Oni Ships!

For those who have been hungering for the Japanese high action fighter/shooter called Oni, it has officially shipped. You can expect it on your favorite software store shelf as soon as the boxes get through the warehouses. This means that it should be in store shelves for Macintosh any minute now.

Oni has gone through a bit of controversy lately with the elimination of the promised Multiplayer aspect of the game, the aquisition of Bungie Software by The Beast, Microsoft, and the subsequent shift in control of Oni developement to God Games/Take Two Interactive. Another hubub arose when it became apparent to some bloodthirsty gamers that there would be no gore in the game. To these angry gore-freaks, we have only one thing to say: Go buy Soldier of Fortune.

Graphically the game is stunning. Juicy colors, beautiful player models and animations, stunning environements. We have been playing the game since MACWORLD San Francisco 2000 in one form or another and have found it to be a bit too console oriented... but this might still be a good thing. Easy controls, linear gameplay. However, in the gameis defense, it is highly original in its cross-genre action and adventure. Throw in a dash of mystery and pinch of conspiracy and you have the recipe for what may potentially be the best game of the year. Stay tuned to The Mac Observer to find out how the game stacks up in our upcoming no punches pulled review.