Homemademech - Playstation 2 Okami reviews

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Okami

Does it seem to you like Okami these days is less PS2 game as it is PS2 urban myth?
You’ve heard of it, probably seen it previewed on X-Play (G4TechTV) or seen an article or know somebody who knows somebody who seen something about the game, or (heaven forbid) was even at last year‘s E3 when the game was originally premiered. Yeah, Okami is a beautiful game, amazing in it’s appearance and innovative in it’s gameplay, but even the most amazing game means (bleep) to you and me if we can’t get ahold of said game!

It all started way back in May, when E3 2005 first saw the announcement that the majorly hyped Okami was headed towards the English gaming audience in the coming future. It’s developer, Clover Studios, even went so far as to throw up a page on their website back then announcing that Okami was going to have a playable demo for people to check out at E3 (which I think it did if I remember right).

Yeah, yeah, if you know Clover Studios you know they’re behind the Viewtiful Joe series which they have recently been… ahh… beating like a dead horse with not so critically acclaimed games like Viewtiful Joe : Double Trouble for the Nintendo DS, as well as Viewtiful Joe : Red Hot Rumble for the GameCube.
However Okami, when it finally hits, will make you forget all about Clover’s recent faux pases with Viewtiful Joe when you see how beautiful (not viewtiful) this game is.
By taking an innovative approach to your standard game with it’s calligraphy mode (which brings down a calligraphy pad with the tap of R1 which allows you to create and destroy), it’s addictive gameplay, gorgeous eye-candy of a visual artistic style, and it’s Animal Crossing twist which has you helping those your protecting with chores and stuff while you work on saving the world, this game is going to be big.

Of course first it needs to release before it can become big.
Months pass after E3 and the game is relegated to mentions, previews, first looks and hints.
You might have heard about it by now, as 2005 rolls out and 2006 rolls in, but so far it’s only been something that you’ve been exposed to in small snips and tidbits, not a full bodied game that leaps from the game disc into your imagination… until February that is, when the next infusion of news hits.

Capcom, best known for Resident Evil, Mega Man and trying to jump on the Dynasty Warriors franchise band wagon with their ripoff Devil Kings (for starters) is now noted as the go to company for Okami. But then again they supposedly been talking up Okami since 2004, which is presently making the game look like the Gran Turismo 4 of the fantasy genre… eh? Well you DO remember when they first started talking about Gran Turismo 4, right? And then you remember them mentioning it again… and again… and again… and finally releasing it spade and neutered of it’s highly anticipated online feature which people probably still haven’t forgiven the creators of Gran Turismo 4 for yet despite the fact Gran Turismo 4 came out quite abit of time ago! Also, going back to Okami, at last you get the first hints of WHEN this game will come, which is listed for a third quarter of 2006 release… yeah, that’s Fall of 2006 if I know my quarters.

The Meat of the Game
If you haven’t heard about this game yet here’s the meat and potatoes of it.
Apparently based (from what I heard about it) on Japanese folklore, the game is supposed to be “presented in a traditional Japanese art style” which looks damn good when you get your first look at it.
The world is not in it’s happy place. Nature is being smashed and humans have to flee to a place of sanctuary which, well, might not be a place of sanctuary for long. Enter the scene the -- uh -- the -- Amaterasu… gender, however, is confusing.
According to X-Play Amaterasu is the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, but as of February 2006 then character is listed as the Sun GOD Amaterasu… goddess or god, people, make up your mind!

