Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers - Previews


	Platform Wii Genre Action Publisher D3 Publisher Developer Tamsoft ETA Spring 2009
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Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers

Of all the titles seen at E3, it was Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers that stood alone as a straight-up, try-not-to-think-too-hard, action game on the Wii. Most other games I saw had some kind of hook; a definite "feature" that attempted to differentiate itself from the crowd. ("Look! We've got a new cover system!") Onechanbara's only hook is that the game features provocatively dressed sisters.

Why the pair are battling zombies is not important for a game like this. From the demonstration, Onechanbara is all about making use of the Wii controls to mimic

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sword slashes and perform acrobatic dismemberments. Just one example, as you hack the zombies to bits an onscreen meter shows how bloody your sword is; the higher the meter, the higher the chance the sword will become stuck in a zombie torso, which in turn leaves you open to attack until the sword can be shaken loose. To keep the blood level down, players will have to "flick" the Wii Remote to remove the blood.

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To further highlight the motion controls, players can control two swords at once, which looks like a necessary process because there were many, many onscreen enemies to dice.

The blood aspect also extends to the characters - get too much blood on your character and they temporarily enter a rage mode, where you turn into an unstoppable killing machine at the cost of your health. I can see this playing an important consideration during gameplay, since you'll want to control when the rage will be released. One of the team members handling the localization told me that there will be locations to wash blood off. Based on the opening cinematic of the demo - labeled "The Peep Show" - it wouldn't surprise me if the game cut to a shower scene when these "wash stations" are encountered.

This wasn't shown but two player, split-screen co-op will also be included.

Though it's already out in Japan, I asked about the likelihood of Nintendo allowing a title such as Onechanbara to be released on their console in North America. After all, in North America, ultra violence seems to be a-okay - Manhunt made a Wii appearance - but the moment there's any kind of sexuality... well, it just seems like an odd game to appear on the Wii. But they were confident that there would be no bumps along the way during the approval process.

As odd a fit as Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers on the Wii may be, I'm still looking forward to it. The graphics may not be hi-def enough for some gamers who expect digital boobs and eviscerated zombies to "pop" off the screen, but for the fan of fun action games, Onechanbara looks to be on the right track.

- Omni

(July 22, 2008)