Oni (video game)

Last updated

Oni
Oni Coverart.jpg
Developer(s) Bungie West [lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s) Take-Two Interactive (Gathering of Developers, Rockstar Games)
Producer(s) Hamilton Chu [1]
Designer(s) Hardy LeBel
Composer(s)
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, PlayStation 2
ReleaseMicrosoft Windows
PlayStation 2
  • NA: 29 January 2001 [4]
  • EU: 9 March 2001
Mac OS
Genre(s) Action, beat 'em up, third-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player

Oni is a third-person action video game developed by Bungie West, a division of Bungie, and published by Take-Two Interactive. Released in 2001, it was Bungie West's only game. Gameplay consists of third-person shooting with hand-to-hand combat, with a focus on the latter. Originally planned just for the Mac OS and Windows, a PlayStation 2 port was concurrently developed by Rockstar Canada. The game's style was largely inspired by Ghost in the Shell and Akira and shares the same genre, being set in a cyberpunk world.

Contents

Plot

The events of Oni take place in or after the year 2032. In the game, Earth is so polluted that little of it remains habitable. To solve international economic crises, all nations have combined into a single entity, the World Coalition Government. The government is totalitarian, telling the populace that what are actually dangerously toxic regions are wilderness preserves, and uses its police forces, the Technological Crimes Task Force (TCTF), to suppress opposition. The player character, code-named Konoko (voiced by Amanda Winn-Lee), full name later given as Mai Hasegawa, begins the game working for the TCTF. Soon, she learns her employers have been keeping secrets about her past from her. She turns against them as she embarks on a quest of self-discovery. The player learns more about her family and origins while battling both the TCTF and its greatest enemy, the equally monolithic criminal organization called the Syndicate. In the game's climax, Konoko discovers a Syndicate plan to cause the Atmospheric Conversion Centers, air-treatment plants necessary to keep most of the world's population alive, to catastrophically malfunction. She is partially successful in thwarting the plot, saving a portion of humanity.

Gameplay

Konoko using a move effective on multiple enemies, the Devil Spin Kick Oni PC screenshot.jpg
Konoko using a move effective on multiple enemies, the Devil Spin Kick

Oni is a third-person action game, focused on melee combat mixed with some gunplay. The player can punch, kick, and throw enemies; progressing into later levels unlocks stronger moves and combos. There are ten different guns in Oni, including handguns, rifles, rocket launchers, and energy weapons. Power-ups such as "hyposprays", which heal damage, and cloaking devices, which render the player invisible, can be found scattered throughout the levels or on corpses. Since the player can carry only one weapon at a time and ammunition is scarce, hand-to-hand combat is the most effective and common means of defeating enemies.

There are multiple classes of enemy, each with its own style of unarmed combat. Each class is subdivided into tiers of increasing strength. As in Bungie's earlier Marathon titles, tiers are color-coded, in this case by green (weakest), blue, and red (strongest). Also color-coded are the levels of health each opponent has, indicated by a flash when the player strikes or shoots them. Green flashes show the opponent has high health, red flashes show the enemy is near death.

Oni does not confine the player to fighting small groups of enemies in small arenas; each area is fully open to explore. The fourteen levels are of various sizes, some large enough to comprise an entire building. Bungie hired two architects to design the buildings.

The Oni engine implements a method of interpolation that tweens key frames, smoothing out the animation of complex martial-arts moves. However, frame slippage is a common problem when multiple non-player characters near the player are attacking.

Development

The game was developed by a core team of about twelve people. [6] The game's universe is heavily influenced by Mamoru Oshii's anime film Ghost in the Shell , with some additional influence from Akira and the works of Kenichi Sonoda. [1] [7] [8] [9] [10] The original plan was for Konoko to be a cyborg like Ghost in the Shell's Motoko Kusanagi. The explanation for her superhuman abilities was changed to be more organic with the addition of the Daodan Chrysalis concept by design lead Hardy LeBel.