Amaterasu, who has taken the form of a white wolf, must bring light and nature back to the dead world while seeing to the care and maintenance of the humans in sanctuary (which involves some rather oddly Animal Crossing-esque type of chores you have to do for them, done Okami style).
Oh, and as a deity you have a power which gives you reign over creation and destruction with the calligraphy mode. Pressing the R1 button brings down the calligraphy pad, which allows you to use the huge calligraphy “brush” (called the Celestial Brush in one article I’ve seen on the topic) to do things from solving “puzzles” (creation and destruction) to defeating enemies (destruction). In the order of creation you can achieve such miracles as drawing in bridges and paths to assist your travels, the creation of allies from connecting the stars in the sky to form images which comes to life, and you can even draw a circle in the sky in order to create a bright shining sun! Meanwhile on the opposite end of the spectrum is destruction, where brush slashes across enemies and certain obstacles can bring devastation to them.
But using your brush isn’t enough. You do have a full combat system to use, though so far I’ve only seen bare fang to hand combat as Amaterasu dishes out punishment as a wolf only can with it’s body, claws and fangs… however it seems there’s also a wide variety of weapons you can use as well, which makes me think said weapons will either be administered via the blade in mouth option done for Lion Sora in Kingdom Hearts II or it means your deity will have moments of becoming human (Wolf’s Rain anyone?) for intense weapons combat. Additionally according to what I read the combat system is strong enough on it’s own merits that you will not have to fall back on the calligraphy option in order to dust enemies, though I bet you will be using it for quick “fatality” moves from time to time.

However remember that your primary goal is to bring the rebirth of the dead world, which means you’ll be working hard to have life spring forth which is better than just hacking and slashing through armies of regenerating monsters for level after level. This rebirth of the world has you doing lots of calligraphy brushing which will get your working up a sweat giving the world an Extreme Environmental Makeover.
Apparently the game also has abit of depth to this mode by allowing you to learn 13 different brush styles, each representing a different deity entity who passed away before you, which should provide abit of depth to your gameplay (I hope). You start out with the technique known as “Rebirth of the Dragon”, which gives you the power of creation as you can reconstruct what has been destroyed, as well as build upon already existing things. Amongst the things you can do with this power is bring back drinking water by refilling the water of a devastated lake (sadly the power doesn’t seem capable of de-polluting the Ala Wai Canal over in Honolulu), as well as drawing a sharp pointy object (aka a sword) for an “important statue” to “restore it’s glory”… uh, right, here you go statue dude, have your pigsticker back.

Has the Japanese version of the game released yet?
This might be a good sign whether or not we’ll have Okami in our hands by Fall 2006.
As February rolled about people were still waiting for the Japanese version of Okami to release… odd since people were hyped about the game forever and a day and had nothing to show for all their excitement!
This lack of a Japanese version, by the way, may spell bad news for us because the game, according to the piece I read about it, “has to go through a good bit of localization before it can be brought to the US”… yeah, I don’t know what that means either. However I do know one thing, if the Japanese continue to fudge the release of Okami it can only mean bad news for American players, and devastating news for UK fans who will probably end up having to wait months past the American release before their version comes out!

One thing that might stick (dig into the flesh like a bad Michael Jackson parody) into the craws of Japanese players is word that the US (and probably UK) version of the game will have things that wasn’t completed in time for release in the Japanese version. This smacks of the Animal Crossing release where the original Japanese version of Animal Crossing was a pale version of the GameCube version which prompted the Japanese to make Animal Crossing 2 just to catch up to the innovations of the GameCube Animal Crossing with some improvements which prompted, in turn, ANOTHER Animal Crossing which has yet to come (which isn’t Wild World because the one I’m talking about is rumored to be a title for the Revolution).
While some, by the way, are looking forward to this it kind of sucks if you’re a Japanese player as you realize the game is getting an upgrade for the foreign release which you didn’t get for your release.
Anyway if that happens you’re probably going to hear them clamor for Okami 2 or Okami Special Edition in Japan just so they can be even and square with the upgraded foreign release of Okami.

Look, this game is great and we should have been playing this during Christmas of 2005 if the people behind it weren’t taking their sweet time getting it out to us! I mean damn, it’s not like Christmas of 2005 yielded any big releases what with Kingdom Hearts II, Final Fantasy XII and Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess getting the shaft to be pushed back until this year and all so I don’t see why not.
But if you can hold on, and HOPE beyond all possible hope that the game meets it’s new deadline and hits Fall of 2006, then you are going to be treated to a truly wonderful game.
But, for now, you can pick up the recent Playstation magazine and check out Okami’s demo to see what it is you should be anticipating as one of the greatest games of 2006.
I’ll see if I can pick that up, and when I do I’ll tell you about it… hopefully. Stay tuned.

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