Story

The future's so dark, I gotta wear shades

In the near future, corporations have begun to worm their way into political power to further augment their economic powers. The United States government is unable to compete with the sheer capital of the mega-corporations. A coalition of corporations arises in place of congress, the president, the judicial system and everything else resembling a democracy.

This bleak future robs the people of their rights, but it does provide safety, hygiene and a stable environment to work in. The people, of course, would rather have freedom.

Punking some rent-a-cops.

Some rent-a-cops are punking me.

Inevitably, terrorist groups form and begin to fight the greed and power of the corporations. One of these groups is the Syndicate, a coalition of criminals dedicated to an unknown goal run by a master known only as Muro. In order to ensure prosperity, the corporate coalition created a task force, the Tech Crimes Task Force (TCTF). The TCTF regulates illegal technologies, basically anything that's dangerous to the corporations.

Our hero is Konoko, an agent of TCTF. She finds terrorists across the globe and brings them to the pseudo-justice of the corporations.

Full frontal plasma attack.

Getting zapped close in.

The art of dramatics

Oni's story is both involved and interesting at times, but also walks the line of cliché. Granted, most stories in video games are clichéd, with rare exception here and there. Oni bears a huge similarity to Deus Ex in its storyline. It's not a difficult connection since they share a similar premise: "you're an agent for an elite force in a dark future where corporations rule across the land."

Pausing to get some bearing.

Oh, another jump puzzle, yay! Nooo!

Oni has the story of Deus Ex, but is totally devoid of the things that made Deus Ex great. There is no interactivity in the story, not even the barest dialogue tree or moral dilemma. You beat a level, and you see the story unfold via cutscene. This would be permissible if the story underwent a good amount of twists and turns, or attempted to parody the stories accompanying most anime adventures.

While the story does have a few twists, after you read the initial setup, the "surprises" are easily anticipated. Moreover, it takes far too long for these twists to go in effect - the story doesn't start developing until around chapter 9 (of 15).

Jumping into a poor Striker.

Rappelling harness, woo!