Oni was originally expected to be released in the fourth quarter of 1999. Advertising was targeted towards that shipping date, and the game won E3's Game Critics Awards for Best Action/Adventure Game in 1999. However, development difficulties caused the release date to be pushed back continuously. The acquisition of Bungie by Microsoft in 2000 then led to the transfer of the Oni IP to Take-Two Interactive (which owned 20% of the studio prior to Microsoft's acquisition). Since Bungie's employees were moving to the new office location in Microsoft's headquarters or leaving the company, work on Oni had to be completed as quickly as possible. Due to a lack of time to resolve issues with the multiplayer code and to finish the levels intended for use by multiplayer mode, this functionality was omitted from the released version.

A sequel was in development at Angel Studios for two years before being cancelled for unknown reasons. [11] [12]

Music

Half of the music was composed by Martin O'Donnell in collaboration with Michael Salvatori. Other tracks in the game, which had already been implemented before O'Donnell and Salvatori joined the project, were composed by the music company Power of Seven, which specialized in electronic music genres such as techno and ambient. The Power of Seven team consisted of founder Paul Sebastien, as well as composer Brian Salter and Kim Cascone, who served as a sound designer for the game; [13] the team had previously worked together at Thomas Dolby's audio technology company Headspace. O'Donnell, who served as the game's audio lead, decided to keep the tracks Power of Seven had already composed, while composing roughly the same amount of music himself. [14] [15] Select tracks from the game were made available on MP3.com in 2000, a year before the game was released. [16] A soundtrack CD of the game's music was bundled with purchases of the game at Best Buy.

Reception

The game received "average" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. [17] [18] Some reviewers were unimpressed by the minimal detail of the environment graphics, [42] the lack of intelligence on the part of the AI in some situations, [43] and the plot, which was occasionally criticized as underdeveloped. [44] The game's difficulty in combination with a lack of savepoints was sometimes cited as a negative. [45]

The absence of LAN-based multiplayer, which had been demoed at hands-on booths at Macworld Expos during Oni's development, but removed before release due to stated concerns over latency issues, contributed to some lower scores from reviewers. [35] Some of the game's content was cut as well. This included the "Iron Demon", a large mech shown in-game in one trailer. Also, many of the weapons featured in the trailer and the game cover were not in the game.[ citation needed ]

On the positive side, Oni received the most praise for its smooth character animation and large array of fighting moves, as well as how it blended gunplay and melee combat. [46] Thus, reviewers gave Oni mostly average-to-good scores in recognition of the enjoyment factor of the game. Jeff Lundgren of Next Generation said of the PlayStation 2 version: "It may have been a long time coming, but it was worth the wait. In fact, in a number of important ways, this is the game The Bouncer should have been." [37]

In the United States, Oni sold 50,000 copies by October 2001. [47]

Anniversary Edition

The "Anniversary Edition" was made by fans and the community, based on years of research, and enhances the retail copy of Oni. The first official release of the edition was made seven years after Oni's release, hence the original name of the project, "Seventh Anniversary Edition". [48]

Notes

  1. Ported to PlayStation 2 by Rockstar Canada; Mac version ported from Carbon to Cocoa environment by The Omni Group for increased OS X compatibility, and from PowerPC to Intel by Feral Interactive.

Related Research Articles

<i>Myth</i> (video game series) Video game series

Myth is a series of real-time tactics video games for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. There are three main games in the series; Myth: The Fallen Lords, released in 1997, Myth II: Soulblighter, released in 1998, and Myth III: The Wolf Age, released in 2001. The Fallen Lords was developed by Bungie, and published by Bungie in North America and Eidos Interactive in Europe. Soulblighter was also developed by Bungie, and was published by Bungie in North America and GT Interactive in Europe. The Wolf Age was developed by MumboJumbo, and co-published by Take-Two Interactive and Gathering of Developers for Windows and by Take-Two and MacSoft for Mac.

<i>Tom Clancys Ghost Recon</i> (2001 video game) 2001 video game

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon is a tactical shooter video game developed by Red Storm Entertainment and published by Ubi Soft in 2001 for Microsoft Windows. It is the first game in the Ghost Recon series. It was ported to Mac OS, PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2002 and to the GameCube in 2003. Ports for N-Gage and Game Boy Advance were planned, but later canceled. Unlike Clancy's other tactical shooter series, Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon is not based on any of his books.

