Oni

by Gathering of Developers

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004Z0MH
• Item Weight: 5 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: January 30, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,729 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #43 in Video Games > PC Games > Action > Fighting
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Imagine if you could marry the adventure and acrobatics of the Tomb Raider games to the martial-arts action found in pure fighting games like Tekken. If you have a clear picture of what that would be like, you've got a handle on Oni from Bungie Studios. It's a third-person-perspective action-adventure fighting game, but with a distinct Japanese animation (anime) flavor.

The story concerns the TCTF (Technology Crimes Task Force) police sometime in the future. Konoko is an operative with a cybernetic uplink to a little girl android named Shintama. She becomes embroiled in the hunt for a criminal named Muro and his hulking bodyguard, and her battles with his thugs rage through office buildings, chemical plants, an airport, and even the TCTF headquarters itself.

It's a simplistic story: high on the melodrama, but perfectly in keeping with its anime intent. Like the story, the action serves that goal as well. Oversized rifles, bizarre rocket launchers, plasma cannons, and freeze guns make up the arsenal, and, should those run out of ammo or get knocked from one's hand, fists and feet complete the set. Konoko can execute a multitude of fairly easy-to-perform flips, combos, and devastating punches and kicks. Combat is fierce and always challenging, yet never dull. The animations are flawless and fun to watch, while never being overly gory or tasteless. Think of the jaw-dropping combat in The Matrix and you've got a taste of Oni's action.

The only real flaw is the save-point system used in the game. The game is divvied up into bite-sized chapters, and the game automatically saves at the beginning of each one. There's little reason not to allow one to save anywhere, but our main gripe is that a few of the save points are too far apart. Repeating large sections of the game multiple times becomes a chore and detracts from the game's pace.

If you can get past the repetition, you'll find Oni a refreshing kung-fu alternative to the typical run-and-gun action gaming fare. And you'll find Konoko herself a fascinating protagonist to boot (pun intended). --Andrew S. Bub

Pros:

• Excellent control system
• Great level design
• Stylish graphics

Cons:

• High difficulty
• Bad system for saving games

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars sweet, August 18, 2003

By 

bob dorff (Kent, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oni (CD-ROM)

This game is one of the best i have played in a long time. The grafx are dated, yes and the levels tend to look the same but the game plays like a dream. Being chased by three guys over catwalks, sliding to dodge heat-seeking rockets, and watching ase the rockets you dodged hit your attackers never gets old. I love friendly fire! The storyline is cool, i care about the charachters and the final decision of chapter 13 is one of the coolest things in a video game to date. ...

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So far so good!, January 31, 2001

By 

Bill E. Stripp (Chicago, IL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oni (CD-ROM)

I have just installed and started playing Oni and love it! If you are a fan of fighting games like Tekken or Virtua Fighter and a fan of games like Tomb Raider, then this blend is a match for you. While the graphics are somewhat average for a game of this type, the animations make up for it. All of the moves you can perform are handled in a lifelike smooth fashion which really adds to the playability.

The story is nothing super, but fun and worth going through. Mind you I have not gotten far into it yet.

I have encountered no bugs yet other than a little clipping here and there. The install seems to want you to install an OpenGL driver, however, I did not and it still plays fine on my system. As a side note I am playing on a Inspirion 5000e laptop with Windows 2000.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars innovative and original, July 30, 2001

By 

"alidarbac" (Swarthmore, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oni (CD-ROM)

I'm not a huge computer game expert. I was there at the beginning of the FPS boom, with Wolf 3D and Doom, but my interest trailed off in these sort of action games pretty quickly simply because there was no real conceptual innovation. Technically, these games were improving by leaps and bounds, but this amounted to nothing more than being able to shoot more realistic bullet holes into the prettier looking walls as you walk into a room and blow up anything that moves. Admittedly, there have been some recent innovations like the Counterstrike add-on and Thief II, which place more of an emphasis on stealth and teamwork, but conceptually it's pretty much all the same.

On the face of it, the only distinction between Oni and the shelfloads of other FPS shooters out there is that Oni is third-person, the view following directly behind your character a la Tomb Raider. But the actual fighting engine is incredibly original and fun to play with. The hand-to-hand combat is truly something you have to experience first-hand. It's both relatively simple (you won't be spending a lot of time learning esoteric button combinations) yet extremely flexible, allowing you to do an extensive variety of moves.

Each time I encounter an enemy, a completely new fight transpires depending on the surrounding environment. It's not like I'll shoot each blue colored drone from behind with the same gun. Sometimes it's fun to draw him out with a scatter gun and then pound him with some sort of punch-kick combo. Sometimes it's fun to try to sneak up behind him and snap his spine like a toothpick. I've had fights where I've snuck behind a guard while on a ramp, disarm him and then throw him over my shoulder. Two other guards noticed and started running my way. I grabbed one, swung around him by his neck, kicking the other one, which knocked them both to the ground temporarily. Meanwhile, the first guard has since gotten up and is chasing his gun which has been rolling down the ramp. It seemed like it was scripted out of some B action movie. It truly is a fun experience because it is so easy to do so much.

The fighting is so brilliant that it overshadows some of the games admitted flaws. I can only cross my fingers and pray for a sequel in which they are all remedied. First of all, the criticism that advancing through levels in Oni is nothing more than switch hunting (find green switch to open green door, then find blue switch to open blue door, etc.) is a fair one. I really wish there were some more complex puzzles or mazes. Others point out that Oni doesn't have any multiplayer and that the environments were a bit simplisitic. This is also true, but I think that these were more technological limitations. It's common knowledge that multiplayer was dropped because there was latency problems. And while a grittier Neo-Tokyo would have been fun to have played in, for most computers it would have come at the expense of such smooth fighting.

I disagree about the controls being difficult. I think that the mouse/keyboard set-up that you have to use is the optimal set-up. I know many people are stubborn about how they like to play, but a joystick for Oni would seem particularly awkward. I can't imagine how PS2 players could enjoy this game.

A final note of caution is that those of you with older video cards could have a lot of technical problems. I originally had an ATI Rage Pro. The game made me install new drivers that caused continual crashes. Moreover, this older card didn't support transparent walls, so whenever I got stuck in the corner, I was fighting blind. All I could see was the wall behind me, obstructing my view. I have since upgraded to an ATI Radeon. The action is much smoother, the walls behind me are transparent, and I have had no problems with crashes.

Overall, a wonderfully entertaining game that yet has potential to be even greater.