

The Cool-Combination is a faster version of the 1/3rd wipe. Important, the reload does not interrupt the Combo, i.e. when you keep pressing, the attack sequence continues where it left off.

The Reload mechanism is a limitation that forces the player to act more strategically. A reload in the middle of a crowd of opponents is not recommended. Instead, weapon changes and character changes are used to expand the active period.

Dodge/Parkour and Predict (R2-Trigger)

Comparable to dodging other games and also offers a short period of invulnerability. Dodging just before the opponent's attack hits build up extra a 1/2 Xtasy bar and is called Predict.

At the same time, the dodging is an all-rounder that can be used offensively and defensively. This comes from the fact that almost all your attacks can are cancelable and it makes it easier to continue the offensive.

A further benefit is that the character also automatically moves over obstacles.

Parry (Circle Button)

A high risk, high returns action. Similar in use to the Predict mechanism in terms of dodging but with a much higher risk. The character parries at the touch of a button and inflicts break damage.

For bosses, it fills up about 1/3 of the break gauge.

The time for a parry is extremely narrow and when you miss it, the character remains in a recovery state for a relatively long time, cannot move, and is therefore completely at the mercy of your opponents.

In contrast to the Predict, the Parry is especially useful against opponents with slow attacks, which can be easily recognized by a long wind up animation. One of them is the Mudman, where the Parry Tutorial is shown separately.

Be it Predict or Parry, both are important mechanics which, when used skillfully, can greatly influence the flow of the fight.

Normal opponents

Apart from the typical zombies which become threatening by a large number, there are several other and stronger variations. Many of the stronger variations have Super Armor.

Super Armor police zombies are especially dangerous because they attack from a distance with their firearms and appear in larger numbers. Some special zombies appear individually or in very small numbers and are much stronger and more dangerous than the normal henchmen do. The biggest difference is their "Super Armor", i.e. they don't react to your attacks and carry out their actions completely. However, this state is not always there, after a certain amount of hits they lose this protection for a short time. You can see this by the yellow hue as an indicator.

Special attacks remove the Super Armor more quickly, but I found it difficult to act upon them because the special attack sequences are very short and the enemies recover quickly. Therefore, it is recommendable to use the character change again. Unfortunately, there is no bar or indication of how far the Super Armor is used up.

Awakened variation of normal enemies

All zombies have an awakened version with a red/black hue that are dangerous. Just like the special types they have a "Super Armor" and do not react to your attacks.

It is recommended to save the Xtasy Combination for this type of enemy.

In Story Mode, this won't be a problem, but in the Bonus Mode "Infinite Survival" they sometimes appear in masses like normal zombies, i.e. normal attacks are almost impossible to execute when you are surrounded by these type of enemies.

From the action game perspective, these types of enemies are often not very popular, because they are playing with the "Super Armor" under a different rule than you do.

Bosses

The bosses are relatively standard and come in two types: Normal and oversized.

Oversized enemies are relatively slow and can be attacked, dodged, and parried more easily. Human opponents are fast and require more attention.

However, all play under the same break rules. Parry and Xtasy Combination fill up their break bars by about 1/3 each. Once it is full, they remain helpless for a short time and Cool Finish is not possible. This is reserved for the end of the fight.

The Parry is especially important for human opponents because it removes the Super Armor from the boss and allows you to deal with a few attacks like normal opponents.

Level Ups

After each level, experience points are distributed and with each level up, 3 points are awarded to improve 3 different status points up to 99: attack, defense, and life.

It should be almost impossible to survive the "Infinite Survival" in the low levels.

Quests and Gallery

The quests are nothing more than small milestones in the game such as perform X-Mal Predict or Parry, complete X amount of enemies, etc.

Each of these quests has three milestones and unlocks different things. From the gameplay point of view, the rings are the most important, and sometimes you have to ask yourself if it's such a good idea since they have to be bought anyway.

Store, Rings, and Consumables

Besides the typical active gameplay elements, there is also a store where you can buy rings and consumables. It is available almost at any time in the story campaign via the start menu. The money for shopping is paid out at the end of a mission.

Each character can equip up to 3 rings that can have different functions, including normal status increase, simplifying the timing of Parry and Predict, or automatic regeneration of life energy or Xtasy bars. Not all rings are available from the beginning, must be unlocked via the Quests, and then purchased.

The Items and Rings show up as good supporting mechanics that bring in some variety. For example, the different options of the rings can make cool-combo attacks easier. There are two healing rings and although it sounds good, in higher levels, the characters have thousands of health points and it will be hard for them to recover with more damage because the regeneration is not scaled. It's up to the player to find the ring combination that suits their playing style.

Story Mode

The story is relatively short with 5 hours, with additional levels of difficulty available for selection. The environments are very simple and are designed to function as battle arenas. As in typical action games, progress is stopped with barriers until all opponents are defeated.

