Before being bought by Microsoft, Bungie was working on a game that had many Playstation2 owners excited. That game was Halo and it is now bypassing the PS2 and is an upcoming X-box title. Not as anticipated was the anime styled game Oni, a new take on the action-brawler genre. After being delayed (what game isn't?) Rockstar and Bungie have released Oni to the PS2.

Oni tells the story of Konoko, an elite member of the Technology Crimes Task Force (TCTF). The TCTF's main focus is to combat the criminal organization, The Syndicate. Like all other TCTF officers, Konoko has undergone extensive training in marital arts, and weapons training. You play Konoko and your goal is to shut down The Syndicate once and for all, and learn about Konoko's Oni (past demons) while doing so.

While Oni is not the best looking Playstation2 game on the market, it does make use of the PS2's power in several ways. The most noticeable being the enormous size of the levels. Each level is a massive area or building that clearly could not be replicated on the original Playstation. Each level features "Real world level design", what this means is that each level has been realistically designed. For example, on the third chapter you find yourself in a large office building, you can look at it from the outside and you can translate that knowledge of the building's architecture to your advantage. After fighting through a side entrance you can look out and see the main gate where you started, and retrace your steps to that point. Or you can judge how many floors you have to go down to reach the bottom floor on one side of a building because you know how many you went up on the other side. While it's not an earth shattering feature, it shows that the level design was clearly thought out before being implemented, something many games could take a cue from.

While the levels are gigantic, they come off as somewhat barren. Many huge rooms have literally nothing in them, or if there is something there it is most likely something basic, like a crate that is there to provide cover from enemy fire. While a few extra props aren't going to make or break a game, they do make levels appear more realistic, allowing the player to be drawn further into the experience the game is creating. Aside from some of the bland rooms there are some things done well in the graphics department. One level that was sparsely populated, but still convincing was the airport. From parking Konoko's motorcycle in the loading zone, fighting through baggage check, and even onto the runway, it felt like you were battling through a real airport.

The game's characters are well drawn and are composed of a large amount of polygons. Konoko herself consists of around 1,200 polygons, and some of the more standard enemies consist of about 800, still a hefty number. Konoko features a unique method of animation called "interpolation". Interpolation allows her to move seamlessly from one move to the other. If you've ever had to wait for a character to finish a move before starting another, you'll appreciate this feature. Konoko is able to break into a run, somersault, and then jump over a laser security beam, all in one smooth motion. This feature didn't seem to work quite as well in fighting sequences, as some of Konoko's moves must finish before starting a new one.

Oni features a large amount of voice acting, and it is well done. Much of the communication done during a mission is done through Shinatama who shares a neural link with Konoko. She will tell you when you have new objectives or warn you when something is amiss. Konoko herself does a fair amount of talking, she'll talk trash to a fallen guard if you tap the X button. She'll actually talk when he's not dead, but you'll be hard pressed to find the time during a brawl to talk smack. The game only uses background music in certain situations, similar to the Tomb Raider series. Background music is heard only when things are getting tense or a big showdown is looming on the horizon. The music is clearly inspired by the movie The Matrix, which is a good thing. It matches the game's setting and it gets the adrenaline flowing right before a shootout. The sound effects are standard fare, nothing sounds particularly excellent and nothing sounds particularly bad. Machine guns, cannons, explosions and doors opening all sound like they should, which is all you can ask for. Deep down Oni is a 3rd person beat 'em up brawler, but it's dressed up in a fancy story, and some 3-D shoes. One thing that typically has been lacking from this genre is a decent plot. Oni bucks this trend and provides a deep, well conceived storyline, though at first it seems a bit confusing. Konoko's quest for knowledge about her past is just as compelling as her mission to shut down The Syndicate once and for all, and you'll find them equally engrossing. Each level is called a chapter, and is divided into four parts. Each part of the chapter is completed by reaching a save point. Upon restarting a saved game you are able to select previously completed save points to try and complete them with more health or ammo. Cut scenes using the games engine are used between levels, and sometimes during them, to reveal more of the games plot or to move Konoko from one setting to another.

