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Fighting is awesome, overall gameplay ...(is really bad)!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: February 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is very strange. I've never seen such strong elements in an overall pretty lousy game. With the "strong elements" I mean the fights. These fights cause a huge adrenaline-rush. There are a lot of moves and it looks and plays very good. But there are a lot of bad things about this game...

For example, the overall gameplay is very bad. 18 levels long you'll have to pull a switch, go through an opened door, whack some baddies and pull a switch again and go through a door again and... you get my point.

This game has also got one of the worst save-options ever known to mankind. The game saves automatically at certain points, but you'll have to complete the level because if you restart the game the save-points are gone! This is only done because if you could save yourself you'll finish it in about 8 hours. But there's something even worse... after completing 10 levels I took a break and when I came back I accidentally pressed "new game". No problem, I thought, just load my old game again, but... The $^$#&#&^# game ERASED MY SAVES!!! The whole city trembled of the scream that left my mouth (hmmm... maybe only the neighbourhood ;)

The graphics are not bad, but very boring. The levels are completely non-interactive.

It's a shame that Bungie put such a beautiful fightingsystem in such a lousy game. So... don't buy this game! (....)

So far so good!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: January 31, 2001
Author: Amazon User

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.

Great gameplay, horrid levels

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: February 02, 2001
Author: Amazon User

"Oni" is both the best and worst action game I have played in a while. As far as pure action goes it is one of the best out there. The story, which does a fairly good job of convaing the Anime feel, is fairly bland and has been done before (If "Deus Ex" had an anime style, it would be this game.) However the combat itself is second to none. Being able to pull off Street Figther 2-like moves in a living, interactive world is new and enjoyable. However "Oni" biggest flaw is in this world. Level desing is awful. Levels are mindnubbingly boring. Anyone expecting a dark and gritty setting, like something out of "Akira" or "Ghost in the Shell" will be disappointed. They all look the same and are mostly devoid of life. Also a problem with the levels is the typs of puzzles they hold. Hit a switch, open a door, hit another switch, open another door, repeat. You could do this in doom many many years ago. After a few hours it becomes almost unbareable. Controls are not bad, use of ranged wepons take some getting used to but the system as a whole is fine. That said however it baffles me as to how they leave out an option to remap keys?! All that said I still would consider this game worth your money. The action is qiute simply some of the bast in the PC market today. The first time you block a jumping attack, counter with a leg sweep, land a complex combo, throw an opponent down a fight of stairs and then finish him off from above with a plasma rifle it is gameplay unlike any other. This game is a landmark game, however it is still not a very good. When and if this engine is licenced to other companies or a sequal is put together this game will truly get the respect it deserves.

Curiously addictive, but deeply flawed

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I have many gripes with this game: the poor save-game system, the bland level design, the constant switch hunting, etc. I have found that it is, however, and in all fairness, a very addictive game. Much of the addictiveness comes from the crisp and innovative fighting system. Some of it comes from the intruiging cut scenes, a few of the games surprise plot points, and an overall ease of play.

Clearly the designers of Oni had some very good ideas. It's strange to see a game that got so much right and, yet, got so very much wrong. There are certainly elements of this title that I would like to see implemented in future games, and I would definitely keep an open mind if I heard that Oni 2 were in development.

As it stands, however, its a game that balances on the thin edge of innovation and frustration. As it stands, I can't recommend the game at full price, but I have no doubt that it will be the jewel of the remainder bin.

Very GOOD... but hard, with bad save and control features...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 27, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is detailed in the fighting department, even though it is a fighter/shooter hybrid! The number of offensive/defensive moves that you can do with a keyboard in incredible.

But there is the catch: the keyboard! I can't find a way to use my Wingman game pad controller.

You move forward/backward and strafe left/right (and perform jump/punch/kick) with your keyboard; you turn/change your line of sight/aim with the mouse. And there is no auto-aiming... It is a good thing that your guns comes with a aiming sight (laser-like) to let you know where you are aiming but... Frankly, I was more expecting an all-on-a-game pad control scheme, especially if this game is also done on Playstation.

You can't even change what keys on the keyboards you may use. Everything is frozen!! ... Well that's not entirely true. You may change the settings by editing a file called "key_config.txt". But I am all confused as to why they (the designer) never installed a control configuration option screen!

The saving-scheme is "sub-episode" based. Your game is saved once you have reached a certain point in the game. You can't save anywhere and there are no save-points. And the saves are pretty far apart! I still ache from repeating a segment of the game over, and over, and over, and over...

Aside from this the game is (still!) very good (thus the 4 stars out of 5). The fighting is extremely hectic, but rewarding once you master the control scheme. Rejoice on taking down plenty of enemies

The graphics are very good, without being overly detailed. This lack of detail is good for a few reasons: a) this is a anime-environment game (anime is a term used for Japanese animation style); b) with so much action, any more details would slow down the game on any computer! The faces on the characters are static when they talk, but I personally don't put much emphasis on that for this type of game. The music is great (I even got the ONI soundtrack). And the voice-overs are... well... overacted. But hey! This is anime! It's supposed to be like that!

This is a very satisfying game that does it with plenty of action and style. But the two keywords of warning should be: hard control scheme, bad save feature. As always, I recommend you download the demo from the designer's website (...) to try out the controls. If you can handle it, go for it and buy the game.

NOTE: Although I use the term "anime" quite often, all designers of this game are American-based. This is not a game ported from Japan. It is (heavily) inspired by anime.

innovative and original

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 31, 2001
Author: Amazon User

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.

sweet

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

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. ...

Not your ordinary shooter...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I've been at this game for a little while now. At the beginning, it was somewhat of a disappointment, as I was expecting to be able to blow everybody up with large guns. But larger guns do not appear until higher levels, and ammo is, indeed, very scarce. So, what you do is you avoid people shooting at you, try to get close enough to disarm them and then kick their butts with your bare hands. Now, that's where the game truly becomes fun. The melee combat is where it's at. You learn new moves every so often, and some of them are cooooool. This takes a lot more skill and practice and is a whole lot more fun than pointing a large gun at some distant enemy and blowing their guts out (ok... maybe not more fun to see, but definitely more fun to do). Myself, I just love the devil spin kick.

The graphics are relatively minimalistic, but well done. I think that the barren scenery works well and focuses you on combat rather than pretty things on the walls...

The keyboard controls are very well laid out and uncomplicated. Controlling movement and angle with the mouse, however, can become a little difficult when you are surrounded by more than two opponents and you need to move around very quickly. But, hey, what's the point of an easy game :) ?

I recommend this game very highly. It's provided hours of good (pseudo-physical) fun...

Best game ever, however easy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: February 05, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Oni is by far the best game i have played in my life. I disagree with the fact that it has a bad saving system, and the fact that it is difficult. I have already beaten the game, and i'm telling you i am super impressed with the quality of the plot and the gameplay. However the final boss (konoko's brother) is a little easy, i beat him on the second try.

This game is a must for all gamers.

Good game.... but lacks good graphics in certain areas......

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 13, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I've only played the first 3 levels of ONI. The game's gameplay, sound and music are very good, the only thing where they could have a done a better job with little effort was the graphics...... The Character animation in ONI is not so great.... in cutscenes, the characters are just standing still with no face expressions or moving parts like the mouth or the eyelashes...... maybe I'm being picky.... but these little things make watching cutscenes a lot more fun........ still, the game is fun and worth playing....

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