This will continue throughout the entire campaign. So if you're afraid of any mini-games or puzzles, you can look forward to a pretty fast-paced game moving from one fight to the next.

Even on the normal difficulty level, it should be feasible for a lot of people but difficult enough to get some game overs from you.

Most of the time the fights against bosses seem easier than against the hordes of enemies.

On the higher difficulty level, it looks quite different, because the bosses look like they have a lot of damage and therefore the allowed error rate is reduced.

As in many other action games, the opponents deal and take more damage.

Bonus missions and unlockable character Lei

The end of the story is not the end! The biggest reward is waiting at the end of the bonus mission "Infinite Survival" mode.

Here a character duo is sent into the ring to survive 100 battles. Sounds hard and it is. After the story campaign, you are not yet at the maximum level, i.e. there will be a time where they completely maul you. Fortunately, the developers are generous and give a checkpoint at level 51. That’s because it is a repeat of the first 50, but with a higher difficulty level.

With an upgrade of 66 from 99 on all three status points, the first boss could send a character to the afterlife with just a few hits.

Fear of a long grind? Infinite Survival is very generous with experience points. After the 3rd attempt, both characters were already completely upgraded. When it comes to money the story mode looks potentially more lucrative.

Whoever manages to complete this challenge will be rewarded with the character Lei.

The game time should be estimated at over 10 hours because Infinite Survival is no walk in the park. Especially the last 50 levels.

Gameplay interim conclusion

Onee Chanbara Origin is a competent budget character action game that is easy to learn because there are not many different attacks and is more about the clever use of all the mechanics to get the enemies done as efficiently as possible.

Because of the larger number of enemies the game is more like Dynasty Warriors or Fate/Extella LINK, so it can get chaotic at times, as there is no radar to detect the situation outside the visual range. Attacks from a distance are marked with a sound, but all the other effects easily drown it out both visually and audibly.

The use of Super Armor is not as noticeable in the story as it is in Infinite Survival, because in the latter such enemies appear in larger numbers. If the entire enemy composition consists only of those, many options are removed. In this extreme case, it is limited to Xtasy Combination, Predict, Parry, and Xtatic Form as potential options. When all resources are used up only Predict and Parry remains. Parry is too risky in a fight against normal opponents due to the fast attacks. In the end, there is only Predict left to charge the Xtasy bar and use the Xtasy Combination to reduce the number of enemies to a manageable number.

It doesn't happen often, but the camera has problems if the action is too close to the wall. This is because it bounces against the wall and the visibility gets worse.

Overall the gameplay makes a competent impression with good ideas. The fight against the many enemies becomes a good experience with the correct use of hit animations, sound, and dramatic deadly hits. Despite the one or other small controversial design decisions, it cuts a good figure.

Graphics & Sound

Onee Chanbara Origin is also a complete visual overhaul that switches from normal graphics similar to cell shading. You have to admit that this is what sets it apart from other games.

AAA graphics is of course not to be expected from a budget game. The fights take place in the forest, on the streets in the city, sewers, and inside buildings. The environment looks acceptable with simple textures and objects.

The highlight are the many enemies. They can be split, body parts and blood fly in abundance. In combination with all this, there have been moments where even the PS4 Pro was struggling a little bit because of a massive amount of things happening on the screen.

A small criticism is the blood splashes at the edge of the screen. This is meant to show that a reload should be done. As a negative side effect, it slightly reduces the player's view and this is rather a bad idea in an already chaotic battle with many effects.

The music works well as an accompanying soundtrack and even surprises with vocals at the end. The Japanese voices are well chosen as always and bring the characters to life with verve.

Conclusion

Onee Chanbara Origin proves to be a good action game with fast and bloody fights. Compared to other games of a similar genre, it is more in the direction of Dynasty Warriors than DMC and Bayonetta. Despite the one or the other little catches, it offers a unique gameplay experience with the many game mechanics like Parry, Prediction, and Cool Combination.

The price of £39.99 is relatively high for those who are only interested in the story mode. Including Infinite Survival and the attempt to unlock Lei, you can easily expect over 10 hours of gameplay.

All in all Onee Chanbara Origin is convincing in gameplay, but unfortunately, there is a lack of content.

DLC

For a price of £13.99, there is a Season Pass that includes all DLC. New buyers can get a cheaper deal of £49.99.

Besides the cosmetic and music DLC (30 music tracks), two gameplay DLC are included. Lei unlocker and bonus missions set. If you don't manage to complete Infinite Survival every 100 fights, you can buy it. The Bonus Mission Set (single £2.89) consists of 10 missions: 2 for Aya, 2 for Saki, and 6 for Lei. The Lei missions can only be played if the character is unlocked!

Wertung

7.5Gut

Kaufempfehlung

60% Kaufempfehlung

60%Angebot abwarten