Father Krishna's Occasional Sermons...: Okami. God Of War II

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Full Of Eastern Promise... Okami

Having finished the amazing God Of war II, I was left with a gaping whole in my gaming life...

What would fill it? Umbrella Chronicles? Erm... nope! Gears Of War? Well... If I'm honest, I found the tutorial on casual mode a tad overpowering... (*FK blushes at his own gaming ineptitude...*)

Still, I had managed to secure Okami for a mere £10 ($20) the other day, and my good friend Nebacha had assured me of it's merits so I thought "what the heck?" and decided to give it a go...

An epic Japanese tale of a land laid destitute by evil monsters, your mission is to restore ancient Nippon to it's verdant spleandour by heroic and beatific acts, using your ...erm magic paint brush... You play as a mystic white wolf, guided by a little bug type creature... In a land populated by drunken warriors, evil spirits, myopic washer women and stumbling postmen...

Now if all this sounds a litle bizarre, that's because it is... Surreal if you will. What I knew of Okami was that it was a visually stunning game, with cell shaded graphics, drawn in the style of traditional Japanese paintings. Paintings that have come to life...

What I wasn't expecting was the cheesey humour, the cartoon like characters or the Zelda style tasks of treasure hunting, weapon collecting, potion gathering, container breaking or spell casting... And it's none the worse for any of that!

The babbling none-language of the protagonists (sounding like a Japanese "Morph") was a little off putting at first, as was the seemingly never ending opening sequence, but the more I play it, the more charmed I am, and increasingly drawn in to boot!

Now I'll throw in a couple of pics, a handful of links and a bit of video so you can make sense of this rambling nonsense, but it's clear to see why this game has earned a place in the prestigious Games TM magazine's prestigious top ten PS2 games of all time...

Now, like many great games of the past, despite being critically acclaimed, was a commercial failure. Perhaps too off beat and unusual for Western gamers, the franchise is being resurrected for another chance to wow the gaming public, this time on the Wii.

It's clear to see how the Wiimote could make an excellent controller for the magic paint brush and by waving it around, one could either hack and slash enemies or with a majestic sweep of the wrist, bring life back to a scorched an arrid, demonic wasteland...

Who knows? If done well (like RE4 Wii Edition) this could be within the top ten Wii games by next year... I hope so, as the game needs to be shared with a wider audience! Here's the links, check 'em out and enjoy!!