REVIEW: Okami
May 12, 2007Man, I can't believe it has taken me this long to finish one game, but Okami is beaten. I feel like I have been playing this game forever. Just when I though I had beaten the game, another 10 hours gets thrown on to it, or another twist, or another whatever. Not to say that it is a bad thing, but to be honest, towards the end of the game, I was so looking forward to beating it just so I could go on to something else. I think I clocked out at around 38-40 hours which is one of the longest games I have played in a very long time. Even Zelda wasn't all that long (at least I don't remember it being all that long) Anyway, lets see what we have here...
First off the graphics... I'll be honest, when I first loaded up Okami and started playing, I thought there was something wrong with my TV. There seemed to be alot of smearing or bleeding and in general, I though that either something was wrong with the game, or something was up with my TV. I know it had a cell shaded look to it, but I did NOT like the graphics when I first started playing. However, once I started to get into the game and the further I got into it, I can not see any other way they could of done it. It fit the game perfectly and it made everything have more life to it... like you were watching a painting in motion rather than a game.... and maybe that's what they were going for in the first place. Overall, I think the graphics are very nice.
I was a little mixed about the sound though. While I loved the soundtrack and would probably buy it if I ever saw it in stores, I really wasn't digging how they did the voices. I don't know how to really describe it with out some sort of sound bite... I guess it would be like the teacher from Peanuts but not like that.... I don't know.... look on YouTube or something. Anyway, I was totally annoyed about it, and sometimes it did work very well, but after 40 hours of it, I think you can see where things were going. As for the other sound effects, they were just fine... everything fit and it worked. Really no other complaints other than the voices.
Gameplay is where the game stands out the most. What is neat about Okami are the "brush strokes" that you collect throughout your adventure. What the brush strokes let you do is they open up new abilities that can either help you in combat or maybe let you reach new areas or help you with the puzzles. For example, if I was in combat and I was fighting someone, if I drew a line through that enemy, it would act as if I had just taken a sword and slashed right through them. Or maybe there was a wall of fire in my way, well if I drew sort of a cirlce-wave shape (yeah I don't know what to call it) it would blow away the fire with a huge gust of wind and I could move on unharmed. There were all sorts of cool things you could do, and I don't wanna give to much away in case you do want to play the game later. :) I will just say that it was the best part of the game.
Overall, I recommend that you play Okami as soon as you can. With summer coming up soon, and those of you getting out of school or maybe just looking for a nice long game to play. You really can't go wrong with Okami. I think it has something for everyone to enjoy. Shame we might never see a sequel though....I thought the ending sorta left it open for one... but then again you could leave it that as well. So yeah... go play it! :)
posted by FatBaby at 10:56 PM
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