Okage: Shadow King

"Story in search of Gameplay"

I heard great things about this game. So I picked it up for $15. Initially I was pleased. Then the battles started. Here's my review.

Story 9/10

First things first, the story in this game is GREAT. It's different than most RPG's because it doesn't take itself too seriously. It parodies many RPG conventions. The Evil Shadow King King is out looking to vanquish other evil kings before ruling the world. Rather than being feared, he inadvertently winds up being dismissed as cute or worse yet helpful by most of the people he meets. Awesome concept. The dialogue is generally quite funny too. Fans of Earthbound will probably appreciate this type of different RPG story.

Battle System 0/10

The game's biggest problem is its battle system. It's awful. It's just attack/group attack (which is essentially the same as regular attack) or use heal item/spell. Some characters have magic, but it's useless since it generally does almost the same damage as attacks. You'll just be jamming the 'X' button and selecting "attack" for hours.

Plus, for no apparent reason Stan (the Evil King) randomly comes and helps you in battle. An overdrive or something would've been better and added strategy to the game, of which there is none.

If you insist on playing this, get a rapid fire controller, the normal battles are just you choosing "attack" repeatedly. Most of the boss battles are like this except one character heals every two to three turns. I'm not kidding.

Beating enemies in this game requires zero strategy. When I played this, every normal battle felt the same and every boss was basically identical to the last one. You'll feel the deja vu by the time you get only a few hours into the game.

Graphics: 6/10

The graphics for this game are a mixed bag. The character and town designs are absolutely fantastic and reminiscent (as everyone else has mentioned) of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. However the graphics themselves look a little N64ish. The PS2's processor can do a lot better. Cel-shading would have really fit the cartoony feel of this game excellently.

Sound: 4/10

Again a mixed bag. Sometimes the music is really good, like at the beginning of the game. However the battle theme will make you want to shoot yourself. Some of the music seems really inappropriate to the scene too and often sounds like MIDI.

Gameplay 4/10

Outside of battle, the game still has some problems. The world map requires too much exploration and has too many encounters (if the battle system wasn't terrible, this might not be a problem, but as it stands, it is). The camera has some problems too and occasionally made me feel dizzy (it swings way too fast when you rotate it yourself). There's not very much variety in the items and spells you can acquire.

Difficulty: 4/10

This game is more difficult than some recent RPG's, but that's really only because it's uneven and without any learning curve. ie: the 1st boss (who can actually kill you) is probably just as hard if not harder (since your levels are lower) than the 2nd and 3rd boss. On the whole, I'd say it's pretty easy for anyone who's played the old NES RPGs and know how to exploit a very basic battle system (ie: attack 2-3 turns then heal). Boss fights sometimes though are based more on luck than anything, since you have so few actual actions to choose from.

Overall: 3.5/10

I wish they'd made this an anime instead of a videogame. It would've been great. The gameplay and battle system really tank this game. Might be worth buying if you're a fan of an Earthbound type of game. It's around $10 to buy it. If you're not an obsessive fan of earthbound, avoid. Diehard RPG gamers will probably want to avoid this game because of the low challenge and lousy battle system. Everyone looking for an RPG fix, try Shadow Hearts. Diehards might want to pick up the PS2 Breath of Fire, too. It's insanely hard.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 06/08/04