Besides his swinging/lassoing ability, Blanc has been given a Tengu (think fairy) named Ako to help him in his quest. The little winged annoyance can fetch the contents of Tengu treasure boxes and even convey things across time between Japan and Paris – which is a pretty neat and useful trick. She also helps replenish hit points and can facilitate soul absorbing during battle if she is properly equipped with the appropriate vest.

The whole deal, while a little odd and with some small play problems, hangs together really well as a game. The improvement over the previous Onimusha games is a quantum leap in quality. As mentioned before, this is supposed to be the last of the Onimusha games. Seeing such an enriched game playing experience in Onimusha 3, it almost makes me wish to see where the team would have gone with Onimusha 4.

Fans of the series should run, not walk, to pick it up. For anyone else, it is still a well-built action game that will entertain the PS2 gamer for hours.