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Hi all, I'm going to do a game review today. Because, well, I've never done it before, and this is the game I'm playing when I get really bored at home.



Oni is not like most 3rd person shooters (tps). While most of these shooting games revolve around guns and weapons, Oni is based on hand-to-hand combat. To dissuade the player from relying on his or her weapons too much, they've limited the ammo allowed per gun. This does force the player to perfect hand and feet in close fighting, but it doesn't make much real sense. Here is the first real problem.

You can pick up an enemy's gun, and fire it at the baddies. You can also find ammo clips and reload a gun. However, you cannot take a dropped weapon, remove the ammo, and use it with your existing weapon. What?? It'd be okay if all the guns were energy based, at least you have an excuse for it being non-removeable. But there are machine guns that obviously fire bullets, so it gets me upset when I can't remove a gun with a little ammo to add to my existing clip.

Another peeve about the weapons is that if you have 3 shots left in your weapon, and you reload a cartridge, your 3 shots that were left has now disappeared. That is, if your weapon holds 6 shots, and you have 3 left, while you have one more cartridge (presumably holding 6 shots) then you don't get a total of 6 shots plus half a clip.... you only get 6 shots. Period. Umm... excuse me, where did my other bullets magically disappear to? This is a bad thing if you accidently reload the weapon if you didn't want to.

Reloading a weapon is as easy as pressing a key. However, your character will reload her weapon when she has a spare clip, and the existing gun is empty. While this normally is a good thing, it is the second big problem with the game. You see, to simpify the weapon system, there are only 2 types of ammo. Green and red. I've encountered at least 8 different weapons, all doing different damages, and sometimes I want to save a clip for another gun. In the heat of the battle, you sometimes forget to check how many shots you have left. If you attempt to fire a shot when there's nothing in the gun, it will reload itself. This hinders the strategic use of the various weapons involved, as you run out of ammo if you're trigger happy, or you panic.

You are limited to carrying only 1 weapon. This is okay, afterall the game is based on hand-to-hand combat. One thing that puzzles me is where does the main character store her bigger weapons, like the multi-missile launcher, or even just the plasma rifle? I wish they had her strapping it to her back commando style, that would be cool. You could at one glance know exactly what she was packing. Instead, she take the gun, and shoves it in her jacket.... yes, even the bulky rocket launcher. Nothing game breaking, just not realistic.

What's worse is that if you drop the gun on the ground, after a minute or so, it just disappears for no reason. Well, it's not for no reason. Again it forces the player to punch and kick their way out of a bad situation. Maybe the gun disappears to where the bullets went when you reload into a non empty clip! The corpses don't decompose, why should the hardware?

Graphically speaking, the combat animation is extremely smooth. There are combos to be done based on the sequence of mouse clicks. Left click for punch, right click for Kick. So a L, L, R will be punch, punch, kick. L, L, L, will be ..... well you know. In that sense, the animation flows together really well. There's no lag between fighting stances. It's impressive.

Less impressive is the mouse sensitivity. One of the cool thing about Oni is that each weapon held dictates how slow you can move or turn. That means the bigger the weapon, the slower you can pan around the screen. This is a really nifty idea, as is when your weapon is drawn, you cannot run quickly. This again tries to discourage weapon based fighting, but the mouse look is excruciatingly laggy. So much so that even when you're just running around, it's hard to turn quick enough to face an opponent from behind.

Another big fault are theassignment of the control keys. As in, you can't change the keyboard mappings at all! Okay, this isn't totally true. There's a Text file in the game's folder which allows you to edit and set the keys manually, but come on! How 1990 is that?! There are a 101 keys on the modern US keyboard, let us play the way we want.

