Oni

This is about the game. For the Japanese demon, see Oni (demon). For the Halo entity, see ONI

Actually, the final logo looks more like ONi than Oni, but what the blam

The game was developed by Bungie West, a division of Bungie Studios, and released in January 2001. It was Bungie West's first and only game, as it was disbanded after Oni's release: some Oni developers went on to work on the Halo series, while others ended up at independent game studios (Wideload, Certain Affinity, etc).

File:The oni logo.gif

Influences

A major influence of Oni's universe Masamune Shirow's manga series Ghost in the Shell (Konoko and Commander Griffin resemble Motoko Kusanagi and Daisuke Aramaki). Early development even presented Konoko as a cyborg (see: 1998#Trailer), which together with the tech-crime-fighting context amounted to near-plagiarism of GITS. The final version of Oni abandons the cyborg heroine and instead develops the original Daodan and SLD concepts.

Gameplay

Main article: Gameplay

The developers achieved a unique blend of third-person shooting and hand-to-hand combat, with full freedom of movement and a context-independent camera control. The complex melee component has flaws, but even so it makes for one of the most varied and rewarding gameplay experiences in the beat-them-up genre (see also: Lugaru, State of Emergency, ...). As for the gunplay, AI dodging skills were implemented, but not (yet?) set up in the final release, leaving it to the modders to reveal that part of Oni's potential (see: Anniversary Edition).

Hype

The online hype was deeply rooted in the existing Bungie community, notably Marathon fans*. As the Oni project gained popularity, a dedicated online community emerged in the form of Oni Central and its forum.

Despite or maybe because of the game's late release and a number of canceled features, there were a number of promotional actions around and after the release: artwork by Lorraine Reyes McLees, 4-volume comic published by Dark Horse.

(*)http://marathon.bungie.org/story/newmay-june98.html -- MARATHON'S STORY : WHAT'S NEW. Marathon fans talking about the newly announced Oni (and the E3 1998 trailer) back in May-June 1998.

Two trailers and some of the reaction to them are represented here:

• E3 1998
• E3 1999

Trailers and screenshots were analyzed eagerly for evidence of Oni's ground-breaking features. Ultimately, the game would look quite different in some parts from what was seen in the trailers. Characters were altered in appearance (not always for the better), and levels were redesigned and re-textured. The Early Levels page provides many before-after comparisons.

Reception

The general reaction to the game was inconsistent; Oni did receive some high praise, most notably the E3 1999 Game Critics Award for "Best Action/Adventure Game".

However, many felt cheated because the game did not deliver on all of its promises. In hindsight, much of this was due to the advance hype of one programmer ("She made a lot of boastful claims about what the AI would end up being able to do that she couldn't deliver on."). For example, it was claimed that the AI would intelligently dodge incoming fire and work together in groups. Also, a large mech visible in the trailers, and keenly anticipated as a boss in the game, was nowhere to be seen. As other game designers have discovered, it is dangerous indeed to promise ground-breaking features while a game is still in development. Finally, it was clear from a perusal of the game files that there were at least five missing levels, as if the game were incomplete.

Of course, there is dissent for every game to one degree or another due to personal opinions and biases, but perhaps the biggest blow to the game's reception was that there was no multiplayer option. Combined with complaints about the AI, players wanted to be able to play against other humans, but this option, although developed internally at Bungie West, was not included in the release due to the constraints of Internet gameplay latency at the time. The public, comparing Oni to FPS titles with multiplayer such as Unreal and Quake, and failing to recognize that melee combat over the Internet was nearly impossible at that time, viewed this as another sign of the game's incompletion. (Although it isn't known why Bungie did not at least include LAN play functionality, since it was being used in their office for netgames.)

The overall consensus of the reviews was that the game was good, but not great. Many 6s and 7s (out of 10) were given to it despite its ambitious melee element and interesting world.

The Future of the Property

When Bungie was bought by Microsoft in 2000, they sold Myth and Oni to Take-Two Interactive, who hold the rights to these and many other game IPs to this day. Take-Two was initially eager to ride the wave of hype for Oni by promptly turning out an Oni 2 (PS2), but when the reception to Oni turned out to be lukewarm, the game was canned. Neither property has had a sequel released by Take-Two, as is the case with many of the their IPs. Some IPs have been sold off by Take-Two, although there is no evidence that Oni is one of them. With the recent separation of Bungie and Microsoft, there has been fervent speculation about new games based on Bungie's old properties (since, after all, Bungie could buy back an IP from Take-Two if they desired). In an interview, Bungie's CEO, Harold Ryan, was asked specifically about Oni:

4Players

Since we're on the subject of strong franchises: is there perhaps a chance to bring back Oni?

Harold Ryan

(laughs) Oni isn't currently one of those projects we're looking at, but one should never say never.
We'd be happy to work with the individuals who made Oni.

One thing is certain: the current Bungie staff has little in common with the Bungie West that produced Oni (there are eight members still working at Bungie* at the time of this writing). There is probably little emotional or monetary incentive for Bungie to produce a sequel.

However, there are fan projects which may or may not become unofficial Oni 2s.

(*)Butcher, Dunn, Wu, the McLees, O'Donnell, Sinclair, and Staten.