Today’s Hidden Gem: Okami
Released 2006 by Capcom and Clover Studios for PS2, ported to Wii in 2008
I shouldn’t even have to spotlight this game. It should be one of those games that absolutely everyone went out and bought the moment it became available and now refuses to sell. And yet…
In Okami, you play as a wolf who is the embodiment of the sun goddess, Amaterasu, called forth by the guardian of Kamiki Village to stop a demon accidentally released from his sealed prison. In addition to weaponry, Amaterasu can also make use of the powers of Celestial Brush Techniques, which involve painting what you want to happen.
Both bosses and many individual enemies have specific weaknesses, which brings the level of hack-n-slash button mashing down a peg. There are also a number of optional sidequests to complete and unlockables to unlock, and trying for 100% completion is a decent challenge.
Many of the characters you meet and situations you encounter have their roots in Japanese mythology, lending the game a fairy-tale quality that some games strive for but fall far short of. But what really makes this game worth at least one playthrough is the visuals. Normally, I would never say this… graphics in general rank pretty low on my measure of how good a game is… but I make an exception for this.
Okami is done in cel-shaded graphics (which honestly, is a look I normally just don’t care for, but it really works well here) made to look like traditional Japanese ink drawing, and the effect is nothing short of gorgeous. Throw in an exceptional soundtrack, an immersive plot, and solid gameplay, and it’s hard to figure out why this game didn’t sell better (only a little over 500,000 copies in North America between both releases of the game). Why aren’t you playing Okami? Go play Okami, right now!
That’s not to say it’s not without it’s flaws. There is an over-abundance of dialog, for one, which, though generally interesting, is a fairly substantial amount of reading. There are also times when you just cannot get a brush technique to work on the first try.
And it has Issun… who is essentially Okami’s version of Navi the fairy.
Difficulty-wise, the game is probably about on par with Kingdom Hearts. Not insanely difficult, but not so blatantly simplistic you get bored with it after the first five minutes (at least that’s my take… some may disagree with me about Kingdom Hearts).
Personally, I recommend the PS2 version over the Wii version, if you can find it. While the Wii version is a pretty good port, and the brush techniques translate well to the Wii-remote, I found the controls during combat to be better executed on the PS2. The Wii version also lost a bit of the visual filtering done on the PS2, making the images crisper and brighter, instead of like something painted on a piece of parchment.
Nikki Blight: is still trying to find that damn princess... when she's not writing fresh code for the217.com.
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is still trying to find that damn princess... when she's not writing fresh code for the217.com.
Matt (Matt) says:
(Posted October 15th, 2008 at 10:53 pm)
You know, I agree whole-heartedly with this review of Okami. And while I think Kingdom Hearts I&II Were excellent titles, I do find it hard to put Okami down, even after multiple play-throughs. The artwork was done beautifully and the story truly is nothing short of original genius. The brush techniques ARE kind of hard to use when you just learn them, (and even in battle at times.) and the ink pot in the upper right constantly mocking you as you draw are kind of annoying, but watching my enemies fry in bolts of justicey goodness, (yes that was made up) makes all the pain go away. I am quite farmiliar with the story of Amaterasu, and the other gods, but I had never expected anyone to take it THIS far.
Frankly, I’m glad they did.
Okami is over-all a wonderful game, with a story you’ll never get sick of, (even you, issun, you weird sprite.) and graphic style you’ll fall in love with.
I’m not saying tell everyone you know to pick up a copy or you’ll all catch the plaque, granted I think It’s that good, I just think that you should give this wonder a chance.
You won’t be disappointed.