Oni

Your mission will come to a sad end if you can't stop that truck. And then you see it — a crane attached to that platform that serves as the second level of the warehouse. Snipe the guy guarding the controls, or just race up the stairs, engage in a little hand-to-hand and knock him into next week. 

Then work the crane and …

Oni, from Bungie and Gathering of Developers is a wonderfully animated third-person program that combines elements of role-playing with spirited combat and puzzles to give players a ride they won't soon forget.

The story centers on Konoko, a special rookie female agent of the Tech Crimes Task Force. Her first mission involves entering a warehouse to search out an undercover operative (yep, she finds him, but he's dead) and secure information about illegal activities. That soon evolves into riot of action, as the bad guys try to end Konoko's visit. 

This game is, hands-down, one of the best Japanese animé games on PC. The graphical quality of this program is very rich, and the characters move quite well.

If there is a problem with this game, it lies with the player controls. It is a combination of mouse and keyboard, though you must use keyboard commands that may — during initial visits into this wonderful realm — have you hunting out keys rather than engaging in the action. Movement is controlled by the W, A, S, D keys, while the Q key allows you to pick up weapons (you can only carry one at a time) and ammunition. The control and shift keys also play a big part and when used in combination with the mouse buttons, produce some incredible action sequences. In the course of the training and first mission, you will become familiar with the controls, and discover (to your delight) that they are very simple to use and use effectively.

As Konoko engages in battles and picks up experience, she will pick up new moves — in an arcade sense, this is akin to rewards being unlocked. The new moves, and how they are employed, are detailed in her handbook - an accounting of mission objectives, weapons, and personal notes. 

Graphical breakdown occurs in talking sequences. Like some Japanese animé, the characters seldom move their mouths in conjunction with the spoken word. And you will occasionally pound a villain through part of a wall — it's a clipping problem, not an intentional point of the game. Should you be privileged enough to be accompanied by other TCTF agents, you can use them to get some of the criminals off your back, but they are basically followers, and if left alone will wander aimlessly back and forth.

Overall the sound quality is very good. Explosions, lasers, and the typical oofs and ahs associated with hand-to-hand combat are rendered well. The score is well composed, and the vocal characterizations are dead-on.

Oni may be on the violent side, but it is pure cartoon violence. This program is pure fun: a wonderful mesh of graphics, good storyline and flawless game play. 

Install:  Easy
This program will eat 800 megs of hard drive space, but does go on a machine fast. The game loads are quick, and the game has an autosave feature when you reach certain points in a mission.

Gameplay:  9
The game boards, for each mission, are large, finely detailed and the only interruption in the flow of a game is when you hit a point that treats the player to a cutscene.

Graphics:  9
Though basically a two-dimensional game, the graphics are lush and give a real sense of a high-quality cartoon come to life.

Sound:  8.5
Each weapon has a unique sound, and the hand-to-hand combat sequences contain all the appropriate audio effects.

Difficulty:  8
There are difficulty levels that you can set to give you the challenge you seek. The game is a combination of reflexive action with minor puzzles tossed in.

Concept:  8.5
The evolving storyline is fairly good, but where this program really scores is in the look of the product.

Multiplayer:  N/A

Overall:  9
This product does have a few minor glitches, but they aren't enough to dissuade anyone from snatching this up. Though viewed from the third-person perspective, this is still a terrific shooter game that dances on the fringes on a role-playing program. With its rich graphics, solid story and great audio, Oni is a sure-fire hit.