The gameplay found in Oni can best be described as a "Love-Hate" situation. Some people are going to be so turned off by the game's control scheme and inconsistent difficulty that they won't make it for more than an hour. Others will embrace the freedom that the controls offer and be thankful that the game is challenging enough to last more than a weekend. Konoko is controlled using both of the Dualshock2's analog sticks. The left stick controls her movement and the right stick controls her orientation on screen. The R1 button punches, R2 kicks, L1 jumps and L2 crouches. The right analog stick also controls the camera, and where Konoko aims here weapons. The X button serves as an action button, it can open doors, talk to characters, and interact with computers. Also helping Konoko in her quest are two displays at the bottom of the screen. These displays will tell you how much ammo, life, and hypos you have as well as providing information on your current target and what kind of weapon you are carrying. These are certainly helpful, but too many things are crammed into too small an area making it very difficult to discern your current status while in the heat of battle. Bungie was well aware that this control scheme was going to be difficult to adjust to, so they implemented a mandatory training level. This level allows you to orient yourself to the controls while not having to worry about dying or completing an objective. After passing the training mode the controls still take time to master, but once they are mastered they work quite well.

While for the most part the control setup can be gotten used to with practice, one aspect that is near impossible, is firing a gun accurately or effectively. I found the easiest way to progress through the game was to not use them at all and just fight my way through the levels. What makes firing so difficult is actually a culmination of two things, moving targets, and recoil. The guards and other enemy characters are pretty smart for a videogame, and they don't take kindly to being fired upon. When a guard is being shot at, he will start running towards Konoko and will begin to return fire. At this point you'll find yourself running from the guard to avoid his fire, aiming at him, trying to compensate for your weapons recoil, and then you'll have to reload. For these reasons you're probably better off using the L2 button to sneak up on guards to disarm them and then sweep kick them to death. Performing a dash is also very difficult. It is performed by double tapping the analog stick up, and it doesn't work very well. Dashing can also be accomplished by double tapping the digital pad, but this is very inconvenient in times of duress.

When I described the computer AI as "pretty smart" and not "really smart" I did it for a reason. On one hand the guards the guards are smart, they will patrol their areas religiously and fire upon Konoko as soon as they see her. They will also help each other when they hear gunplay in the next room. They will even pick up a fallen comrade's weapon to use on Konoko if the don't have a gun of their own. Each type of enemy has a unique look and style that fits nicely into the game. You can tell the different classes of soldier by their appearance, and this allows you to know what kind of fight to expect. Some like to brawl, some like to jump attack, and some like to stay back and fire at you from a distance. Some types of characters even have commanders who will direct their attack in battles. Sometimes they are just stupid, plain and simple. You can lead a guard into chasing you endlessly around an object, allowing yourself time to reload or prepare for his attack. Other times you can pop out from behind a crate and let the guard run towards you, and instead of trying to go around the object, he'll continue to run into it over and over allowing you to pummel him when you are ready. Sure this is cheap but you've got to take what you can get to beat this game. Another slight glitch that can be exploited to your advantage is the semi-transparent walls. If you position the camera correctly you can see right through a wall into the next room, and sometimes you can kick right through a wall and attack the guard on the other side. I appreciate the fact that the walls don't get in the way of the camera, which is quite good for a game like this, but I'm sure it was not designed to allow people to peer through walls and doors.

Why use these cheap tactics? Because at times this game can get downright frustrating. Some levels are a breeze, while others induce enough frustration to give a thirteen year old the blood pressure of an overweight air traffic controller. Once the controls are mastered, progress through the game is not terribly difficult. That is until some insane portion of a chapter comes up and smacks you in the mouth with its difficulty. Sometimes it is frustrating due to a never-ending onslaught of enemies and sometimes it is a near impossible running jump, it's frustrating either way. A challenging game is a good thing, but a more balanced flow would have made this game a much more enjoyable experience. Oni has an auto save feature that is responsible for a fair share of this frustration as well. Countless levels will be replayed over and over due to saves that are just too far apart sometimes. Spreading out save points is a cheap way of making a game more difficult, not to mention less fun. Playing a level over and over again is made more frustrating due to the long load time between levels. The load time isn't bad once, but when you are trying for the 48th time it can be annoying.

While the overall value of Oni is high, it's replay value isn't quite as good. The game is very frustrating at times which will certainly decrease you're willingness to play it again once you have completed it. As far as any unlockable features are concerned, there doesn't seem to be anything to gain from beating the game multiple times. If you're focused enough to beat this game once consider yourself fortunate and move on.

Bungie has done some nice things with this game and it is well positioned to turn into a running series. It has a cool lead character, nice storyline, and a nice fighting system going for it, so I would not be surprised to see an Oni2 on the X-box somewhere down the road. What keeps this game from scoring high is its unbalanced gameplay, certain aspects of its controls (weapon use), and its repetitive gameplay. Beating up people and unlocking doors can only take a game so far. If you are in need of a solid game for your system and you don't see much coming out in the next few weeks that interests you, Oni may be the game you are looking for.