The AI is competitive, and are not to be triffled with. There aren't any stupid tricks that will work on the AI baddies everytime. Because of this, the game can be very tough. In this day and age of the hustle and bustle, it is impossible (at least for me) to invest in long periods of time on a video game. So, at most I can only sit there for a half hour at a time playing. This means that the game is very dumb. There are no options to save at any time. Instead, the computer decides when you can save, and where. There aren't even any waypoints to find; you'll walk into a room, or hit a key spot, and a little message will flash "Game Saved". The thing that bugs me the most is when you open a door, see baddies rushing you, and you step back to fight. Let's say you're low on health and you die. So, you have to start the level all over again, this in itself is pure fustration. What makes me pull out my hair is when I repeat the sequence, I find out that if I had stepped through the doorway earlier, instead of backing up, I would have saved the game where it was, and I wouldn't have to restart all over. The coup de gras is when you're forced to save the game, with a sliver of health, and there's no way to kill 3 tough AI enemies. It's just stupid. At least show us where we can save, so we can have the option of saving right away, or after a fight.

As I said earlier, the character animations are excellent. However, the rest of the game was written in 1998. You can so tell, because the buildings and other objects lack any textures. If you only concentrate on the back of the character, you're fine. If you look around and do some sight seeing, you're greeted with boring flat, dark walls and ceilings. It's almost like the developers didn't care about the rest of the environment, as long as the main character's suit had a nice metallic sheen to it, they're more than happy. Also, the world is as round as a T-square. Everything is angled and blocky, not one building/room had any kind of curve to it. Oh joy, another big dumb block in a factory. More crates please.

Are there good things about the game? Yes, the hand-to-hand combat is extremely rewarding. However, it isn't without fault either. The game has some set throws that you can perform, but it's not smart enough to realize when you're close to the edge of a cliff or the top of the building. For example, there's a throw where as you hop over the baddie, you reach behind and throw him in front of you. This is normally a very good move, however, if you're close to the said cliff/building top, you will throw him, and then fal over the edge, and die. Since various throws are distance/time sensitive, you really have no way of selecting what throws to use at any given time. This makes the game more even more fustrating.

The gameplay is extremely repetitive too. All puzzle solving revolves around finding a computer terminal that will: A) turn something off, B) turn something on, or C) open a lock door. Oh joy be praised! That's is like the most innovative game element since..... oh I dunno, beating your head against a concrete wall just because it feels so good when you finally stop. I wait three years for this game, and I'm rewarded with hunt for the door lock?

All in all, the game is not worth playing. Adding to the fact that the storyline is pretty basic fluff of betrayal and revenge. You against the world type deal. Yawn.

The only saving grace for this game may be the music, which is fresh and fits the mood of the game for the first 10 minutes. Then you realize that like most techo music, it just repeats itself, over and over and over again, until you get mad enough to turn off the speakers. Voice acting is bad, all the characters in the game uses ventriloquism, and there's really no reason to pay attention to the story.

The game is so linear, you don't need to read the in game misison objectives. There's only 1 or 2 paths at most that will lead you the your objective. And it doesn't matter what you choose, you'll still have to turn off the switch, or fight a boss character eventually.

Let's recap-

Good: Smooth animation, nice hand fighting engine, enemies/hero model nicely rendered.
Average: music, variation in guns
Bad: too many to list. Lack of use of weapons and no save game feature at the top of the heap.

This is what I recommend: Borrow the game from a friend, install it, have fun with the combat for about 10 minutes, realize the game just isn't good enough to bother, and delete it. Then read the game walkthrough and see how it ends. It's much more satisfying this way.

...3/10. You could do worse, but not much.

posted by losir at 9:33 PM

It all starts when the kid lies on the floor at a restaurant crying, and nobody is there to pick him up. It then esculates with trips to McDonalds, where he's allowed to run off and play in the McPlayroom without having to throw away his garbage first. After that, it's not holding doors for people, or not giving up your seat for an elderly or pregnant woman. That's how it starts.

Maybe it's all these electronical devices that we're bombarded with that's made us the center of our attention. Look at the PDA, it's all about my appointments, my schedule, my time not wasted. How about internet sites that uses cookies to keep track of individual surfing habits, and then target ads that we supposedly would be interested in? See, everything out there is trying to pamper us, and in turn, we are so spoiled, that everything becomes me, me, me.

And this will only get worse. New set top devices that will require a login ID before watching TV, and then know which commercials we'll prefer, or at least, know exactly which demograph we're associated with. That means your daughter will get Barbie commercials, whereas your son will get Pokemon. Yes, it'll be that specific.

And that's how rudeness is developed. We're not born to be rude. If you look at very small children, they are very inclined to share. Then one day, they snap, and become greedy. I see this in almost every small child. I'm sure you've seen it too.

