Okami (Sony PlayStation 2, 2006)

Okami is an absolutely gorgeous game. Yes, it can't compete with Gears of War, PS3's resistance of man, or any of the next-gen games in terms of photo-realism and polygons per second, but it can compete in the general category of graphics. The visuals in Okami are phenominal and amazingly stylistic. A new look you've never seen before, Okami looks like a living breathing watercolor. Words really can't describe the way the game looks like in motion. The gameplay and puzzles are topnotch too. The celestial brush technique is different and is really fun incorporating into the puzzles and even the battles (though I think it is sort of cheap in battle since it freezes the screen). One of the best things about Okami though is getting your wolf, Amaterasu running at full speed and just enjoying the scenery. Basically the structure of the game is like most other action rpgs: Explore area, solve puzzles, defeat bosses, gain new abilities, and gain access to new areas to explore. What makes this whole experience more rewarding and new is the fact that you are restoring color and nature to all its glory as you go. You can literally see teh results of defeating evil... trees bloom, animals return, color is restored, people reoccupy the area, etc. You truly start feeling like the Mother Goddess Amaterasu. It's really just an amazing adventure and the last great gem of a game that will probably grace PS2 now that PS3 is on the horizon and releasing in the coming weeks. An absolute must play for all Zelda and RPG fans.


Gameplay: 9/10
Pros: Your wolf can really run and makes exploring great. Drawing Stuff with the brush and puzzle-solving is really unique and different (outside of the DS at least) and works well.
Cons: The battles are fun and break up everything else nicely, but can be annoying when travelling long distances...you can see them and try and avoid them, but its still a nuisance when they get ya.

Graphics: 10/10
Pros: I'm not one to insist that graphics be photorealistic and find the vibrant watercolor graphics of Okami to be absolutely beautiful. The best Graphics on PS2 since MGS3
Cons: Nothing for me, but some may not like the stylistic look

Sound: 8.5/10
Pros: Amazing score and sounds- especially the wolf sounds
Cons: No voicework at all, instead each character sort of has a mumbly sound as the text comes up. It works within the theme well, but when most RPGs have full voice- it makes it seem lacking

Lasting Appeal: 9/10
Pros: The game is REALLY long. I've heard 60+ hours. I've been playing for about 20+ and have had it for a couple weeks. A long enjoyable Quest and a great stroy w/ some Mini-games: fishing, digging, etc. Just what an RPG needs
Cons: I'm not really sure if there is any incentive to replay an RPG, and this one is no different

Average: 91.25%
Tilt (+/-): +2.75%
Okami is the PS2's Zelda. A great Action RPG that will hopefully see a sequel despite Clover Studios (the team behind the game) being broken up. One of the last gems on Playstation 2!

Verdict: 94%

One of my favorite games of all time, so let me get the gushing out of the way first.

Okami has an amazing art style. There's literally nothing else out there like it, and it looks fantastic, like a 3D ink and watercolor painting. The music is also great. Sometimes songs would get stuck in my head for days. (Or even stuck in the rest of my family's head!) I love the story (there's nothing quite like starting out drying people's laundry and ending up time-traveling and saving the universe), I love the main characters. I love the boss battles, they're all loads of fun for the most part. The brush is an amazingly original idea and works great. It's fun to draw a swirly symbol and make the wind blow or paint stars into the sky.

Now onto the parts that I don't like. The combat system is nice, but extremely easy. Battles against minor demons hold no profit and are more annoying than anything else. There's a certain boss that you have to fight three times, and it is the exact same every time. (What a horrible idea.) There could have been more variety in brush powers, as about every other one of them is "Draw a circle on this!" or "Draw a line from this thing to this thing!" And the minigames. Oh god, the minigames. They are arbitrarily dropped into your path like a boulder you have to slowly chisel your way through. At one point, I was stuck in the game for months because I couldn't finish one single minigame.

But that's just a few complaints in a torrent of praise. I love Okami to death, really, and more people should play it.

