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Oni (PS2)

With all the pomp and circumstance surrounding this title during its long years in development, one might assume a pretty impressive game would emerge from all that work. But no, no it hasn't. It seems the team spent 90% of their time thinking of new wrestling moves to give Konoko and the enemies and only 10% on the targeting, control, level design, and balance. The backbone of any third-person shooter is in the movement and combat systems, and both are just a bear to deal with in Oni. At first, it seems like you're able to lock on to a target if he's close enough. But as soon as you move or fire, everything falls apart, and you're shooting frantically into the air, analog sticks akimbo in a laughable attempt to refocus on your rapidly moving foe. This makes the game inconceivably frustrating. Close combat's no better—while you have a ton of cool moves, it's amazingly difficult to get in position to pull them off. The balance is impressively skewed too—apparently three shots from a rocket launcher are only as strong as a trio of punches. Oh, and don't be surprised if an enemy pile drives you. It seems to be the preferred attack method of evil syndicate cronies everywhere. Be prepared for thankless, repetitive gameplay; as in find a "console", push "x" next to it, then go to the door it opens and fight some people. Killer load times, too. Don't get lured in by Oni's shiny foil label, the game inside is a lot duller.
Jonathan
Rating:3.5

I had high hopes for this game. It's animé styled, it's an action game—by all accounts I should love it. But I'm not a fan of Oni's "move with one analog, aim with another" PC-esque control scheme. It could've benefitted from a more console-style setup—or at least an option to set it up differently. Where's my Z-targeting, dagnabbit?! It's too easy to lose track of enemies this way. The environments are large (maybe too large) and there are a lot of repeated textures. It's too bad the animé theme is so underused. Too many times you're reading tiny blocks of text off of menu screens. Oni has my vote for least exciting action game of the year.
Chris
Rating:3.5

Oni had so much potential when we first saw it. A nice, free-roaming adventure game with a cool story line. Unfortunately, the final product reveals Oni as one of the most infuriating games yet released on the PS2. The control is needlessly frustrating, there's no multiplayer mode, and it's next to impossible to aim your weapons with any precision. Of course, Konoko's enemies can aim with sniper-like accuracy at all times, meaning the only way to beat them is to rush them and take a few rounds. You guessed it, that leads to death more often than not. I can't count the amount of times I've wanted to destroy my controller in this game.
Greg
Rating:3.0

Oni

Publisher: Rockstar Games
Developer: Bungie
Featured In: EGM #139
Players: 1
Supports: None
Best Feature: Wide range of attacks
Worst Feature: Tie between control and targeting
Web Site: www.rockstargames.com
Visuals: 6
Sound: 4
Ingenuity: 5
Replay: 4
 
Electronic Gaming Monthly   [posted on: Mar 06 2001 12:00:00:000AM]

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