Oni

The Good
Oni could've been great, awesome even. Combining three crucial elements (being great graphics, fight moves and a voluptuous female), Oni should have been one of 2001's greatest games, but ultimately, it failed.

Regardless, Oni deserves recognition for being the first mainstream anime-based game for the PC. There have been a few anime games in the past, but none of them are actually widely known.

Also, it warrants some merit on the grounds of its terrific "animesque" 3D engine, which while isn't actually fast, isn't slow either, and definitely looks GORGEOUS. The scenes are definitely believable for an anime game, and the fight moves are very well performed.

The music, rare as it is, is pretty good never-the-less.

The Bad
Oni has two major shortcomings, which are enough to render a potentially great game into a complete mess.

The first is a completely inadequate control system. I consider myself a very able person when it comes to getting the hang of control systems in games (I've never had any troubles with games ranging from Doom to Alice to Unreal Tournament), but Oni's control mechnasims managed to completely baffle me. Difficult to learn as they are, it's nothing compared to how difficult they are to use in a furious combat sequence. This might not have been too bad in itself, but combined with the second problem, the game becomes extremely frustrating.

The second problem is save points. sigh Shouldn't the lesson have been learned over the years, especially after Daitakana, which was particularly criticized for its "save crystals" mechanism? This is not a playstation game, and I think that's what the programmers failed to realize - miserably so. Combined with a really unintuitive control system, the lack of quicksave/quickload option in this game makes it completely unbearable to play. A stupid mistake, such as falling off a bridge in the middle of combat (or alternatively overhead-throwing an opponent and falling after him) can, and in fact will, make you go through entire sections over and over and over again.

Bad controls + no quicksave = big no-no.

The Bottom Line
A real flop, a game which could've been made great but fails where it's most important: gameplay.

The Good
The number of moves and stunts this game allows you to perform while playing is quite thorough. This is the first game I found where it is possible to sneak up on someone and then break their back, for example. Another example you can run full tilt, then slide along the ground, pick up a gun laying there, and then shoot an enemy. Mastering these types of maneuvers can be very satisfying.

Some complain about the control system that Oni uses, but I found it quite good, and I'm usually VERY bad with games like this (Mortal Kombat, OMF2097). I was able to pull off most of the moves consistently in battle. Some moves are meant to be difficult to execute so that the game doesn't become too easy.

I personally think the save system in the game was appropriate, because in other games where the player can save at will, I have a tendency to abuse this feature. Oni's save system only forces you to MASTER the control of your female protagonist, which is what you want for a fighting/action game like this anyway.

An enemy in the game had to either spot you or hear you before attacking, this made for very interesting game play since at times sneaking around was necessary. Some enemies would taunt you while fighting, although a bit repetitive after awhile, this still added some interest to the flow of the game.

Some levels were huge, and the game engine seemed to handle indoor and outdoor scenes flawlessly. The level design was usually quite good, and provided a variety of environments to explore.

The Bad
My biggest complaint would have to be the drab graphics on the first few levels; although, the first level IS a warehouse, so what do you expect? It's true that some levels could have used more detail, it's also true that you're too busy fighting to really be bothered with the color and size of the game designer's choice in textures.

Some opponents in the game where REALLY tough to beat and required up to 10-15 retries before finally beating them (although I really consider this just part of the game and not a huge turn-off).

The Bottom Line
I finished this game at the normal level of difficulty and I rarely finish action games of any type. This game was fun and addictive, although admittedly a bit frustrating in some spots.

If you are not patient or easily bored with having to replay parts of a game because you got killed, this game may not be for you. You will occasionally have to replay some parts of a given level many times before moving on.

Overall I found the integration of various gaming styles to be well done, and there were no problems that I noticed which could prevent someone from finishing this game without cheating.

The Good
Awesome gameplay. The Martial Arts action is to die for. The game is pretty much a beatem up, and while there are weapons you won't want to use them that much. It never gets boring beating the living mess out of thugs. The moves are excellent and the controls are great. You won't have much trouble learning the controls after going through the training mission. The game has a very cool anime feel. The story is also one of the best around.

The Bad
The biggest fault is the lack of a save at will feature. While I only got frustrated twice because of it, it still should be a feature in the game. This is the biggest and most deadly turnoff of the game. Secondly, the graphics are blah and very bland, there is pretty much no detail at all in the worlds. But the architecture of the buildings can be pretty cool sometimes. Lastly the game begs and pleads for a multiplayer mode. Hopefully all these things will be addressed in a sequel, which I hope they are making.

The Bottom Line
A very good combat game with great moves and controls, served with a great story. Lackluster graphics and an awful save game system do detract from the game, but do not keep it from being a great game. Highly recommended as one of my favorite games and it is now my guilty pleasure. I bought it for $9.99 and I know I got a steal. Overall Just plain FUN!!!!