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Okami has to be my all time favorite game ever. The orginality of the graphics and gameplay blew me away. I would love to hear what others who have played this awsome game thought of it. Personally if you are looking for something different than your normal RPG than this is definately one you should invest some time in playing.
This review was written by Humikimi on Gamespot.com
Gameplay (9/10): Honestly this game has a nice blend of a lot of things. The story is absolutely great, starting off small and simple and through a few twists and turns (some predictable, some not) turning into something larger. The characters are all interesting and you will learn to love Issun (your 'sidekick') over the course of the game thanks to his hilarious attitude and approach to situations. You play the game as the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, in the form of a white wolf. Issun really does all the talking and you do all the action in the pair so it gets fairly interesting. Now since you ARE a god(dess) you would expect that you aren't very weak, which is true. As the game progresses, you obtain these techniques from other gods, techniques that you can use in the form of a Celestial Brush. You literally use a giant paint brush to do various things like cut enemies or make the sun rise. To make the sun rise you draw a circle in the sky (with the control stick) and to cut you draw a horizontal 'slash' line. The game pretty much 'pauses' while you do this so it gives you ample time to perfect your artistic skills with lines and circles. This is actually a brilliant system that makes a lot of the battles and puzzles a lot more interesting then they could have been with normal items, since most of the powers are nature-based.
With that we go into the travel and puzzles. There are a fair number of cities to explore in this game and they are pretty full of characters, most of which need help of some sort. When you help the environment or a character you obtain Praise, which is used to upgrade your health, ink bottles (used for the Brush), lives and wallet. There are all sorts of items to gather around the environment, which is prett vast and fairly varied as well. The puzzles generally are not mind-boggling, but they will at least keep you on your toes, so that you generally will not get bored with any of it. The next is the combat.
Now the combat is where the game loses some of its greatness. Honestly, it is a little easy. Mind you, you ARE a goddess, so she SHOULD be able to beat up silly little demons, but there are only a few challenges in combat here and there. With that being said, the boss battles are pretty fun though. The regular enemy battles aren't great, but they will be over too quick for you to care anyway. The combat isn't horrible though, it has three different weapon types which you can combine in various ways to use and you can even go to a dojo to learn new battle techniques (a few outside of battle as well). It just feels like the combat was where the least polishing was done in this game.
Graphics (10/10): Even though the PS2 is least powerful of the 3 last generation consoles (Xbox, Gamecube and PS2...in that order), this game really pushes the console to its limits. The painting-like style of the game is just such a pleasant sight to the eyes when playing, and everything looks so beautiful. Everything is detailed just right, and there is a lot of stuff to see as you explore as well. You really feel like you are in a story when playing this and the graphics are easily some of the best I have seen in recent years. This just goes to show that you don't need realism to be beautiful. There is slight slowdown in intense situations, but it is minimal and can be dismissed.
Sound (9/10): The music is done absolutely beautifully, and really adds to the effect of the visuals to create this surreal atmosphere that really helps you relax when enjoying this game. The sound effects are well done as well, and generally never sound out of place. The only thing is that instead of the characters speaking, they make funny sounds (like Banjo-Kazooie), and this could have been better either with no sounds or with actual speech. The sounds they make can sometimes get a little annoying. Nonetheless,overall, this is a wonderful piece on the ears.
Value (9/10): Considering the amount of time you will put into JUST playing the main adventure, there is a lot in this game. You will likely spend 40+ hours just to get through the game, and then there is the incentive of coming back and doing everything you missed in a New Game +. Not to mention the added bonus of unlocking artwork, jukebox (for all the music, including the wonderful ending song), theatre and some extras to use on your second play through. They really did a good job of giving you incentive to come back. The only problem is that since this game is so long, when you come back to start your new game, you may not be willing to sit through it all again, regardless of how good it was. Either way this has a lot going for it in value though.
