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Japanese Art Gone Crazy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 14
Date: September 13, 2006
Author: Amazon User

What a great game! The gameplay might be odd at first because the graphics are so diffrent. The gameplay is easy to understand and the action is aswome. A must Buy!!

A breath of fresh air.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 107 / 113
Date: September 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Today's video game market is a stagnant one for the most part. Publishers rely on franchises and proven formulas to make their money. Meanwhile when something creative and original comes along publishers don't want to take a chance on it in fear of lousy returns on their investment. While this does make for a great business decision, it makes for poor gaming experiences. Thankfully Okami made it to fruition.

This game is reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda. The cell shaded graphics harken back to The Wind Waker, and inevitably any third person adventure game is going to merit a Zelda comparison. However, this is definitely not a Zelda clone. It merely takes the genre and builds on it to produce something extraordinary.

The gameplay is relatively simple. You can run around, fight baddies, talk to villagers, etc. The real innovation here is the use of a "paintbrush" that you activate with R1 to alter your environment. If you run up on a bridge that's broken down? No problem, activate your paintbrush and paint another one onto the landscape. Bad guy getting you down? Simple, just activate the paintbrush, draw a slash through the enemy, and he's down for the count. I've only progressed through the first hour of the game, so I have not collected all of the paintbrush techniques. But there is no doubt that the paintbrush is a big part of the game.

The graphics are nothing short of beautiful. You do a good bit of running around in this game. Fortunately it never gets old because the scenery around you is just so awesome to look at. I never thought a Ps2 game could look so good.

The story takes on the guise of Japanese folklore (I've read that the basis of this game is an actual legend, but I would assume some liberties have been taken with the story to fit the game). The story is interesting, although nothing groundbreaking (at least as far as I have progressed). Still, it is enough to keep you interested.

There are some small things that annoy me. The text comes with a gibberish voiceover (like Animal Crossing). Its bearable at first, but tends to grate on your nerves the farther along you go. The intro is about ten minutes too long, and I never found a way to skip past it or make it go faster. The big gripe I have is that there is no widescreen support, which would have made this game really shine on TVs that supported it.

This game might be the last great game on the Playstation 2. I'm happy that Capcom decided to break the industry mold and publish a title that displays a lot of creativity and beauty without it being a proven franchise. I consider this game to be in the same mold as Psychonauts, Shadow of the Colossus, Katamari Damacy, etc. Games that displayed a ton of creativity and were fun. Unfortunately games like this often go unnoticed by the majority of gamers and they don't sell well. Hopefully Okami will be an exception, and it needs to be if we ever want developers and publishers to release more original and "unproven" content to us.

Graphics aren't the only draw to this beautiful game...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: September 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Remember that cell-shading style from Legend of Zelda: Windwaker. Okami dishes out a similar, yet even more unique art style. The art and backgrounds are breathtaking. Once you're done taking in the surroundings, you'll notice that Okami provides gameplay to match. Wrap all that up with a compelling folktale storline and you've got quite an amazing game. This could just be one of the last few games worth buying for the Playstation 2 platform.

Rejecting the Usual to Ignite the Imagination

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 15
Date: September 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

By CHARLES HEROLD
Published NY Times: September 21, 2006

Last year I went to the video game trade show in Los Angeles called E3, a noisy event with games displayed on gigantic video screens and wandering models, skimpily dressed as video game characters, who looked as uncomfortable as you might expect of people standing in a crowded convention hall in their underwear.

I saw hundreds of games in development at E3, and they all looked pretty much alike. There were a bunch of first-person shooters I couldn't tell apart, strategy games that looked the way strategy games always look and cartoony action adventures that looked like the previous year's crop. Public relations people were praising the improved graphics of the brand-new Xbox 360, boasting that you could see the players' sweat in a sports game, but to me the 360 games were just slightly sweatier versions of the games that had come out the year before.

Then I saw a Japanese game for PlayStation 2 that looked like a living watercolor painting. And as I watched a white wolf running across a field, flowers sprouting in its wake, I fell in love.

A year and a half later, that game, Okami, is on sale in the United States. The game, from Clover Studios, is everything I was hoping for, a visually dazzling, imaginative action-adventure game that stands apart from the crowd.

That white wolf is the goddess Amaterasu, who has manifested a mortal form to battle an eight-headed dragon terrorizing the land. She is joined by Wandering Artist Issun, a flea-size creature who functions as the player's guide and irreverently refers to Amaterasu as "furball."

