Okami

"A beautiful and great game"

Okami is a great game originally developed by Clover Studios and released on the Play Station 2. Many people loved it, but due to lack of advertising and such, the word about never really got out, and now the only way to play it on the PS2 is to buy it used from a game store, with no profits going to Capcom or the now extinct Clover Studios. I am sad to say myself that I was one of the people who never played it on the PS2. However, it has recently come out on the Wii, and I decided to buy it. And boy, am I glad I bought it. The graphics are beautiful, the gameplay is nice, and the story is excellent. I'm going to break it down into several categories now and review each:

Graphics: 9/10. The game is simply beautiful. Not beautiful in the sense that " Omg, it super realistic, you feel like you're really in the game", but beautiful as in the graphics are nice and cell-shaded, resulting in awesome graphics that just make your jaw drop and the bounty of colors rush to the screen. Rejuvenating areas, one of the important objectives in the game, looks beautiful. You watch a dully-colored area fill with life and colors rush to the screen. However, there are glitches, including Amaterasu, the main character's face "melting", with the the face leaving a long shadow when jumping. This happens rarely, and is often fixed when you load another cutscene.

Sound: 8/10. Not much I can say here, as I don't often pay attention to sound in a game. However, the sound did sound very good, with the music accurately matching the mood of the game, and accurately changing when the situation changes.

Story: 9/10. The story is about the son goddess, Amaterasu being born into the form of a wolf, in order to save the land of Nippon from succumbing to evil. The game is centered around restoring the beauty and peace to the towns, fields, and villages of Nippon, which have been tainted and cursed by the evil Lord Orochi. The story is long, fun, and interesting, and will entertain your for a long time. Plus, after the defeat of Orochi, there is still a whole 'nother game to play, detailing on areas past the countryside and into the big city, while introducing more evil forces to conquer.

Controls A: The basic controls of the game. 9/10. Swing the wii remote to damage enemies, using a variety of weapons, from reflectors to rosary beads to glaives. Press A to jump. Using the Nunchuck's control stick to move. Use the d-pad of the wii remote to move the camera around. Press + to bring up the menu. It's all very simple and easy to use, and I had relatively no problem with it.

Controls B: The Celestial Brush. 6/10. Oh my. The game also revolves around using special brush techniques with " the celestial brush" to alter the world around you. The moves include a simple "power slash", where you draw a line through enemies to damage them, to the " flora" techniques, which alter nature, to bringing out the sun or moon whenever you want. All cool ideas, and you use the brush by pressing B and stopping time, where you can draw whatever you need to or want to.

But, here's the thing. The sensitivity is horrible. At times, lines have to be EXACTLY straight, which isn't easy to do. Also, the brush can go out of whack, with a simple line drawn from one object to another spinning out of control and going in the direction. HOWEVER, this doesn't usually affect the gameplay to the point of you losing enjoyment. And the techniques are pretty cool.

Camera: 8/10. The camera is pretty good. There's two perspectives you can play from ( a birds-eye view and a third person right-above-and behind the character view that works well.), and you can switch between both with the 2 button. The camera you be finicky at times, but you can easily adjust the angle with the d-pad.

Replay value: 10/10. There are TONS of things to do, even when the game is over. There's another plot to follow after the main one is over, for god's sake!. There's also tons of treasures and stray beads to find, and clovers to dig up for rewards. There's also new weapons the find, animals to feed, techniques to be learned, and a heap of other stuff. You'll be playing this one for a while.


Overall, this averages out to an 8.4, rounded to and 8/10. This is definitely a must buy, especially for those who missed on the PS2 version.

In conclusion, this is a great game. Just awesome, and I had a lot of fun playing it. So I'll close this review out by saying this:

I liek Okami. Ehs uses cool painty brush and doesn't afraid of anything.

Bye guys.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/03/08

Game Release: Okami (US, 04/15/08)