This game is another one of those games that I could easily recommend to just about anybody. This isn't worth thinking about, just go out and buy this while it is still readily available. You owe it to yourself as a gamer to own this beautifully crafted game.
Gameplay (9/10): Honestly this game has a nice blend of a lot of things. The story is absolutely great, starting off small and simple and through a few twists and turns (some predictable, some not) turning into something larger. The characters are all interesting and you will learn to love Issun (your 'sidekick') over the course of the game thanks to his hilarious attitude and approach to situations. You play the game as the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, in the form of a white wolf. Issun really does all the talking and you do all the action in the pair so it gets fairly interesting. Now since you ARE a god(dess) you would expect that you aren't very weak, which is true. As the game progresses, you obtain these techniques from other gods, techniques that you can use in the form of a Celestial Brush. You literally use a giant paint brush to do various things like cut enemies or make the sun rise. To make the sun rise you draw a circle in the sky (with the control stick) and to cut you draw a horizontal 'slash' line. The game pretty much 'pauses' while you do this so it gives you ample time to perfect your artistic skills with lines and circles. This is actually a brilliant system that makes a lot of the battles and puzzles a lot more interesting then they could have been with normal items, since most of the powers are nature-based.
With that we go into the travel and puzzles. There are a fair number of cities to explore in this game and they are pretty full of characters, most of which need help of some sort. When you help the environment or a character you obtain Praise, which is used to upgrade your health, ink bottles (used for the Brush), lives and wallet. There are all sorts of items to gather around the environment, which is prett vast and fairly varied as well. The puzzles generally are not mind-boggling, but they will at least keep you on your toes, so that you generally will not get bored with any of it. The next is the combat.
Now the combat is where the game loses some of its greatness. Honestly, it is a little easy. Mind you, you ARE a goddess, so she SHOULD be able to beat up silly little demons, but there are only a few challenges in combat here and there. With that being said, the boss battles are pretty fun though. The regular enemy battles aren't great, but they will be over too quick for you to care anyway. The combat isn't horrible though, it has three different weapon types which you can combine in various ways to use and you can even go to a dojo to learn new battle techniques (a few outside of battle as well). It just feels like the combat was where the least polishing was done in this game.
Graphics (10/10): Even though the PS2 is least powerful of the 3 last generation consoles (Xbox, Gamecube and PS2...in that order), this game really pushes the console to its limits. The painting-like style of the game is just such a pleasant sight to the eyes when playing, and everything looks so beautiful. Everything is detailed just right, and there is a lot of stuff to see as you explore as well. You really feel like you are in a story when playing this and the graphics are easily some of the best I have seen in recent years. This just goes to show that you don't need realism to be beautiful. There is slight slowdown in intense situations, but it is minimal and can be dismissed.
Sound (9/10): The music is done absolutely beautifully, and really adds to the effect of the visuals to create this surreal atmosphere that really helps you relax when enjoying this game. The sound effects are well done as well, and generally never sound out of place. The only thing is that instead of the characters speaking, they make funny sounds (like Banjo-Kazooie), and this could have been better either with no sounds or with actual speech. The sounds they make can sometimes get a little annoying. Nonetheless,overall, this is a wonderful piece on the ears.
Value (9/10): Considering the amount of time you will put into JUST playing the main adventure, there is a lot in this game. You will likely spend 40+ hours just to get through the game, and then there is the incentive of coming back and doing everything you missed in a New Game +. Not to mention the added bonus of unlocking artwork, jukebox (for all the music, including the wonderful ending song), theatre and some extras to use on your second play through. They really did a good job of giving you incentive to come back. The only problem is that since this game is so long, when you come back to start your new game, you may not be willing to sit through it all again, regardless of how good it was. Either way this has a lot going for it in value though.
This game is another one of those games that I could easily recommend to just about anybody. This isn't worth thinking about, just go out and buy this while it is still readily available. You owe it to yourself as a gamer to own this beautifully crafted game.