Okami's locales have been blighted by demons, and Amaterasu must bring these lands to life by finding magical trees and making them bloom, causing a desolate valley to erupt in flowers and take on the look of an ancient elegant Japanese woodprint.

To perform this magic, Amaterasu uses the Celestial Brush. At any point the player can freeze time and draw a circle to make flowers bloom, two lines to call forth a breeze, or a zigzag line to create a climbing rope.

The brush can also be used when battling demons. A painted line hits them like a sword, drawing a circle with a line through it creates a bomb, and swishing the ink on their faces temporarily blinds them.

There is a lot to do in Okami. Besides the main story, there are side quests that generally involve helping people. Every time Amaterasu does a good deed -- restoring a withered tree, finding medicine for a sick man, feeding a mewing cat -- she is bombarded with affection that translates into points used to increase her health or the number of symbols she can draw before her ink runs out.

There are also various treasures throughout the land, many of which you won't be able to retrieve until you've learned a particular symbol. The game is very reminiscent of the Legend of Zelda series, and is at least as good as those games.

There are also interesting mini-games that turn up occasionally. At times Amaterasu will have to dig quickly through a series of stone blocks or catch fish. You must also help out Susano, a samurai of dubious talent, by quickly slashing with your brush the monsters he attacks.

Okami is tantalizingly close to perfection, but is not without flaws. Dialogue is in written text that scrolls out much more slowly than anyone over the age of 10 reads. While you can speed that up in some scenes, in others you can't, forcing the player to do a lot of thumb-twiddling. And feeding an animal, which should take a couple of seconds, prompts a little scene that just wastes the player's time.

But over all, this game is so visually striking, so original and so well done that most other game designers should look at it and then hang their heads in shame. It is proof that the important thing in game design is not the graphical processing power of the game console but the power of the designer's imagination.

While Okami aims to create something fresh and new, Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine, from Himalaya Studios, is equally eager to do something really old. The game is a sincere and loving effort to recreate the style of the humorous adventure games published by Sierra in the late 1980's and early 90's, like Leisure Suit Larry and Space Quest.

Taking place in the Wild West, the game follows the adventures of Al Emmo, a short, dweeby character with a bad comb-over who comes to the town of Anozira to meet his mail-order bride. Upon learning that Al is closer to good looking than he is to prosperous, she calls the wedding off.

Stuck in Anozira until the next train arrives, Al promptly falls for the town chanteuse, Rita, and determines to win her love, a task made more difficult by the suave Antonio Bandana.

Al soon learns what it takes to win a beautiful woman's heart: steal a flag, make a fishing rod and dress up as a woman. This at least is how it works in adventure games, where everything, including love, is a puzzle that can be solved through the proper use of hammers, flasks and inflatable dolls.

The game uses the point-and-click interface of those old games, and clicking on any item elicits some witticism. Click on a dartboard and the game's narrator will say, "Your eyes dart to the board."

While sometimes clever, the humor often falls flat. It's commendable to try to put a laugh in every bit of scenery, but it's disappointing when not a single tombstone epitaph in the town graveyard is actually funny.

The humor isn't helped by the voice acting, which has the rather hammy, artificial quality of community theater.

Still, the game can be quite amusing. I liked a Greek chorus of ditzy ladies and was surprised by the pointed wit in a scene involving an extremist pest exterminator determined to wipe out "termites of mass destruction" at any cost.

Like the acting, the game's puzzles are competent but unexceptional. Good puzzles force the player to think outside the box, but Al Emmo rarely challenges the player's ingenuity.

Al Emmo finally kicks into gear in its last third, when the humor becomes sharper and the puzzles become smarter. If the whole game were as good as the last part, it might have matched the games that inspired it, but instead Al Emmo is just a decent game for fans nostalgic for old-style adventures.

Still, like Okami, Al Emmo doesn't want to look like every other game on the market. Both games reject the cookie-cutter approach that permeates the video game industry and teach us a valuable lesson: the best games are not necessarily the sweatiest.

A fun, and spunky, must buy.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: September 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Unlike most videogame releases, Okami has a different vibe and feel; by now, you probably know that it looks like a very stylized watercolor painting.

The gameplay is pretty straight action/adventure, although the inclusion of various player-drawn brush strokes (which have a huge variety off effects in and out of combat) add a renewed vigor to the genre.

Game length is substantial, between 30-60 hours. This is a real bargain at $40; I unconditionally recommend it.

