Okami

"The best game I've ever played. Period."

This is the best game I have ever played. It surpasses Ocarina of Time, Earthbound, and all those other games. If you consider yourself a gamer, get this. Now. Overall, one word can be said to sum it all up. Beautiful.

The gameplay in the game is simple, yet solid. You shake the Wii Remote in rhythm, to attack. Hold B to be able to use the Celestial Brush the hurt things with special abilities. As you play the game you get more brush techniques, as well as more equipment and skills. There are fifteen weapons, all fall under one of three categories. Reflectors, short range, and quick. The first weapon in the game is a Reflector. Rosaries, fast, but weak. And finally, Glaives, strong, but slow. You can equip any weapon as a Main weapon and a Sub weapon. Reflectors work like shields as Sub weapons. Rosaries, as long range weapons. Glaives work as combo linkers. As main weapons they all do what you'd expect them to do. Praise is what is used to upgrade yourself. You earn it by doing Godlike things. Making flowers bloom, regrowing dying trees, turning aethiests into believers, feeding hungry animals, saving lands. Things like that earn you Praise. There are always a ton of sidequests that rack up an extra five to seven hours. Basically, there is always something to do.

The graphics are pretty good. They are cartoony, but serious when they need to be. The graphics are excellent for the PS2, and perfect for the Wii. People who play games for the graphics(Who does that?) won't be too disappointed by this. People who don't care about graphics will be completely and utterly satisfied.

The music in this game is just beautiful. All of it sounds incredible, and was obviously lovingly composed by a genius. There are people who play games just to listen to music. Those people should flock to this game like flies to honey.

The story is rather simple, yet complex. You are the Sun God, Ameratsu in wolf form. 100 years ago, you took down a very dangerous monster. This monster was somehow reborn, and it's up to you to take it down again. Once you defeat the monster the game is not over. There are more areas to explore, and more techniques to find. I don't mean one big side quest. I mean, what seems like the final boss, was basically an intro boss. The game is far from over. There are countless new plot twists to get surprised at and characters to meet.

Rent or Buy? Always the magic question. If you like fun and story based games(Like The Legend of Zelda), then buy this game. If not, rent it, and see if you do or do not like it. Who knows? This game might completely change your mind.

The replay value is high. With so many sidequests and things to unlock, and the addictive gameplay, you'll probably want to play this game over and over again.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/08

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