<i>Halo: Combat Evolved</i> 2001 video game

Halo: Combat Evolved is a 2001 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox. It was released as a launch game for Microsoft's Xbox video game console on November 15, 2001. The game was ported to Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X in 2003. It was later released as a downloadable Xbox Original for the Xbox 360. Halo is set in the twenty-sixth century, with the player assuming the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier. The Chief is accompanied by Cortana, an artificial intelligence. Players battle aliens as they attempt to uncover the secrets of the eponymous Halo, a ring-shaped artificial world.

<i>Halo 2</i> 2004 video game

Halo 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. Halo 2 is the second installment in the Halo franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved. The game features new weapons, enemies, and vehicles, another player character, and shipped with online multiplayer via Microsoft's Xbox Live service. In Halo 2's story mode, the player assumes the roles of the human Master Chief and alien Arbiter in a 26th-century conflict between the United Nations Space Command, the genocidal Covenant, and the parasitic Flood.

Flood (<i>Halo</i>) Fictional parasitic alien lifeform in the Halo video game series

The Flood is a fictional parasitic alien lifeform and one of the primary antagonists in the Halo multimedia franchise. First introduced in the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved, it returns in later entries in the series such as Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo Wars. The Flood is driven by a desire to infect any sentient life of sufficient size; Flood-infected creatures, also called Flood, in turn can infect other hosts. The parasite is depicted as such a threat that the ancient Forerunners constructed artificial ringworld superweapons known as Halos to contain it and, as a last resort, to kill all sentient life in the galaxy in an effort to stop the Flood's spread by starving it.

Cortana (<i>Halo</i>) Fictional video game character

Cortana is a fictional artificially intelligent character in the Halo video game series. Voiced by Jen Taylor, she appears in Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequels, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite. She also briefly appears in the prequel Halo: Reach, as well as in several of the franchise's novels, comics, and merchandise. During gameplay, Cortana provides backstory and tactical information to the player, who often assumes the role of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. In the story, she is instrumental in preventing the activation of the Halo installations, which would have destroyed all sentient life in the galaxy.

Halo is a military science fiction media franchise, originally created and developed by Bungie and currently managed and developed by 343 Industries, part of Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios. The series launched in 2001 with the first-person shooter video game Halo: Combat Evolved and its tie-in novel, The Fall of Reach. The latest main game, Halo Infinite, was released in late 2021 as a free to play beta, and then had the campaign release later that year.

<i>Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30</i> 2005 video game

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Gearbox Software and published by Ubisoft for Xbox, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2. It is the first game in the Brothers in Arms series. The game takes place during World War II and focuses on tactics. It was ported to the Wii in 2008, as part of the Brothers in Arms: Double Time compilation.

<i>Onimusha 3: Demon Siege</i> 2004 video game

Onimusha 3: Demon Siege, released in Japan and Europe as Onimusha 3, is a hack-and-slash action-adventure video game developed and published by Capcom. It is the third game of the Onimusha series and was released for the PlayStation 2 on April 27, 2004. It was later ported to Windows on December 8, 2005. The story focuses on the returning hero, swordsman Hidemitsu Samanosuke Akechi, who is in his quest to defeat his nemesis, Nobunaga Oda, who wishes to conquer Japan with his army of demons known as Genma. However, Samanosuke changes places with a French officer from the future named Jacques Blanc, and both have to adapt to their new worlds to get rid of Genma army and stop Oda Nobunaga's ambitions to conquer the world.

<i>Summoner</i> (video game) 2000 video game

Summoner is an action role-playing game developed by Volition and published by THQ. It was released as a launch title for the PlayStation 2 in 2000, and was subsequently ported to Microsoft Windows and Mac OS the following year. In the game, the player plays the role of Joseph and can assemble a team of compatriots and summon powerful monsters. The game has a world map, involved storyline, and unique hybrid combat system involving real-time and turn-based mechanisms.

<i>Tom Clancys Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter</i> 2006 video game

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) is a tactical shooter video game released for the Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows in 2006. As in previous Ghost Recon games, players command their team while neutralizing hostile forces and completing various mission objectives. These objectives can range from escorting friendly units across the map to rescuing hostages or taking out enemy artillery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin O'Donnell</span> American video game composer

Martin O'Donnell is an American composer, audio director, and sound designer known for his work on video game developer Bungie's series, such as Myth, Oni, Halo, and Destiny. O'Donnell collaborated with his musical colleague Michael Salvatori for many of the scores; he has also directed voice talent and sound design for the Halo trilogy. O'Donnell was Bungie's audio lead until April 11, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Jones (programmer)</span> American video game developer and programmer

Jason Jones is an American video game developer and programmer who co-founded the video game studio Bungie with Alex Seropian in 1991. Jones began programming on Apple computers in high school, assembling a multiplayer game called Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete. While attending the University of Chicago, Jones met Seropian and the two formed a partnership to publish Minotaur.

