A game that could've been, well...great.
User Rating: 5.4 | Oni PC
Its not hard to see where developers Bungie Software were going when they came up with the concept for Oni. An anime-based, stylish, 3rd person stealth/fighting/shooting game. Oh, and with a female protagonist. However where they went wrong was in the execution of such a large idea. From the get-go I was hampered with technical difficulties within the game. I recall some atrocious load times between levels, and glitchy sound. Within the game engine there were glitches with being able to see through walls down floors to enemies and knowing that they were activated. Oni had a distinct fighting style and she could learn new moves, provided you had the fingers to reach that annoying combination of keys. The gameplay explains little (apparently this is explained in the manual) but for a while I was content to just play and hope the story would unfold on its own. Nope! For the casual gamer it was hard to pick up. The game did feature some good technical feats (lighting tricks, fog, particle effects) and although the fighting system didn't work, it was inventive. The conspiracy theorist in me says that because Bungie was picked up by Microsoft at a time when Halo was gaining some big hype (back when Halo was just a PC game) that this game was given the bum-rush to get out the door. I don't recall any engaging cinematics, and I myself found this game in the bargain bin within 6 months of it appearing on the shelves. In the end, I would say skip it. Unless you're a die-hard Bungie fan the game is forgettable and at times painful to play.
