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Okami
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Graphics & Sound:
Though fans have been clamoring for this game for a while, a bit of controversy surrounds Okami's port to the Wii. First, there is the embarrassing IGN watermark right smack in the center of every box for the game. It seems someone had to lift the art for their own game, which is so laughable that most people just seem to feel bad for Capcom (or at least the person who made the mistake) on this one. Capcom did go through the extra effort to offer replacement covers free of charge, which is pretty nice. However, upon completing the game, another embarrassment was uncovered. The portion of the credits that names the original development staff along with creator Hideki Kamiya was cut out. Capcom says that this is because of copyright issues with the original development team, Clover, but it hardly seems fair. It's not like they couldn't have easily created an additional short credits movie, just without the logo. Controversy aside, Okami is still very good on the Wii. Perhaps not the major breakthrough that fans were hoping for, but still good.
Okami was impressive on the PS2 because of its unique style and presentation. Everyone and everything in the game is made to look like a moving inked or watercolor painting. There's even a paper texture overlayed over the screen at all times. Now that hasn't changed much in the translation to the Wii. True, everything is slightly smoother, with fewer noticeable jaggies. There's also support for 16:9 format. But overall, it seems like everything is just a bit more saturated and lacking the constant glowing effect of the PS2 version. This may rile some, but I honestly can't say it's much of an improvement, it's just different.
Differences between versions aside, if you haven't seen Okami in action, you just need to. It's a colorful, stylized world that looks like a moving painting. The main character, the wolf Amaterasu, is an animated joy to watch. Flowers and plants spring from her steps and autumn leaves fall from the sky as she jumps. Tendrils of fire spin from a disc that floats above her back. It's a wonderful yet humble depiction of the incarnation of a goddess. My only gripe with this is that the rest of the characters don't seem to match this style. The average people in the game have simple shapes and odd proportions and, for the most part, look like a bunch of goofballs. It's all part of the style of the game, and it's something you can get used to, but still one of the things I wish would look a little different.
Music has been directly ported over as well. But of course if you are new to Okami, you need to know that this is a good thing. The score has a traditional Japanese sound to it, and is just beautiful and uplifting in places. The combat music is very fitting, both energetic and foreboding, and the field themes are usually suited to having Amaterasu run just for the joy of running. The theme is carried through to the menus and sound effects, with everything sounding like it belongs in something from a traditional Japanese play.
Of course, the talking sound effects are a point of debate, but they are in any game that has these kind of sound effects. Instead of having voices, everyone has a set of "talkie" sound effects (a la say, Chibi-Robo) that play as the text displays letter by letter. It's there to give you an impression of the voices the characters have without actually having them speak. It can get old after a while, especially if you run into someone who has a lot to say to you and you have to listen to their "squeakie squeakie" for 5 minutes. It's not hard to understand why it's done, however, and it does help you lend a voice to your imagination as you read the dialogue. |
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Gameplay:
In Okami, you play as a wolf who is actually the reincarnation of the goddess Amaterasu. The story and characters in this game all relate to Japanese mythology in some way, but don't expect this to be a storybook that will teach you about the real myths. Rather, elements from the actual myths are woven into a new story and world in Okami. This enables the game to take a lighter approach to things, I believe. Amaterasu, or Ammy as she is nicknamed, gets into some humorous situations, and sometimes acts distinctly un-godly, i.e. falling flat on her back, falling asleep during long lectures, and attempting to eat small creatures. Of course, her godly status is what enables her to be the hero of the game. Fighting battles on spiritual planes, restoring nature from decay, and helping lowly mortal humans - she does it all, and yet takes little credit for it.
Much of Okami centers around restoring order to a world that has fallen under the curse of Orochi. So much of your time will be spent making dead areas thrive with life again. To do this, you use the Celestial Brush - a technique that stops time and lets you draw various lines and shapes on the background or people. Just to name a couple of things you can do with this, a circle drawn around a dead plant will restore it to life, while a circle drawn in the sky will bring the sun back. You'll also use these powers in battle with different effects. This creative system adds a new element to what would have been a decent action adventure game to begin with. You'll constantly be looking for ways to use your brush powers with your environment. In a Legend of Zelda fashion, every new brush power opens up new routes and secrets in the areas you've already visited.
The storytelling itself in Okami deserves a bit more discussion than can be fit in this review. Though the situations and subplots are often simple, characters in the game still reveal a lot of complexity. Take the tragic figure of Susano, for example. At first it seems like you'll have to keep bailing him out of tough situations and it seems like he's going to be the somewhat despicable comic relief of the game. But he actually changes in some surprising ways. He starts to believe that he is being toyed with by the gods as you intervene in his life and actually becomes a bit paranoid. As true as his suspicions may be, you can only continue to help him and hope for the best, as Amaterasu is still just a wolf in the eyes of humans. It's possible to use the game just as a way to look at the relationship between gods and humans in myths, and it just really gets the imagination going. |
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Difficulty:
Okami has a few features built into it to make it difficult to just suddenly die, even when faced with a tough enemy. During your travels, you'll find food everywhere: it's in barrels, hidden in rocks, buried in the ground, and it's even given to you by certain people. All this food goes toward filling the Astral Pouch, which will revive you from death when full. Between the major fights of the game, you'll have plenty of time to fill up the Astral Pouch in order to keep that insurance. There are also plenty of health and power-up items to collect along the way in order to help you with your battles.
Some puzzles in the game may give you a bit of trouble, but usually this means you just need to go find a new brush power before you can solve it. Your tiny friend Issun will usually give you clues as well. When a quest sends you to the far reaches of the map, you're usually given helpful map markers to remind you of where you're supposed to go. Overall, this isn't a difficult game. It just requires a bit of patience and sometimes a dose of talk, talk, and talk to everyone. Unfortunately, the control scheme may be one of the most difficult aspects of the game to master, and perhaps the source of most of your frustration in this game.
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Game Mechanics:
Okami was begging for a port to the Wii, but what we've ended up with isn't the game most of us were dreaming of. I'll put it this way, it's not better in the areas you think it would be better in. If you were imagining having an easier time with the Celestial Brush, you're probably going to be disappointed. The thing is, most of the problems I had with the PS2 version of this game, I had again with the Wii version. Sometimes you'll do what you think is a slash stroke, and it won't register as a slash. You'll do your best attempt at a circle, and you'll often end up having to try again or move Ammy to a new position to get it to work. This isn't to say you can't get the hang of it and get better at it, but it's disappointing to get into a rhythm, stop to paint, and then have to go back and repeat it several times.
Likewise, the combat system has a new control scheme for the Wii, but it doesn't feel any more intuitive. Swings of the Wii-mote replace button presses for attacking. But the thing is, I wasn't the only person to have trouble figuring out what kind of motion the game was asking for. Swing and swing away, and you'll get often get no response from Ammy. It was only until a friend suggested using short twitches that I started to get the hang of it. I miss a good solid button press, but after a while, the Wii controls start to feel just like the PS2 controls. Dodging does at least feel a little easier on the Wii, but otherwise you're just climbing up a learning curve to get back to where you were with the first version of this game.
When you do get the hang everything, Okami is a great experience. I wanted to be able to say that this version was better, but honestly, the difference is marginal. That being said, if you haven't played this game on the PS2 yet, you might as well grab this version if you have a Wii. Once you master the slightly trickier controls, you'll be rewarded with a fun, charming, and even exhilarating experience, just as the PS2 version did. We can only hope that there is more creativity like this to come, even though Clover, the studio that developed this game, is defunct.
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-Fights with Fire, GameVortex Communications AKA Christin Deville |
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