Great Art, Great Game, Great Buy overall

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: September 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Even though I haven't gotten myself a copy of the game yet, Okami appealed to me the first second I layed my eyes on it. I had a demo CD from a Playstation magazine and it had a demo of Okami on it. Right after I played the introduction of the game I was HOOKED!
It's great. If you don't trust me, look at all the people who gave it 5 stars above! And they've already played.
Graphics = 5 Stars
Gameplay = 5 Stars (especially the interactivity of the paintbrush)

Breathtaking

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: September 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game is gorgeous. Its rich in Japanese culture and art of course, and the art is just stunning. Ive never seen a game look more beautiful than this. It's also easy to get into playing, and enjoyable once you do. Lots of dialogue, but its enchanting so its bearable. The lack of voice acting is a blessing, because thats something that can often ruin a game. Overall its just a joy to experience this game. I havent played games in years, I usually just watch my husband play them, but I played this time and had no trouble figuring out the controls and getting started. Good stuff, if you like japanese culture, lore, if you like wolves, or even if you just appreciate really good art... this is a game you need to try.

A Beautiful Masterpiece

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: September 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Hands down, Okami is one of the finest Playstation 2 games ever made. An engrossing story mixed with intricate gameplay make Okami a textbook example of how a game should be done. Okami is a masterpiece that brings a huge world to life, and any action/adventure fan would be happy to have this title on their shelf.

Okami centers on the legend of the Japanese sun god Amaterasu. The game stays centered around Japanese tales. You needn't know these stories to be engrossed in the games overall main story, though. All you need to know from the get go is Amaterasu is the sun god reborn as a wolf to rid Japan of a demonic curse that has swept the land. The God responsible for this was actually killed 100 years ago. It's time to make sure history doesn't repeat itself, and it's up to Amaterasu to get rid of this evil God. Amaterasu is joined by her companion Issun, who throughout the game will do all the talking, and also provides a nice sense of humor to the game. At first the story is simplistic, but don't be fooled. There are several subplots in the game that eventually become part of the overall story. You'll do more than stop this curse from spreading across the land. You'll rescue villages, battle fearsome monsters and everything epic in Okami. It also helps that the game is a massive 30 hours of steady going gameplay.

The story is mostly told through beautiful cutscenes, and quite a bit of dialogue. None of the dialogue is directly spoken so you'll have to read it all. It's unfortunate that a masterpiece such as Okami doesn't have voice acting, but in the end it's forgiveable. The cinematics and artistic style of Okami are fantastic. Visually the game is by far one of the best looking of any game this generation. It's so distinct and original. There's no game out there that looks like this. Equally impressive is the fantastic music score that clearly defines the setting of the game and actually brings you into its unique world.

You'll be able to explore quite a bit of the world. There's a lot of running around to do and you'll have some excitement doing it. Amaterasu carries around a sword like weapon all the time which she'll use whenever she engages in a battle. Battling isn't tough in Okami, nor is it too frequent to the point where it's annoying. So you won't be frustrated while traveling through Okami and putting up a good fight. The battle mechanics work almost like any other action/adventure title with one exception: the powers of the gods at your disposal.

Throughout the journey Amaterasu can use a brush technique to unleash her powers as well as the powers of her allies. When in battle you can press R1 and it will bring up a canvas. You'll then be given control of a paint brush and you can unleash several powers. When it gets dark out you can use the paint brush to make the sun come back up. There are other powers too, such as being able to cut through stone. This mechanic takes a moment to get used to at first, but you'll adapt surprisingly fast. Even better, this isn't a simple gimmick. You'll find it imperative to use these powers to solve puzzles and progress further on in your adventure. It's an integral part of the gameplay and storyline. You don't start off with all the powers of the paint brush, of course, you'll have to travel through the game and get them. This system certainly breathes new life into the genre as a whole.

As you go on your adventure, you'll also be given chances to make Amaterasu more powerful. You can learn moves at the dojo, and you can find health powerups, and get more ink reserves for your brush techniques. There are also plenty of weapons and items to help you out on your quest. The game is easy, even when faced against some of the bosses, but it's a lot of fun, and has a lot of variety. You could go through Okami never actually dying once. This isn't to say the game doesn't have its challenges. Some puzzles have their own unique challenges that could leave you stumped for a moment.

Okami is also full of plenty of other small things you can do as you traverse the land. You can restore vegetation to the land, feeding animals in need of food. These don't sound too appealing, but there are a couple of things that make it worth your while. For starters, these scenes just look beautiful. Second, you get praise for doing so. Praise helps you to improve your powers and strengths. These aspects of the game can keep you busy for quite some time.