<i>Top Gun: Combat Zones</i> 2001 video game

Top Gun: Combat Zones is a combat flight simulation game named after the 1986 film Top Gun. It was developed by British studio Digital Integration and published by Titus Interactive. It was originally released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001, followed by a GameCube version in 2002. Versions were also released for the Game Boy Advance and Microsoft Windows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Salvatori</span> American composer (born 1954)

Michael C. Salvatori is an American composer best known for his collaboration with colleague Martin O'Donnell for the soundtracks to the Halo video game series. Salvatori became acquainted with O'Donnell in college; when O'Donnell was given a job offer to score a colleague's film, Salvatori and O'Donnell formed a partnership and eventually created their own production company, TotalAudio. Salvatori continued to manage TotalAudio and worked on his own music for clients such as Disney and Wideload Games.

<i>Halo 3: ODST</i> 2009 video game

Halo 3: ODST is a 2009 first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The fifth installment in the Halo franchise as a side game, it was released on the Xbox 360 in September 2009. Players assume the roles of United Nations Space Command Marines, known as "Orbital Drop Shock Troopers" or ODSTs, during and after the events of Halo 2. In the game's campaign mode, players explore the ruined city of New Mombasa to discover what happened to their missing teammates in the midst of an alien invasion. In the "Firefight" multiplayer option, players battle increasingly difficult waves of enemies to score points and survive as long as possible; Halo 3's multiplayer is contained on a separate disc packaged with ODST.

Japanese cyberpunk refers to cyberpunk fiction produced in Japan. There are two distinct subgenres of Japanese cyberpunk: live-action Japanese cyberpunk films, and cyberpunk manga and anime works.

<i>Halo: Reach</i> 2010 video game

Halo: Reach is a 2010 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios, originally for the Xbox 360. The sixth installment in the Halo series and a direct prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, Reach was released worldwide in September 2010. The game takes place in the year 2552, where humanity is locked in a war with the alien Covenant. Players control Noble Six, a member of an elite supersoldier squad, when the human world known as Reach falls under Covenant attack.

Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington, and a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones after publishing Jones's game Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete. Originally based in Chicago, Illinois, the company concentrated on Macintosh games during its early years and created two successful video game franchises called Marathon and Myth. An offshoot studio, Bungie West, produced Oni, published in 2001 and owned by Take-Two Interactive, which held a 19.9% ownership stake at the time.

<i>Destiny</i> (video game) 2014 video game

Destiny is an online first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie. It was released worldwide on September 9, 2014, for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One consoles. Destiny marked Bungie's first new console franchise since the Halo series, and it was the first game in a ten-year agreement between Bungie and Activision. Set in a "mythological science fiction" world, the game features a multiplayer "shared-world" environment with elements of role-playing games. Activities in Destiny are divided among player versus environment (PvE) and player versus player (PvP) game types. In addition to normal story missions, PvE features three-player "strikes" and six-player raids. A free roam patrol mode is also available for each destination which feature public events. PvP features objective-based modes, as well as traditional deathmatch game modes.

