Oni (for PC) -- Video Game Review
As I am with all single-player-only games, I was a little disappointed with Oni. I mean, after Quake, one expects the game to go on in some respect (for fps's, usually online deathmatches) forever. Oni, unfortunately, is single player, period. It also suffers from many of the design limitations placed on it by being a PS2 game -- save points, set controls, very little graphics customization.
That said, Oni is an absolutely fabulous game. It manages to overcome these shortcomings, which with a lesser game would have made me take the thing back.
The story is, like many video game stories, just okay. About on par with Half-Life's story: just solid enough to keep the action going. Nothing extraordinary.
The graphics are absolutely stunning. I can see how it would be a little disappointing on a TV with the PS2, but on a gaming rig with the graphics turned way up it's fabulous. The levels are massive and render perfectly, the fighting effects are both cool to look at and convey very detailed information, and the character models are very lifelike. It's obvious the designers put a lot of thought into how the player figures out what's going on. There's two little hud graphics that convey all your vital statistics without resorting to a huge bar across one side of the screen. The compass feature in the left hand hud prevents you from getting too lost in the levels you're exploring. And while fighting, the flashes of light that appear when your shots land tell you how much damage you've caused your opponent -- without putting a lifebar over everyone's head.
The fighting is a lot of fun. You only have a few options with respect to weapons -- either you use the one weapon you can carry at a time, or you go in with your fists. This creates the situation where most of the time you are playing the game like a fighting game. You don't get a lot of ammo in this game, so don't expect to run around shooting everyone. You've got to spend some time practicing combo moves to get through your opponents.
So, overall, well worth the US$35 you'll end up spending on it. Definite minuses because of the lack of control customization (WASD or nothing) and it being single player only (I'd love to go online and duke it out with some others or try some of those levels working as a team). But these are outweighed by the quality of the game play.