Okami (PS2) Review

In short summary; It seems a little far-fetched having a game about a god, who is a dog with a blazing Frisbee strapped onto it's back. How's that disc not burning the hairs off of that wolf?

Okami is an action-adventure game created by Clover studio, a Japanese company who also developed Viewtiful Joe on the PS2. I don't know if this is a warning sign or icing on the cake, considering that Viewtiful Joe had the strangest plot ever but did have some unique visuals. Capcom aren't great when it comes to making a story, since their games are revolved around beating the shit out of people who want you dead and since Okami was published by Capcom. I expected some thrashing.

The game is based in the world of Nippon, which literally means Japan in Japanese. It starts with a story about a typical hero going to save a girl from a monster and seals the monster away with a sword with the help of his doggy friend. Then 100 years later a twit comes and breaks the seal and a fairy calls upon the sun goddess (Aka YOU) to defeat the darkness that the twit caused.
I could go into more about the plot, but I would end up writing a book. The story follows Japanese folklore and the characters themselves are quite colourful, having interesting personalities and quirks, an example being your partner in the game called Issun, an artist who is following you to get the brush techniques. I had grown to hate this guy, since he reminded me of that one guy every group of friends has that just doesn't shut up. Luckily in this game, they follow the same voice acting as they do in animal crossing games, where the talking is like listening to a guy chew on a sock, so Issun was bearable.

The game featured an open world adventure with some fighting which occurs when you walk into an enemy. The battles work like beat 'em ups because they give you a limited amount of space during each one and lets you move on once you beat them, however you can flee from the battle by hitting the side, making a hole. I think the game just managed to pull this off as that mechanic seems hard to do in such a traditional styled landscape.
The game also has an unique feature using the Celestial Brush. You can bring up a screen of paper while holding a button, letting you being able to draw using the analog stick. Certain symbols that you can paint would trigger powers like a cherry bomb to blow up shit, it was an interesting concept that was usually popular with the DS because of the touch screen.
You are also given new weapons now and then (mainly after bosses), which can easily help you find your own fighting style and gives a little customization to the player. 
The game also allows you to upgrade things like health and how much ink you can carry, which is hard in one play-through but when you finish the game, you can run through it again, keeping the upgrades from before so you can be as stronger as before.

The graphics are in 3D and 2D (2.5D?) The models of the characters are 3D but as you look at the trees and grass, you'll see that they are 2D but just follow the camera. This might be nit picky but this distracted me so much when I first ran through the game, but possibly that's because I'm not familiar with the style. I did get used to it after a while so it wasn't hard to ignore.
The landscapes were just as you would expect from a game using traditional Japanese art. The colours are soft and almost pastel like, giving a sense that you're in a painting.
The music also fits into it perfectly, inspired by classical Japanese works. Which fits the tone perfectly.

Even-though sometimes using the paintbrush is a nightmare trying to writing a symbol, the controls are well responsive and the movement does feel more like a canine and not of a human. The moving is quick and quite floaty, like you're a gliding dog, making it good for the large areas of land you get to explore and the turning is tight. The camera angle is okay, despite it getting stuck now and then to the point of me not seeing where I was trying to jump to without smashing my skull into a wall (but maybe that's just me).

Overall. Okami is an interesting game which I think most gamers should at least try once to enjoy the fresh new experience. Some of the characters can be annoying and may drive you up the wall, but the beautiful areas to explore, tons of collectibles and the story's plot with twists and turns is a good enough excuse to pick this small gem up.