A 3D Shooter? An action adventure? A beat 'em up? No, Oni will
be an "Anime Action Thriller", as Bungie PR man Doug Zartman tells us as
he throws a bad guy elegantly at a wall while playing Oni. You can see
that the animators of Oni have seen a lot of Japanese animation like Ghost
in the Shell by lookinh at the violet hair of special agent Konoko. As
a member of the TCTF, she battles a mysterious syndicate in the yar 2032.
Throughout 17 long levels Konoko will battle herself through badguys using
her martial arts and weapons she picks up along the way whilst the plot
unfolds around her. Konoko realises that the good and bad guys aren't those
that she thought they would be at the beginning of the game, so by the
end she becomes a lone avenger.
Smooth as silk
You play the game in third person perspective, from behind Konoko, who
will slip into various outfits in the game, even wearing sunglasses that
are in the Matrix look. With the mouse buttons you kick and punch, and
there are ten weapons available for you to use, from an Uzi to a rocket
launcher, but ammo is sparse, you are supposed to rely on martial arts
to battle your way through the levels. Along with the jump and directional
keys you can do some great combos whilst fighting. Timing is everything,
if you for example quickly press the punch button three times you can end
the combo of punches with a super punch, which will be shown in an adequate
animation.
Disarm enemies
The battle scenes don't really abide to the rules of gravity, they actually
abide to the rules of Anime cartoons, really high jumps are included. And
what does Konoko do when she encounters a foe with a weapon in hand? She
tries to disarm the enemy with a special disarm move to grab the weapon
herself and use it against the agressor. Disarm moves will be harder to
carry out when meeting stronger enemies with stronger weapons.
Animations in combination
The magic word for the flexible and fluid controls of characters is
"Interpolation" One animation goes smoothly onto another like Doug demonstrates.
"If you press a key in an action game to execute an action," Doug says,
"then you'll notice how it will lag on the last few frames of the last
animation before it executes the one you specified with pressing that key.
You don't get that in Oni, the game reacts immediately to your input, even
if Konoko is in the middle of another move." Dynamic lighting effects along
with shadows and reflections make the game look even better.
Even if you're looking at Konoko from behind, the conclusions that
you may draw that Oni is like Tomb Raider is wrong, because Oni offers
close combat action along with puzzles. If you happen to pick up something,
then it will most probably be things like ammo or life energy items. Alone
the story makes sure that no gamer will suffer under a lack of adventure
in this game. The numerous cutscenes in the game will be shown with help
of Oni's graphics engine.
Complex and detailed architecture
Oni could do one other thing which no other action game every accomplished:
creating a realistic and believable game world. The majority of levels
are in buildings, two real life architects are there to make sure that
there's alternation and a realistic look in levels, using professional
software like AutoCAD. Individuality instead of the same boring rooms you
see all the time. Not a thing to be ignored by the level designers are
the behaviours of other characters in this game world. In some missions
Konoko will find herself in massive fights, and the enemies don't stick
to some patten programmed into the game, rather, they react towards the
way the battles are going. Along with allies and foes there are also civilins.
Even the bald headed guys in lab coats seem to have taken a couple of Kung
Fu classes...
Along with the plot of the solo play there will also be a mulitplayer
mode with fresh action gaming. In normal FPS's it counts that you are good
with a gun, with which you battle others in deathmatches. But with Oni
may even change deatmatch standards mking the new motto "unarmed and dangerous".
This article can be found in the German magazine, Gamestar May 2000
Translated by Harry Al-Shakarchi
Page one and two of the original article.
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