Okami
So very, very worth the wait.
Published: October 2, 2006
It's not often that you hear of technical limitations actually benefitting a game, but that's precisely what happned with Okami. Originally the game had a fairly realistic look, but thanks to the aging PlayStation 2 hardware (even if it wasn't all that old when game development began), the art style took a pretty serious shift into the sort of living painting that we have now. It's quite possible that Okami wouldn't be the experience it is today if not for that fortuitous move, and it certainly wouldn't have made the same visual impact.
Luckily, the version that has finally arrived is what it is: a gorgeous, stunning piece of pure game design and utterly unique visuals. The graphical technique isn't something unfamiliar to developer Clover Studios (they used a similar look with both Viewtiful Joe games), but the style of game, a vast, open world to explore, is. It's also strongly reminiscent of a certain other adventure game from Nintendo. You know the one. Starts with a Z.
It's impossible to deny that at least some of the inspiration -- intentional or not -- came from the 3D Zelda games, though I would argue that it's actually pulled off better here. It may just be the setting, or that it's a fresh perspective on a simple process of gaining powers, learning to use them, and then being thrown into a boss-type situation in a dungeon, but whatever the reason, I had more fun with this game than I have since the 16-bit Zeldas. You'll find some daisy chained objectives (a bird must be rescued from a decidedly anti-PETA old couple so you can find a dog so you can find his two friends so they can join their five friends to unite to open a sealed temple so you can get in and slay a beast to restore the wind to a windmill to move on), but it somehow feel like there's always some progress being made.
Part of this is because there's always something being added to your stable of moves; new powers, new weapons, new sub-weapons, upgrades for the latter two, another quest, something in the world to mess with, a new area to explore. And it's all a blast because of how powerful your lupine form is. As the goddess Amaterasu reborn as the while wolf Shiranui, you're tasked with stopping a demon that escaped after almost 100 years of imprisonment. See, for a long while, the village of Kamiki held a dark secret: it would sacrifice a maiden to the demon Orochi during a ceremony in an effort to stave him off.
It was all well and good until one of the warriors in the village had the hots for one of the victims. Unable to see her gobbled up by the eight-headed demon, he ran off to confront the beast on his own. Thing is, a while back, a certain white wolf appeared in the village, and this would-be demon slayer had squared off against it and lost. Quite a few times. While most had seen the wolf as a manifestation of Orochi, it wasn't until the village's warrior, Nagi, was nearly dead at the heads--or, uh, heads--of Orochi that Shiranui, this white wolf, stepped in to join the fight.
Together, they fought off the beast and stowed him away, but in the fight, Shiranui was poisoned, and eventually succumbed to the toxin. As a sign of respect, the village erected a statue of the wolf and carried on like all was honky-dory. Until the demon was awakened again 99 years later. Whoops. The village's protector, the busty Sakuya, summons Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, and forces her into the form of Shiranui's statue. So now it's hot, hot goddess-on-demon action.
Luckily, the version that has finally arrived is what it is: a gorgeous, stunning piece of pure game design and utterly unique visuals. The graphical technique isn't something unfamiliar to developer Clover Studios (they used a similar look with both Viewtiful Joe games), but the style of game, a vast, open world to explore, is. It's also strongly reminiscent of a certain other adventure game from Nintendo. You know the one. Starts with a Z.
It's impossible to deny that at least some of the inspiration -- intentional or not -- came from the 3D Zelda games, though I would argue that it's actually pulled off better here. It may just be the setting, or that it's a fresh perspective on a simple process of gaining powers, learning to use them, and then being thrown into a boss-type situation in a dungeon, but whatever the reason, I had more fun with this game than I have since the 16-bit Zeldas. You'll find some daisy chained objectives (a bird must be rescued from a decidedly anti-PETA old couple so you can find a dog so you can find his two friends so they can join their five friends to unite to open a sealed temple so you can get in and slay a beast to restore the wind to a windmill to move on), but it somehow feel like there's always some progress being made.
Part of this is because there's always something being added to your stable of moves; new powers, new weapons, new sub-weapons, upgrades for the latter two, another quest, something in the world to mess with, a new area to explore. And it's all a blast because of how powerful your lupine form is. As the goddess Amaterasu reborn as the while wolf Shiranui, you're tasked with stopping a demon that escaped after almost 100 years of imprisonment. See, for a long while, the village of Kamiki held a dark secret: it would sacrifice a maiden to the demon Orochi during a ceremony in an effort to stave him off.
It was all well and good until one of the warriors in the village had the hots for one of the victims. Unable to see her gobbled up by the eight-headed demon, he ran off to confront the beast on his own. Thing is, a while back, a certain white wolf appeared in the village, and this would-be demon slayer had squared off against it and lost. Quite a few times. While most had seen the wolf as a manifestation of Orochi, it wasn't until the village's warrior, Nagi, was nearly dead at the heads--or, uh, heads--of Orochi that Shiranui, this white wolf, stepped in to join the fight.
Together, they fought off the beast and stowed him away, but in the fight, Shiranui was poisoned, and eventually succumbed to the toxin. As a sign of respect, the village erected a statue of the wolf and carried on like all was honky-dory. Until the demon was awakened again 99 years later. Whoops. The village's protector, the busty Sakuya, summons Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, and forces her into the form of Shiranui's statue. So now it's hot, hot goddess-on-demon action.
