There are a handful of games that I adore and could go on about for hours, but I’ve decided to talk about a game that I consider to have so many different strong points about it, that I couldn’t bear to not mention it. That game is Okami for the Playstation 2. I don’t own this game (it’s actually pretty rare for the Playstation 2), but I borrowed it from a friend, and after putting a couple of hours into it, I couldn’t stop playing. I found this game to be not only incredibly fun, but very intriguing, engaging, and interesting for many reasons.
Graphics
The first thing I ever noticed about the game is what it is known for more than anything else: its beautiful and very unique graphics. Now I’m a graphics junkie when it comes to video games, and there’s nothing that makes me look at a game twice more than the interesting, colourful, and altogether beautiful art within it. The game was created in a very original and intriguing cell-shaded style with a bit of old Japanese flair. I was constantly amused throughout the game by how much a 3D game was made to look like a 2D ink painting in every frame, and I was stunned by the beauty shown not only within some gorgeous cut-scenes, but within the regular game play too. Even movement of your character within the game is extremely visually appealing, as IGN testifies in an Okami review:
“Amaterasu moves brilliantly, her legs and haunches moving like the wind as she strides across fields. Controlling her is a dream, and the visual feedback you'll get from anything you do only heightens this sense. Even when you run out of ink and Amaterasu's signature weapons and flares are gone for a short while, she looks brilliant in motion. It's really the combination of the fascinating art style with subtle movement that gives her such grace.” - IGN
Okami has been given amazing reviews, especially regarding its unique graphics, time and time again. From IGN, Okami has been given a rating of 9.1 out of 10.
Once I got past the artistic masterpiece that is Okami, I realized that this game was so solid in so many other ways as well.
Game Play Mechanics
When looking at a video game, you can’t leave out a review of the game play mechanics themselves, because that’s the core of any game. Though Okami may seem, at first glance, like a game built entirely on its artistic value, it turns out that this game has very fun and addicting game play mechanics as well. Most of the game play is very exploration and action-based, meaning that you can run around and explore a large world, fighting enemies along the way with quick button combo attacks, as well as through the use of special items. I found the fast-paced action of the fights to be extremely addicting and fun, because they were so action-packed that they kept my heart racing the whole time. On top of this, Okami introduced a unique game play mechanic of its own that I have never seen before in a game – the godlike ability to freeze time and draw in the world with magic ink, which unleashes a variety of powers that you pick up throughout the game. This was an interesting contrast to the fast-paced feel of the rest of the game, and though it was tough to pick up at first (drawing straight was a challenge for me), it was very worthwhile to learn. As the game went on, its level of challenge increased, and the game play itself became more and more exciting. This was all incredibly fun for me personally, because the action-packed fights and god-like sense of power that came with freezing the world and unleashing secret powers made it hard to leave the game world and go back to reality.
One aspect of the game that I couldn’t get enough of was the sense of free roam within the game, which meant side quests and hidden puzzles galore. Games that go straight from start to finish without giving you any chance to deviate from the path and have a little fun elsewhere can be alright, but not as fun as a game like Okami. There were so many hidden puzzles and side quests that I could spend hours and hours finishing all of these extras alone (and believe me, I did). This is an excellent quality in a game, because it gives such variety to the experience, and makes the world feel more engaging in the sense that there’s more going on than the main plot. This thrilled me, and brought me so much deeper into the experience than I would have been otherwise.
Controls
The controls of the game felt natural, except for the ink drawing, which at first felt jerky and distinctly unnatural. However, with time and experience, the ink became far easier and more fun to control. I found that because of this, Okami took a bit of time to get into, but once I gave it that time and effort, I fell into a magnificent game experience. I loved the way the main character, Amaterasu, reacted to all control; how she jumped, and ran with increasing speed, and fought against enemies. I also liked the control the game gave the player in levelling up the character. As you gain experience, you can increase your health bar, number of lives, amount of ink you can store, or amount of money you can carry. You can also equip your favourite weapons to Amaterasu to customize your fighting experience. This gave me a very welcome sense of control over my character in the game which, you guessed it, made the game more fun for me.
User Interfaces
The user interfaces also worked quite well in Okami. The health bar was clearly present in the top-left corner, and looked different from any health bar I’ve seen before, but it was still very easy to understand. There is also an ink bar, similar to the health bar, which is just as easy to read, and tells you when you can use your ink, and when it’s out. The number of lives you have isn’t always visible, but still easy to access. Altogether, everything you could need on the interface is right there for you, easy as can be, and it looks very good and fits with the game too. The menus are also very easy to use, and so it’s easy to access items, switch weapons, level up, and so on.
