Developer Bungie, The Omni Group
Publisher Gathering of Developers
Designer Hardy LeBel
Composer Michael Salvatori
Platform Microsoft Windows
Release date January 2001
Genre Third-person shooter, Beat 'em up
Mode Single-player
URL: http://www.bungie.net/Projects/Oni/default.aspx

Oni is a third-person action game developed by Bungie West, a division of Bungie. Released in 2001, it was Bungie West's only game. It broke new ground by blending third-person shooting with hand-to-hand combat, resulting in a unique, yet familiar game for third-person shooter enthusiasts. In 1999, while still in development, Oni won the Game Critics Awards for Best Action/Adventure Game. Due to difficulties in debugging and the general unplayability of a fighting game over any less reliable network than a LAN at the time, multiplayer was omitted from the released version.

The game's universe is heavily influenced by Masamune Shirow's manga series Ghost in the Shell. The main characters Konoko and Commander Griffin look similar to Shirow's protagonists Motoko Kusanagi and Daisuke Aramaki. Dark Horse Comics published a comic-book version of Oni as a four-issue limited series, the first issue of which was bundled with the Windows version of the game.

Game Plot:

The action of Oni takes place around the year 2032. The game world is a dystopia, an Earth so polluted that little of it remains habitable. To solve unspecified international economic crises, all nations have combined into a single entity, the World Coalition Government. The government is Orwellian, telling the populace that what are actually dangerously toxic regions are wilderness preserves, and using the Technological Crimes Task Force, its secret police, to spy on citizens and 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 police. 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 Technological Crimes Task Force 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.

Game Levels:

   * Training Level
   * Syndicate Warehouse - Trial Run
   * Manufacturing Plant - Engines of Evil
   * Bio-Research Lab - Puzzle Pieces
   * Airport Assault - Tiger by the Tail
   * Airport Cargo Hangars - Hot Pursuit
   * TCTF Headquarters - Counter Attack
   * Atmospheric Conversion Centre (exterior) - A Friend in Need
   * Atmospheric Conversion Centre (interior) - An Innocent Life
   * Regional State Building - Truth and Consequences
   * Rooftops - Cat and Mouse
   * Dr Hasegawa's Lab - Dream Diver
   * TCTF Science Prison - Sins of the Father
   * TCTF Headquarters (redux) - Phoenix Rising
   * Syndicate Mountain Compound - Dawn of the Chrysalis

Game Characters:

   * Konoko (Mai Hasegawa) - the main player character. She began as a secret agent working for the TCTF in their struggle against the Syndicate. She began a journey of self-discovery and uncovered the truth behind her past as well as thwarting the Syndicate's evil plans.
   * Commander Griffin - the stern and cold-hearted commander of the TCTF forces. He used Konoko as a tool to aid him in fighting the Syndicate initially but Konoko turned on him after she discovered the truth behind her past.
   * Shinatama - an SLD (android) used by the TCTF to program and monitor the growth of the Chrysalis inside Konoko. She was regarded by Konoko as a close friend. She was ordered to self-destruct by TCTF to silence her.
   * Muro - the evil leader of the Syndicate. He was revealed eventually to be Konoko's brother and he too had a Chrysalis inside him.
   * Dr Kerr - Konoko's uncle and Dr Hasegawa's partner. They worked on the Chrysalis but he was taken into captive by the TCTF. Griffin found him to be of use and allowed him to continue working with the Chrysalis inside Konoko but under his supervision.
   * Barabas - a superhuman being who served Muro. He possessed superhuman strength and has the ability to regenerate his health.
   * Dr Hasegawa - Konoko's father. He was a scientist who started to work on the Chrysalis to save the world from destruction by pollution.
   * Jamie Kerr - Dr Hasegawa's student who developed a close relationship with him and became his wife eventually. They attempted to expose the government's 'dirty secrets' about the environment, but she cut her leg and died of infection in the contaminated zone.
   * Mukade - the master Ninja who served Muro. He was a computer expert as well.

System Requirements:

266 MHz Pentium III processor or higher
64MB RAM
800MB free disk space
Hardware accelerated 3D graphics card (OpenGL compatible)







GameSpot: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/oni/index.html
GameZone: http://pc.gamezone.com/gamesell/p11978.htm
IGN: http://pc.ign.com/objects/010/010815.html