References

  1. 1 2 Kushner, David (June 2000). "Ghost in the Machine". SPIN. 16 (6): 86. ISSN   0886-3032.
  2. "Oni sur PC". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Gathering of Developers Ships Oni Nationwide for the PC and Macintosh". Gathering of Developers. 29 January 2001. Archived from the original on 17 April 2003.
  4. "Oni ships for Mac, PC, PlayStation 2". Macworld. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  5. "ONI : news". Application Systems Heidelberg. 7 March 2001. Archived from the original on 28 July 2001.
  6. Wescott, Jeff. "Interview: Oni Level Designer David Dunn". Inside Mac Games . Archived from the original on 24 August 2000. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  7. Al-Shakarchi, Harry. "Interview with lead engineer Brent Pease". Bungie.org. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  8. Al-Shakarchi, Harry. "Interview with concept artist Alex Okita". Bungie.org. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  9. Kane, Alex (30 March 2017). "Flashback: 'Oni', Bungie's Cult Classic Inspired by 'Ghost in the Shell'". Glixel. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017.
  10. Watson, Michael (June 1999). "Interview with Lorraine Reyes, Art Director/Creative Director of Marketing at Bungie Software". MacGamer's Ledge. Archived from the original on 4 December 2000.
  11. Yin-Poole, Wesley (7 December 2016). "Oni 2 was once in development, here's what it looked like". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  12. Alexandra, Heather (5 December 2016). "Bungie's Cult Classic Oni Almost Had A Sequel". Kotaku . Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  13. "Kim Cascone: "blueCube( )" Interview". AmbiEntrance. 1998. Archived from the original on 14 March 2017.
  14. Audy-Rowland, Nico (October 2004). "Nico Interviews Marty O'Donnell". Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  15. "Interview with Marty O'Donnell, Total Audio". Oni Central. 2000. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  16. Mullen, Michael (27 April 2000). "Bungie's MP3 Contribution". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 22 April 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  17. 1 2 "Oni for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  18. 1 2 "Oni for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  19. Norands, Alec. "Oni (PC) - Review". Allgame. Archived from the original on 15 November 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  20. Thompson, Jon. "Oni (PS2) - Review". Allgame. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  21. Edge staff (February 2001). "Oni". Edge . No. 94.
  22. EGM Staff (April 2001). "Oni (PS2)". Electronic Gaming Monthly . Archived from the original on 21 April 2001. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  23. Bramwell, Tom (8 February 2001). "Oni Review (PC)". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  24. Reiner, Andrew (March 2001). "Oni". Game Informer . No. 95. p. 67. Archived from the original on 30 January 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  25. Uncle Dust (29 January 2001). "Oni Review for PS2 on GamePro.com". GamePro . Archived from the original on 9 March 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  26. White, A.A. (January 2001). "Oni Review (PC)". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  27. White, A.A. (February 2001). "Oni - Playstation 2 Review". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on 31 March 2001. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  28. Gerstmann, Jeff (31 January 2001). "Oni Review (PS2)". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  29. Kasavin, Greg (17 January 2001). "Oni Review (PC)". GameSpot . Archived from the original on 3 September 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  30. Thernes, Ryan "StoneWolf" (27 January 2001). "Oni (PC)". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 15 February 2001. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  31. Alupului, Andrei (14 February 2001). "Oni". PlanetPS2. Archived from the original on 23 February 2001. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  32. Lafferty, Michael (9 January 2001). "Oni Review - PC". GameZone. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  33. The Badger (23 April 2001). "Oni (PS2)". GameZone. Archived from the original on 29 April 2001. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  34. Jones, Gareth (March 2001). "Oni". Hyper . No. 89. pp. 52–53.
  35. 1 2 Adams, Dan (30 January 2001). "Oni (PC)". IGN . Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  36. Perry, Doug (1 February 2001). "Oni (PS2)". IGN. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  37. 1 2 Lundgren, Jeff (April 2001). "Oni (PS2)". Next Generation . Imagine Media (76): 74.
  38. "Oni (PS2)". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine . April 2001. Archived from the original on 18 April 2001. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  39. "Oni". PC Gamer . April 2001. p. 96.
  40. Saltzman, Marc (7 March 2001). "'Oni' fun in spite of flaws". The Cincinnati Enquirer . Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  41. Ryan, Michael E. (5 March 2001). "Anime Adventure: Oni". Playboy . Archived from the original on 18 October 2001. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  42. Hill, Mark (13 August 2001). "PC Review: Oni". PC Zone . Archived from the original on 24 June 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  43. Eilers, Michael (29 January 2001). "Oni". Inside Mac Games. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  44. "Firing Squad's review". Archived from the original on 10 October 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2009.
  45. Clydesdale, Jimmy (25 January 2001). "Oni". Game Over. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  46. Misund, Andreas. "Oni Review". Gamer's Hell. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  47. Keighley, Geoff (October 2001). "GOD's Games" (PDF). Computer Gaming World . No. 207. Ziff Davis. p. 31. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  48. "Anniversary Edition - OniGalore". wiki.oni2.net. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2019.