Oni Review

Opening

Developer: Bungie
Publisher: GOD
Oni official page: http://oni.godgames.com

A piece of gaming history before it was ever released

Two E3s in a row, Oni has dominated, crushed and emerged victorious. Collectively, over the course of three years, Oni has graced enough magazine covers to give Cindy Crawford a run for her money. Over the course of the last two years, not a month has gone by that a site or a magazine hasn't featured a preview, an interview or a selection of screenshots.

The opening.

Bzzzt.

The line of hype is a dangerous line to walk, as the last year of gaming has taught developers. Quite a few games failed because they weren't able to live up to the hype, and many were subject to a tremendous amount of editorial and consumer backlash that in some ways served to make the game worse than it actually was, at least in the minds of its players. Slave Zero, Force Commander, and the ubiquitous Daikatana all come to mind.

Hype serves developers on many fronts, it creates public awareness and sells games before a review is ever read. Hype comes at a tremendous cost, however. Over time, the hype becomes so large, that eventually one can't help but be disappointed. Ask yourself this question, could you have been impressed by any rendering of Star Wars: Episode 1? Inevitably, you could have been a bit more impressed than the shlock that was served up by Mr. Lucas, but it's a good question to ponder.

Getting a bearing.

Charging the gunners.

The way

No game could live up to the hype surrounding Oni. Despite the aforementioned magazine covers and the years of coverage, for aeons the critics and the spinsters have been saying the same thing: "Dynamic combat system! Lots of moves, interesting story, did we mention dynamic combat system?!"

Oni has never had a long feature list, and one of the features promised was stripped from Oni prior to shipping. Perhaps this is what has saved the game so far from a hype-backlash.

He's about to kick us in the face.

I thought I was reviewing Oni, not Alice!

Without further adieu, we give you Oni, in all its glory and frustration, in all its wondrous glamour and befuddling banality.