Okami is a masterpiece. A highly expansive game with a vast world to explore. It's beautiful cinematics and well crafted storyline, among a few other things, make this one of the best Playstation 2 games out there. It's simply a fantastic game to play and the fun last for a long time. Okami is the definition of quality.

The Good

+Engrossing storyline
+The game is absolutely beautiful; among the best looking for the Playstation 2
+The game sounds fantastic
+Battling is a lot of fun
+The brush techniques are really innovative
+Plenty of side-quest and mini games to keep you busy
+For an action/adventure title the journey is long, lasing for over 30 hours... on top of that the game is full of replay value

The Bad

-The only truly bad thing about Okami is that there is no voice acting in the game. There's gibberish whenever a text box pops up, but no actual voice acting to speak of.

A masterpiece on the PS2 and maybe even games in general

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: September 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

In an interview, David Jaffe, the man behind the overrated/slightly enjoyable God of War said that game execs were thinking in terms of franchise and sequels rather than creating something good and original. We have Okami from Clover Studios which not only has a quite striking and beautiful graphic style but a unique gameplay idea which made many magazine and website people make it a buzz game and a must play. It's certainly a great game and one that, unfortunately, probably won't get as much attention as it should.

Story: In Kamini Village, it became a tradition to offer a maiden to the dreaded demon Orochi. But when one maiden is picked which a swordsman named Nagi harbors a love for, he steps in to take him down only he's not as powerful. A white wolf named Shiranui steps in and helps and vanquishes Orochi before Shiranui succumbs to his injuries. 100 years later, Orochi is reborn and the white wolf is brought back with the spirit of the powerful god Amaratesu and with the help of a companion Issun, the mystical Celestial Brush and Nagi's descendant have to once again bring down Orochi.

Graphics: I always grow suspicious of game creators' claims that a game is a painting come to life and whatnot but with Okami that's literally the case. It makes you feel that you're literally inside a painting and such scenes, such as restorations of cursed areas are quite beautiful and awesome. And I never got tired of seeing them either with probably my favorite effect being the water splashes and waterfalls. This is an example of a game creating an atmosphere and not needed expensive flashy FMV's to do it.

Sound/Music: Similar to Animal Crossing, the characters don't necessarily speak in English but in gibberish with English text provided. While it is disappointing that there's no voice, it probably would've took too much space anyway but seeing a dramatic scene and see character ramble like they're intoxicated is kind of odd. The music though is quite appropriate and even lovely in places.

Gameplay: One of the 2 aspects to get attention, one of which being the graphics, was the Celestial Brush. Basically you can unleash your inner Picasso where pressing R1 turns the screen into a canvas where you can draw certain shapes. Enemies can be cut by drawing a straight line, trees and flowers can be fully restored and bloom by drawing a circle around it and there's others but I don't want to spoil them. While there's not a lot of variety in the patterns, it's still quite a cool gameplay idea that never gets stale or useless.

The game isn't really chockful of sidequests where you have to hunt down certain people or do certain things to get anywhere but instead it offers a whole range of stuff to do that is optional yet recommended. Certain actions, such as feeding animals or restoring trees and cursed grass nets you Praise, which you can use to upgrade your guy, by getting him more ink or more health. You'll become a bounty hunter going after certain enemies on your wanted list and filling your fish catalog when you go fishing. There's so much to do that it seems daunting but that's ok, it works just fine.

Should you play Okami? Definately. Like fans of Ico who didn't get it upon initial release. Okami will probably get fans that way as well, unless people find its merits right from the get-go.

Short to the point Review; PS2 = Okami

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: September 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

What can I say about this title that hasn't already been said below? Absolutely nothing...I am just writing this to say I was very skeptical about this game, to say the least! I had read many reviews and viewed lots screenshots for this game. And I started thinking to myself how on earth can a game with a wolf as the lead character get this much attention and such great reviews? Where is the big gun/sword yielding male/female hero at to save the day? BELIEVE me folks when I say this wolf can carry a game and then some!! LOL with a GREAT story, beautiful art-filled graphics, a unique battle system, innovative brush technique (you just HAVE to experience). This game is an instant classic!! I haven't been THIS addicted to an adventure game since FFVII...

Bottom line: If you own a PS2 and consider yourself a gamer, this game NEEDS to be in your library. GO GET IT NOW!!!

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