Okage: Shadow King

"Oh my, Okage."

That score you just read over there REALLY pained me to type. I so very much wanted to enjoy Okage (also known as Boku to Maoh in Japan, or literally ''Me and Satan King''), but my my my. How things change over the course of a few gameplay sessions...

Sure, the story is unique and enjoyable, and it starts off nicely enough; young boy's shadow gets possessed by demon king Stan after botched attempt to get said devil to fix boy's sister's speech impediment (yes I'm serious). And the crux of the game is precisely that relationship between the young man, Ari, and his newly demonized (yet comically inept) shadow as it scours the world over for other ''Evil Kings'' who've taken its various dark powers over the years in a humorous attempt to get them back. You'll meet goofy player characters, brainless enemies, and a couple villainous scoundrels along the way, amassing one of the nuttiest and most enjoyable RPG groups of people in a long time. Think Beetlejuice meets Mother 2. But the story and setting most certainly aren't where Okage has its problems.

Finding those Evil Kings, aye, now THERE'S the rub. Endless searching of the same few tiny little overworld areas, countless skirmishes with incredibly strong enemies over and over and over and over, not to mention levelling up for battles which take forEVER all add up to, well, not particularly much. You could argue, optimist that you may be, that at least there aren't any random battles, that you see your enemy before you have fight it. Well I'd call that morsel of info a tiny shred of light in this ebon, languid void of RPG nothingness. And as if those overworld skirmishes aren't bad enough, the bosses! Oh, the boss battles! I've been playing video games for 20 years and console RPGs for about 10 which, I feel, lends me at least a small shred of role-playing credibility, and I can honestly say that never before have I died so often and so embarrassingly in a game's boss battles as I have in Okage. The boss characters themselves are tough nuts to crack to be quite sure, but to make matters worse they're invariably flanked by 4 of the toughest enemies in the game as well! It's almost like the makers of this title bought tons of stock in a PS2 controller company, because I know I'm not the only one who was throwing his against the floor on more than one occasion in a fit of bad boss battle-induced rage. I can't really stress it enough: overworld fights are tedious and bothersome, and boss fights are WAY too hard. What's that you say? You'll just level up your characters until they're strong enough to cream the bosses? Ah, level building in Okage. Silly rabbit, did you honestly think they'd allow you to do that and actually have a snowball's chance? Nope: you can only go up so many levels at one time before the experience points you get from ANY enemy in your vicinity amount to next to nothing. Yeah, I know. Fun. At least the maximum playing time only amounts to about 30 hours. Ah, did I mention it's really short, too?

I hate to completely disrespect Okage, I really do. Charming Tim Burton-esque graphics, very humorous storyline, and even some nifty items to find here and there all find their place in this game. But with the overwhelming flaws I've pointed out, the few minor good points seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the bad ones. Play Okage only if you need to own every single RPG ever made, but otherwise avoid this well-intentioned but problematic, dry heaving little PS2 misfire.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 10/10/01, Updated 10/10/01