Throughout my life I've always thought achieving true perfection was
impossible. As no matter how good something is, there's always some
sort of flaw. And that flaw -- whether it be a big one or a small one
-- keeps it from being perfect. This is especially true for videogames,
as they possess a wide variety of possible problems, and at least one
of 'em can be found in any game. Because of that, I had gotten used to
the fact there would never be a perfect game.
But in 2006, that changed. As that year marked the first time I played
Okami. And it quickly proved that videogames can indeed be perfect,
with its stunning visuals, superb gameplay, and well crafted story.
It's easily the one game I'd say is truly perfect in every way possible.
Okami puts you in the role of the Japanese sun goddess, Amaterasu, in
the form of a white wolf. Who was called upon to once again defeat,
Orochi, an eight headed serpent who once again threatens the land of
Nippon, after his previous defeat at the hands of Amaterasu 100 years
earlier. However, Orochi isn't the only foe you'll face. Over the
course of her long journey Amaterasu will face many other fearsome
foes, and take on other dangerous tasks such as purging a deadly plague
threatening the citizens of a huge city, stopping a raging water dragon
that terrorizes the cost of Nippon, and more. Accompanying Amaterasu on
this perilous journey is, Issun -- a wandering artist the size of a bug
-- who joins you at the very beginning of the game. And throughout the
game, he does all the talking for Amaterasu, who can't speak. And
speaking talking, there is much of that in Okami. As there many long
conversations between characters throughout the game. Thankfully, all
the dialog is well written, and quite entertaining sometimes. So it's
not really an issue.
The first thing you'll notice upon starting Okami, is its beautiful
visual style, which is reminiscent if the style found in Japanese
watercolor paintings. Which conveys the feeling of being an interactive
painting rather than a videogame. Which is further helped along by the
fact the characters and environments all look like they came right out
of a painting. And little details like the flat trees, and the black
lines around the characters, and bits of the environments further help
convey that feeling. And even the animations are nicely done. All the
characters move with a nice amount of fluidity, which in Amaterasu's
case, is a good thing, as she possesses a wide range of abilities. All
of which have very smooth animations.
Of course, the visual style isn't the only thing that's related to
painting, as one of Amaterasu's abilities known as the Celestial Brush,
allows her to manipulate the game world with a single brush stroke.
Which is all you need to do to use many of the 13 brush techniques. As
many of 'em require you to draw something simple like a circle, which
yields different results depending on what you draw it on. So drawing
one on a withered tree will make it bloom, and drawing one in the sky
will make a sun. A good portion other techniques require you to draw a
line from a source of something like fire or water and connect the line
to your target. All the techniques can be executed easily and without
failure, thanks to the simplicity of the brush strokes.
The rest of the game, however, isn't on the same level of simplicity.
But that's not to say it's complicated, because it isn't. Most of the
game consists of running around talking to people taking on quests and
getting information, exploring various caves, ruins and other various
structures, and, of course, fighting monsters. Which, for the most
part, all these element give the game a very Zelda-like feel,
especially when your running the villages talking to townsfolk, and
exploring dungeons. Which is by no means a bad thing. As all these
elements work brilliantly together. In fact, simply moving around the
land of Nippon somehow never becomes dull. And that's partly because
there's simply so many places to explore, which the game helps
encourage you to do, with the many secrets and hidden treasures the
vast land of Nippon holds.
The combat is great too. It's simple, but has plenty of depth. Which is
partly due to the fact that you can equip two weapons. There are three
types of weapons you can use in the game. The three types are
Reflectors, Rosaries, and Glaives, all of which have different affects
depending on whether its equipped as a main or sub weapon. For example,
when a reflector is equipped as a main weapon, it acts as an offensive
weapon. And as a sub weapon, it acts as a shield. This adds a small bit
of strategy, as each of possible combination allow for many different
ways to chain attacks together to make for some very devastating
combos. As using the Celestial Brush in combination with your standard
combat abilities opens many possibilities in terms of combos. A good
example would be using your main weapon (which, for me, was a
Reflector) to hit 'em a few times, then attack 'em a few times with
your sub weapon (which was a Glaive for me), then finish 'em off with a
Power Slash, then move on to the next enemy seamlessly. All that is
easily executed because of the fluidity of the combat. Amaterasu can
move from one enemy to another easily so that you can keep a combo
going, and, of course, defeat enemies with ease.
The boss fights are pretty much the same, except that they require you
to make use of the Celestial Brush a little more than the typical
battles do. As you're pit against a large opponent most of the time,
and in order to attack them you typically need to use the Celestial
Brush in some way to open 'em up for attack. It's a pretty simple
process, but it works well. The bosses provide a decent challenge, and
the brush techniques are used well. They're not the greatest boss
fights ever, but they're still great.
So moving on, the audio -- like the rest of the game -- is great,
particularly the music. Which -- much like the visuals -- has a very
Japanese feel. Which is due to the music being done on traditional
Japanese instruments. Which really adds to the games atmosphere. That
and the music itself is great, so that helps. And the games vast array
of music ranges from the relaxing sounding tunes of villages like
Kamiki, to the fast paced music of battle. Okami features some great
sounding music, and always uses the right tune at the right time.
It also features voice acting, but not in the way you'd expect. Instead
or there being English (or even Japanese for that matter) voice acting,
the game opts for something resembling Simlish, which vaguely sounds
Japanese. But the game's lack of proper voice acting isn't really an
issue. It would have been a nice addition, but it's exclusion is by no
means terrible. As the Simlish-like speech is a fine substitute.
In short, Okami is an outstanding game. From its breath taking visuals,
and its excellent gameplay, to its superb story and audio, everything
in the game is truly outstanding, and expertly crafted. It's one of the
most amazing and unique game experiences to date. It's easily one of
the greatest games ever made.
Now then...if you'll excuse me, I'm off to play Okami…again.