"Okami" is the story of the sun god Amaterasu (who is in the shape of the wolf) and her struggle against the demon Orochi. The player controls Amaterasu as she travels across Nippon to collect celestial brush techniques in an adventure very much similar to a 3D "Legend of Zelda." The celestial brush can be used to draw specific things into the world and this works as the game's big draw.
The world map for this game is very big and it's a blast to explore every last bit of it. The game looks amazing even by early 2011 standards thanks to the cel-shaded look and some truly inspired art direction. Everything looks like it was taken straight from an ancient Japanese scroll. In fact, just about everything in the game relates in Japanese mythology in some shape or form. For example, "Okami" can mean "sun god" or "wolf" in Japanese depending on the spelling. The result is an experience that feels fresh yet still feels familiar (to those familiar with Japanese mythology).
The combat in this game is quite fun. There are three different kinds of weapons in the game and each one is easy to pick up and hard to master. New moves are also learned as the story progresses or if the player feels like stopping by a dojo to train in the art of fighting. There are number of enemies in the game and fighting each one feels like a unique experience. The difficulty of the fighting isn't too bad but the learning curve jumps during the last 20% of the game and things can be quite tricky in terms of both combat and the platforming the game throws at you.
The game has a ton of sidequests to do. The celestial brush techniques you gather on your quest can affect the world in surprising ways. You become more powerful if you use these techniques to help the people and the animals (what else would a god do?)
The only real flaw I could find with this game is performing the brush techniques themselves. There were one or two occasions where the brush has to be especially precise and the game can be quite picky. For example, sometimes you try to bring a tree back to life and the game thinks you're trying to draw a sun in the background. This isn't a common occurrence but it is quite annoying when it happens.
Overall, this game is overflowing with creativity and style. Pick it up if you love art or just want to do see what's it like to play as a wolf/god!

Okami is one of those games that never sold well but deserve so much more. People put it off because they are either too ethnocentric (meaning the game is way too Japanese feeling to them at first sight and scares the white folks) or don't play the game because of a long intro for an intricate story that no one cares about because they rather their games involve brain-dead storytelling and no innovation in gameplay.

This is the best game you can buy for the PS2 if you had a choice to get only one game for the console. The production values, art, music, polish, and attention to detail are phenomenal and it puts many other games to shame in how much love was poured into it. The characters are so full of life and individualized. The world is real, and the passion is suffocatingly thick. You will remember every single person you meet in the game, all the events that unfold, and how they all connect, something that is very rare to achieve in the gaming world. The ink brush drawing, the platforming, the movement, and the open field runs and combat are so fluid and well layed out, it's a delight to watch and control. The humor transcends any language barriers and translates near perfectly and you won't find any half-dimwitted writing in the dialogue like your local FPS curse fest or generic RPG cheesiness.

Many people will compare this game to Zelda and call it just a clone. That's like saying Call of Duty 4 is equivalent to the original DOOM because there's a crosshair involved. The Zelda games were decent but lacked much of a story or much of a lot of things, but Okami is in an entirely different league of its own, like how Final Fantasy 7 was to RPGs.

The main thing I want you to get out of this is don't judge Okami on it's face value and play at least through a quarter of the game. If you still find it wholly uninteresting, then it is legitimately not the type of game you will ever like. But to all those others who are impatient or dismiss it because of the art, the premise, or the Zelda tunnel vision complex, you should give it a real chance before making a conclusion or you will miss out on what I consider the best game to date on any console. And please support the development of this game and all games of such high quality by buying a copy. The PS2 version is much preferable because the Wii version has insufferable controls. The game is only $20 on the Greatest Hits list, but it never sold well enough and it would be a travesty if the wrong message was sent that in the current generation of gaming, no one cares about quality or innovatio nanymore. Peace out.

Pros:
Okami is an incredibly original game. Wielding the Celestial Brush is an integral part of the game. With the brush Okami Amaturatsu is able to create rain, force a tree to sprout, repair objects, and fight enemies. But the power of the brush doesn't stop here, draw a bomb and it will appear or create a fireball and it will burn. The drawing mechanics behind the Celestial Brush feel very polished and force the players to think creatively. Okami's world is filled with color and original characters. The gameplay is excellent from start to finish, and so is the story. Okami can wield different weapons, and use items. The game is long with a lot of optional side quests.

Cons:
The game's Celestial Brush is a double edged sword, while the brush is a very creative tool it also makes the combat with the enemies feel too easy. Also, the vanquished bosses reappear later in the story, so they must be defeated again.

Bottom Line: This is one game that must be played no matter who you are.