Okage: Shadow King

"Miserable, but with a few redeeming factors."

I could sum this game up using a simple, mostly negative, paragraph of about three sentences. However, that wouldn't back me up very well when I say this game is pretty crappy. So, instead, I've decided to write a full review.

You are Ari, a boy who closely resembles a stick with clothes and hair. You live with your family, who also share your same awkward physical problem. One night, on your way back from the circus, your sister is attacked by a ghost that curses her by causing her to speak in only pig-latin. Well, how silly. Anyways, your father then decides to use a mystical bottle that he found recently. Upon doing so, Evil King Stan is released from the bottle, and in exchange for curing your sister, you now must bare the burden of having your shadow occupied by this humorous, yet overly talkative and annoying idiot. Stan's plan is to use your shadow (and body) to search out the false evil kings that have been sprouting up throughout the world. So, do you have a choice? Nah, of course not. Thus, your journey begins. Here's a tip: Turn off the power now.

Okay, so, as far as graphics go, Okage isn't too shabby. The scheme is ridiculous and looks like it came right out of The Nightmare Before Christmas though. The goofy-looking enemies make it appear as if you're playing a video game aimed at toddlers with crack addictions, and the rest of the game isn't much different. The graphics themselves aren't to be ridiculed; only the way they were put to use.

Secondly, we have the gameplay. Gameplay in Okage is boring, simple, yet often tedious. I can't count the number of times the game forced me to speak to everyone in a town before being allowed to progress in the story. After the 300th time you do it, you'll be begging for mercy. The menu is disorganized and ugly (the colors are absolutely hideous), and it's often hard to tell what the hell is going on. As far as battles go, prepare to be bored. The battles in Okage are messy, ugly, and hard to understand, and on top of all of that, only Ari must die in battle for the game to be over. Trust me, that will quickly add to your frustration level. The challenge that the battles have to offer can rarely be considered such. You'll normally breeze through the ugly, boring events within moments, which isn't a bad thing. Trust me, it's fantastic. However, when you're not in a battle, you're traveling around boring environments with excessively long load times. After the first few times I entered a town to stock up on items and had to wait twenty seconds for it to load, I decided that no healing item is worth the wait – I'll just die in the next battle. Whatever.

Next, the controls. As far as battle commands, character movement, and other random things go, the controls are quite decent. I did, however, find myself constantly annoyed with the camera. You have the ability to rotate the camera (like many RPGs), but it seems somewhat buggy. Sometimes the camera will move too fast, and other times, it seems hesitant to move at all. That makes for a very frustrating experience in itself.

As far as sound goes, I can't remember one song from Okage. The music is totally forgettable. The sound effects are done nicely, but in such a horrid game, I'm not so sure it really matters.

The story in Okage is one of its only good points, but even it, at times, can be overly ridiculous and stupid. It's unique and far from cliché, but it seems that the developers spent far too much time trying to implement tons of humor (which in most cases, is just cheesy junk) that they forgot that there was an actual plot to be played out. So, allow me to warn you…you'll be spending a lot of time listening to Stan ramble on and on about worthless, unfunny crap. Personally, after a while, I made good use of the X button and just ignored the annoying dude.

So, in closing, Okage provided a pretty miserable experience for me. I'm sure that there are plenty of people who adore this awkward game, but I just couldn't find any interest in it. It has its moments, but overall, Okage isn't really worth it.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/05