There's really no other explanation for it, except that they were probably very spoiled as children. How else do you explain the fact that there are people in this world who could care less about anyone else around them except themselves?? Tell me!

I see you. Yes, you! The guy driving on the highway who uses it as an ashtray, thinks of nothing when he throws out his still lit butt out the window. I hate you when I'm sharing the road with you. I hate you more when I HAVE to share while I'm on my motorcycle. Yes you!

I also see the people who insist on budding in line because they're in a rush. Well believe you me buddy, if you're at the emergency ward, and I've got a papercut while you're bleeding out of all your orifices, of course you can go before me. But if we're at a fast food joint, when there's already a line, and you feel that lining up in an orderly manner doesn't apply to you, well it does.

These are probably the same ones that pee without lifting the toilet seat up, because after they're relieved, who cares about the poor sap who has to do a number 2 from eating some bad clambake? Tough for you. I got to the can first, you lose.

It gets me upset to see rude people. I mean, I'm in a rush too, but I still have manners you know.

You really can't 100% blame the parents. We now live in a world of 6 billion plus people. So the chances that you live in a big city is great. Kids don't just learn from their parents, but it is a case of monkey see, monkey do. If kids see other adults spitting on the sidewalk without care, then they'll emulate that too.

Forget madatory testing of school kids. I think there should be mandatory ettiquette classes. If you fail or you skip the class once, you get sent off to a remote island with other rude people. Pretty soon, they'll just either all learn to get along, or kill each other from fustration.

I know this is a pretty shallow post, but hydrabenzine says my posts have been too deep lately. I dunno, I'm getting a little too cerebal for my own good too.

... just don't give me the finger for writing sloppily.




posted by losir at 4:47 PM

Oh, I'm still stuck at my old job. I won't be allowed to move for another month. I have to finish up some stuff before I can head on upstairs. That's cool. Gives me a chance to read up on books before I get my little hands dirty.

Everything is going according to my master plan. That's right, I do plan my life ahead. For example, I plan on eating McD's tonite. Not the most nutritous food in the world, but it's palatable, and it's cheap. Most of my friends would gag at the mere mention of a McDoggy's hamburger, but I ain't spoiled. So there!

My throat is a little sore, so I don't have much inclination to write a lot today.

Consider this little life update to be all you're getting tonite, unless I can find something more interesting.

....Stop whining! Or I show you my stamp collection! posted by losir at 5:57 PM

I was in the shower this morning, thinking about the entry below, and I felt bad, because it isn't really fair. To be honest though, my Blog isn't a page of facts, it's about perspective and one angle of view, mine. So maybe I need to add several other thoughts. Please read the entry below first before reading this.

Again, since I'm not a true patron of the arts, I don't really know too much about classical music. It's basically what I've seen in movies and heard on the radio. But back in the day, didn't people adore composers as well as the conductor? I mean, even today, there are famous conductors that can headline an orchestra right? If conductors can interpret the music by guiding the orchestra into different movements, doesn't a DJ do the same thing?

I say they do. A DJ can take several tracks, and re-arrange it to convey a feeling. I already conceded below that both types of music can and do convey feelings, although again, after the set, you're likely going to forget just what the DJ was playing. Electronic music is fleeting. The music isn't as important as the dancing. I don't see a group of teenagers sitting in a circle, with electronic music blasting in their midst, and discussing the intricacies of the said piece. It just doesn't happen, does it? I hear people talk about DJs, but that's really about it. Furthermore, I say that dance music all sound alike after an hour anyway, and that's why it's harder to know which song is by which artist. If you listen to enough songs, you'll also notice that a lot of those pieces have a long mono-rythmic intro and outro, made specifically for DJs to conveniently mix 2 songs together.

I feel slightly bad, because I'm a connoisseur of neither the electronic craze, nor the great classics of Mozart and the like. My musical inclinations lean toward titles like "Project Chick" and "Who Dat". So who am I to critize what others evidently enjoy?

