GameSpot's Ones to Watch - Editor's Choice: The Games of E3 1999

Introduction
Top 10 To Watch
Notable Games by Genre
• Action
• Adventure
• Driving Games
• Multiplayer Only
• Puzzle Games
• RPG
• Sims
• Sports
• Strategy
ONE TO WATCH: ACTION
Oni
Full-on hand-to-hand combat action made Oni one of the hotter games on the E3 show floor this year. The inspiration for the game can be traced to the Japanese animated science-fiction film, Ghost in the Shell, and it is indeed very cinematic: there are in-engine cutscenes between every level, and the movement through the levels is as smooth as an episode of Speed Racer with 3D effects.
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The style for the characters and backdrops is pure anime, and the levels (17 are planned) take place in a variety of settings: from a mountain range to the interior of a 15-story police station.

There are eight different character classes and ten variations within each, including a "super-deformed" version of Konoko (the game's female protagonist) with a head inflated to what seems like ten times its normal size.

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Again, action is smooth and linear: interpolated animation makes it possible to execute several moves in seamless, rapid succession. Early levels of the game seemed nonviolent, but Bungie's publicity engineer Doug Zartman assured GameSpot that the action becomes more gruesome as Konoko reaches higher levels.

Developer/Publisher: Bungie

Next: Another One to Watch