Onimusha 3: Grab the popcorn

Before I get anywhere near its title screen Onimusha 3 rolls out an outrageously lengthy and surely eye-wateringly expensive cutscene, the whole thing lavishly rendered and full to bursting with complex motion captured fight choreography directed by none other than Donnie Yen. Did I really need to see Samanosuke take down an entire army of demons single-handed while looking like the most incredible warrior in existence? No. Am I glad I did? Oh heck yes. Capcom’s “Sengoku Survival Action” game (the inventive genre label printed on the Japanese box), starring impressively lifelike virtual doubles of Takeshi Kaneshiro and Jean Reno, is utterly committed to maintaining not just that initial level of awe, but also that opening level of cinematography from beginning to end. This sort of work is not new territory for the medium—Resident Evil is just one obvious example of a game that uses carefully considered camera placement to create specific scenes and set moods—but I didn’t expect to…