Just like punk rock grew out of the backlash to disco, electronic dance music nearly devoid of lyrics probably exist to stem the onslaught of karaoke. If you can't sing to it, then they can't make cheesy music videos, mostly over filtered to give that dreamy look, and have people sing offkey for 3-5 minutes at a time, thinking that they're someone cool, like Barry Manalow or Burt Bacharach.... It's all starting to make sense!

....Thank goodness there's no Karaoke for rap yet. Imagine Chinese people belting out JayZ - Change the game?! Oh my.


posted by losir at 12:36 PM

There's a very big problem with today's music. It's utterly forgettable. No one will remember the club anthems of today or several years past. When the info-mercials of 2050 is hocking the classic rock of Y2K, not one person will buy the music, simply because no one can differentiate one song from another.

How many electronic songs can you name by heart? I honestly don't know any, partly because I'm not into the whole dance scene, but more importantly, I cannot associate the music with the artist. Unlike heavy metal or hard rock, which I never really liked, at least I can name a handful of groups and a bunch of songs. I may even know the lyrics, if you played a few bars for me. But when it comes to underground dance music, I'm drawing a blank.

How do you shop for electronic anway if you don't know the title of the song? I mean, with contemporary music of yesteryears, you could at least sing a few verses, and hope someone will recognize it. However, how do you sing the title song of the movie Blade? "Dum duh, do da da da da da. Dum duh, do da da da da da." You can't even really hum it.

The problem is that dance music today doesn't contain any meaningful words. Now that I think about it, I do know one dance song, "RBA - There's No Alternative". The only reason I remember it is because the only lyrics in the song, is "There's no alternative!". I don't believe there are another other words spoken throughout.

To the astute listener, you will instantly point out that classical music, like Mozart or Bach, didn't have lyrics in a lot of their "songs" either. The pieces were limited to one instrument, the piano, which was restricted by only 88 keys. So how can they be called classics, with the stamina to sustain hundreds of decades of play? They had no words to associate the song with the artist either....

I don't know. I'm not a music major. But a Bach or Mozart piece could be interpreted by the pianist, and from what I understand, may sound slightly different, depending on the individual playing. It is true that you can feel both electronic and classical music, but that's pretty much where all the similarities end. Classical pieces were made to convey certain feelings, dance music is primarily made to keep you moving. Techno is not written to impress upon you the idea of love or sorrow, but a well written classical piece can subject the listener to a rollercoaster of emotions. There's nothing to change or re-arrange when all you do is put the latest club anthem and pressing play on your CD Player.

Maybe that's not totally true. What about DJs that can "spin tight grooves"? Well in my opinion, that's not really making music, is it? At best, they're seen as an arranger, and at worst, nothing but the guy that keeps the music playinging from one song to another, ensuring there's no embarassing pause or silence in between. You're not really creating music per se, but rather, showcasing different artists and songs, all without break or specific order.

But what good is that when you have no idea who created the songs in the first place? If a DJ takes 20 seconds of one song, and mix it in with 2 or 3 other tunes, how does one recognize each individual part? If I took a bunch of Beethoven pieces which had the same bps (beats per second), and mixed them into one continuous but not necessarily linear sequence, you may not know just what you're hearing. So the argument that DJs can make good music is bunk. Rather, the DJ can use his creativity to cleverly present you a plethora of other people's work. Just different enough to be unique, but that in itself is not a music piece. They're not creating it on their own.

This all ties in with popular culture today, the "McD's generation". Just like McCombos, as long as it's fast and instantly gratifying, it's good enough. I don't need it to have a lasting effect on me, I just want to be satisfied right now. A PC is great for that. You can throw in a bunch of different elements together, and arrange it enough that it sounds like a unique tune. It might sound slamming, but it's totally devoid of real emotions. It's just notes haphazzardly thrown together to create a music. If you ask me, it sounds like computers farting.

So how can you associate a period of your life with music that doesn't have any meaning? Drum beats and cool sounding noises created by synthesizers or PCs are neat while dancing, but its popularity and longevity is severly limited. Even disco music, the scourge of decent taste, is back in the clubs, albeit with a stronger, faster beat. So in 20-30 years time, will electronic music be mated to lyrics of tomorrow? Funny thought, that.

....What about scratching on the "wheels of steel", isn't that an artform?





posted by losir at 3:34 AM