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With the upcoming release of the Microsoft
X-box and its much hyped lineup of games, which includes the heralded game Halo, I figured
I’d take a look at the last Bungie release on the market, the PC game Oni. Oni is a
Tomb-Raider style third-person action game that is heavily influenced by Japanese science-
fiction anime and features an intriguing storyline, quality action sequences, and fluid
animation. However while the game does have its fine points, there are some issues, which
may prevent Oni from becoming a must-have game for your library.
The main character of the game is Konoko, a purple-haired girl with an affinity for martial
arts and heavy weaponry. You start out defending the world from evil and eventually find
yourself against the world as you defend your name. The story reveals
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itself through a combination
of cut scenes and text messages that are activated on different computer terminals throughout
the levels that each shed another hint on what your past was – or wasn’t.
While the cut scenes are done well, they consist mostly of close-up portraits of the various
characters engaging in the dialogue. They are stills, so their eyes don’t blink, and their
mouths don’t move. While they are drawn well, you can’t help but wonder why they went this
route when there are so many other games on the market that thrive with the cut scenes serving
as a viable part of the game with progressing the story as well as showing off the graphic
capabilities of the game engine.
The action sequences are very well done, as Konoko can utilize her training in martial arts
with kicks, punches, flips and so on to take out her enemies, or she could just pick up a
gun that was dropped by a foe and blast away. Ammo is limited, so sometimes it may be wiser
to holster the weapon and go at it mano-a-mano.
The controls are difficult to master at first. The keyboard controls consist of using the W, S,
A and D keys to move around and the mouse to look around and steer Konoko. For people who are
used to a first-person shooter-style control in their games, it could be frustrating to move
where you want, when you want at first. Fortunately, the game features an in-depth tutorial that
should assimilate you well to the game. By the end of the tutorial, you should be comfortable
moving around, jumping, fighting, and shooting.
The enemies encountered in Oni are diverse. They range from heavily-armored baddies with big
guns, to smaller, quicker evildoers who are hard to catch and take down. the graphics in these
action scenes are both good and bad, as the little things, like glass shattering when hit
by gunfire is a nice touch, but usually if you knock-out an enemy close to a wall, the enemy
sometimes clips through the wall, which may result in losing a bonus item he drops, like a
life-up or ammo.
The levels are bland, as they mostly take place in office-buildings with lots of boxes and gray
walls. Nothing breathtaking here. Just simple design that repeats itself for each level.
The weapons in the game are plentiful, as they range from the simple handgun, to a rocket launcher,
to a multiple-rocket launcher, to a grenade launcher, to a mercury bow style sniper gun. However,
as I will get into later in this review, by the end of the game, you want more items to choose from.
Throughout the game, you also learn new attacks at the conclusion of some levels and to use them,
you must learn different combinations to “activate them”, like punching three times in succession and
so on. While the attacks are nice at first, by the end of the game, they’re just a novelty. You start
to get in a groove with what attacks work for you well and you stick to it, rather than try to
incorporate a new attack you learned in a later level.
The one glaring problem in this game is the lack of a save feature. Throughout the game, your progress
is randomly saved as you reach certain points in a level. While this was undoubtedly done for the
PS2 version of the game, for the PC version it is rather unforgivable.
Because of the no-save feature, you may be forced to revert to an earlier save simply because you’ve
reached a difficult part of the game and were respawned with little life. When you load a saved spot
in the game, you start with the circumstances you had when it saved – same ammo, same life, and
same enemies.
The depth of the game is non-existent. Oni is a straight-out third person action game and nothing more.
There are no skirmish modes, no multiplayer options, or internet play to speak of. While the storyline
gets intriguing at some points, especially the part where she’s delving into her mysterious past –
there are parts which are either not explained fully or tied up to abruptly it’s unsatisfying.
While the different enemies and bosses are fun at first, they become easy to defeat once you recognize
the pattern it takes to emerge victorious.
My main problem with the game is you can pinpoint the exact point of the game when Microsoft bought Bungie
and rushed the game out the door. What was once one of the more hyped and anticipated games hits the
store shelves with the following shortcuts... the new moves you learn after each level suddenly
stop coming toward the end of the game. the story that was once fluid and interesting suddenly
becomes ragged and rushed. The new weaponry disappears and the older ones become more common.
The cut scenes aren’t as in depth as they could be and the final boss character is easier then the
ones at the beginning.
It just seemed like a Microsoft rep came into the Bungie offices and said, “Okay, this has to be out
in a month, finish it up as soon as possible.” So a game that was started with painstaking attention to
detail was abruptly shoved out the door and onto the retail world.
In the end, the user is left with more of a feeling of what could have been, rather than what they just
experienced. While I don’t regret the time I spent playing and defeating the game, I don’t know if
I’d recommend it as a must-have game. If you’re not a fan of anime movies like "Ghost in the Shell"
or "Akira", you may want to give this game a pass. Still, Oni is a decent third-person action game, and
one that is at least worth a demo download to make the final decision. It may not be for everyone, but it
you’re a third-person fan, it’s for you.
Jim's Rating:
3 out of 5 Planets
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Buy it @
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