Level Design
The level design in Okami was also amazing. Each level got progressively harder (as in any game with challenge), but each level was as beautiful as the last in its own way, and the world was so large and felt so seamless that one level flowed into another flawlessly. In fact, it was often hard to tell one “level” from another because it felt like a single giant world opposed to a series of levels. With this said, you might imagine similar levels, but the level design was so different and yet flowed so well together from one place to the next. There was such variety from one place to another, since the setting ranged from little towns to big cities, from plains to dungeons, from the snowy north to a sunny beach, and from beautiful meadows to dead swamps. This made the game feel so large and so complete, and so varied yet so well structured together. As well as the interest value within the variety of the levels, the puzzles and challenge within each of them made them very fun as well. As you learn more ink brush techniques, there are more types of challenges in each progressive level that you have to learn how to get past, and this keeps the game constantly fun and interesting.
Game Flow
The flow of the game, as I mentioned above, was sensational. Not only did the levels flow very well from one to the other, but so did every other aspect of the game, including the plot and the general feel of the game. The game started with a slightly dreary yet light-hearted feel, as you have to lift some of the evil from areas of the world by using your god powers and bringing life back to dead areas, but with a spring in your step. However, after the game took a few turns from dreary to cheery, throwing in plenty of humour here and there, eventually everything felt really serious and dramatic, with the world around you reflecting the part of the plot you are at.
Story
This brings me to the plot of the game. At the beginning of the game, I was sure that Okami would not be a very plot-based game. The game itself felt too light-hearted and game play-based to require a really good plot to make it work. However, well into the game, the plot kept developing more and more until it became enthralling. I was sucked into the plot of the game more than I ever thought I would be, and I got attached to the humorous and witty (or sometimes witless) characters. It was amazing how much character they put into Amaterasu, who is a wolf god, but still just a wolf in the sense that she can’t speak or show emotion in any ways that aren’t distinctly dog-like. However, she became a very loveable and funny character, along with her bug-like sidekick, Issun, who had a quick temper and always had something to say. Looking past the characters, the plot itself was deeply satisfying and full of dramatic twists that pulled me so deeply into the story and the game itself that it was almost painful to put down the controller and turn off the game. One thing I loved about the plot in this game was that it kept seeming to end, and everything would feel so complete and I’d be sad that the game was seemingly over – just for me to realize that the game wasn’t even nearly finished, and the plot and the game would continue once more. The game tricked me twice in that way, showing me a clear ending before something else would go wrong and the game would kick off again as I tried to solve another problem. Altogether, the plot was a huge but thrilling surprise within this game, and it gave me reason to never want to stop playing Okami. For that reason, I think the writing in Okami is top quality – it just took me a while to realize it.
Artificial Intelligence
The A.I. in the game seemed to be good from the beginning, since the enemies in the game seemed to respond well and attack cleverly at times, making the game challenging. However, it wasn’t until about three quarters of the way into the game when the A.I. blew me away. There was one boss fight in particular that was actually ten times creepier simply because of how the A.I. worked in that fight. Throughout the whole game, I was used to having the ability to freeze time completely and draw with my ink to use Amaterasu’s powers, but this boss fight was different mainly for the fact that this boss was also a god. Whenever I’d freeze time to use an ink power, in the moment I’d freeze time, I would see the ink move across the screen seemingly on its own, to use the move I was about to use against me. In other words, I could see the boss using my powers against me, in a maddeningly smart and exceedingly creepy manner. After that fight, I was convinced that the A.I. in Okami was top quality. After all, I’ve never actually been creeped out by how the A.I. of an enemy worked before, and I have to admit, creepy or not, I loved it.
Sound
Finally, I’m going to cover sound. Sound is actually an interesting part of the Okami experience. The first thing I thought of was the music within the game. All of the music in Okami had the perfect feel for the game – like classic music from old Japan woven into epic melodies that made the game even more enchanting. I remember one melody in particular, because it came up at the most dramatic point in the game, and the music alone got me so riled up to keep playing the game that I couldn’t put the controller down. After all, dramatic music can enhance a dramatic plot by ridiculous amounts if the music composers know what they’re doing. But if we forget about music for a second and focus only on the sounds in the game, those were an interesting choice for Okami. For one thing, there are no traditional voiceovers for the characters in the game – but there is gibberish noises that imitate the sounds of language whenever characters speak. This is a little strange (and sometimes annoying) at first, but once I got used to it, I realized that this was just another unique decision by the creators of Okami, which ultimately gave Okami its charm. Next to this, the rest of the noises in the game were not nearly as strange, but still had a different feel, which fit in with the game very well. Like the rest of the game, the sounds used were quirky and unique, which did help add to the feel of the game, ultimately adding to the game’s fun factor.
So in the end, what makes Okami a fun game? Well, if you actually got through my walls of text swearing by this game, you’ll know that there’s a lot that makes this game fun. Most importantly, it’s an experience that I’ll never forget – one that I’ll want to revisit again and again.
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