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At first glance, Bungie's Oni seems a significant departure from the developer's previous projects, which include action titles such as the Marathon trilogy or the real-time strategy games Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth II: Soulblighter. In particular, Oni's distinctive anime aesthetic certainly makes the game Bungie's most stylized title to date. Style isn't everything, though. The Oni team has been working nearly three years to make sure the game keeps with the Bungie tradition of solid gameplay and great storytelling. In addition, this is the first Bungie title to feature a hybrid combat system that will attempt to balance hand-to-hand fighting and gunplay. To find out how this game is progressing and what some of its design challenges have been, GameSpot talked with producer Hamilton Chu.

GameSpot: Anime and manga have a small but strong following in the US. However, neither has broken into the mainstream, despite recent successes such as Princess Mononoke. Although Oni is a different medium, how will it bridge the gap?

Hamilton Chu: While we expect that the anime style (and content) of Oni will likely attract some anime fans who don't necessarily play a lot of action games, the gameplay itself will appeal to action gamers even if they are totally unfamiliar with the style. Konoko is an appealing character - tough, resourceful, and attractive - whether the player is familiar with anime or not.

There are more anime qualities to the game than simply its art style: Oni takes place in a somewhat dystopian, futuristic setting; it has a dark, noir-film storyline; and some of the characters have exaggerated acrobatic abilities, such as the ability to jump very high in the air, that are common in anime films... There's more to creating an anime feel than saucer-plate eyes and spiky hair. In the end, the action will draw a wider audience to the game more than its aesthetic, we believe.

GS: Briefly, what is Oni's story?

HC: It's the year 2032. Sprawling megacities dominate the landscape, and high technology is an inseparable part of all human endeavor, including crime. One of the most important law enforcement agencies is the Technology Crimes Task Force (TCTF). The TCTF's principal adversary is a brutal and shadowy organization known only as the Syndicate. For years the TCTF has attempted to infiltrate and destroy the Syndicate. Spearheading this effort is one of its toughest, most resourceful agents, an elite operative named Konoko.

Konoko eats, sleeps, and breathes the TCTF. Because of the extremely dangerous nature of this line of work, all TCTF officers undergo rigorous hand-to-hand combat training and are skilled in the use of a wide array of projectile and energy weapons. Even among the elite, Konoko proves to be exceptionally skilled and lethal at close or long range, armed or unarmed.

Next: Read more about this butt-kicking heroine