My daughters had finish this game before I even bought it through renting it
but they still wanted the game and are still playing it.
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What other game lets you play as a wolf goddess?
Added 9/9/2009
As you may be aware, this game was almost universally praised by critics, but still didn't do phenomenally well in sales. Why? I have no idea, because after my playthrough, I can honestly say that I have nothing but respect for this game. This is truly a well thought out and well designed game. You really can't ask for much more than you get. But anyway, enough of my endless praise, on to the review!
Graphics (score 10/10): This is literally one of the most beautiful games on the PS2 I've ever seen. Plus, it achieves this beauty by using stylized graphics instead of uber-realistic ones. It's really quite refreshing to see a game like Okami when the general push in the videogame industry has been for ever more realistic styles of graphics. Okami has the appearance of a painting; every bit of the environment looks like the swirling lines and bright colors of a watercolor painting. Honestly, I have no complaints in this category.
Music (score 10/10): The music is also excellent. Okami features a collection of traditional sounding Japanese music, which fits the themes and settings of the game very well. All of it is pleasant to listen to with none of it grating on the ears. The game has some pseudo-voice acting, with the characters making sounds like gibberish syllables as they speak. If you've ever played Starfox on the N64 then you know what I'm talking about. Some people found this really annoying, but once I got used to it, it didn't bother me at all.
Characters (score 10/10): Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun in the form of a wolf, is your main character. She doesn't really speak; she only barks, whines or growls. Issun, your tiny little sidekick, does most of the talking. Overall, I have to say that I got a lot more character development and backstory out of this game than I was expecting. Issun and Amaterasu are surprisingly well-developed. Outside of the main characters, there are a whole cast of quirky and interesting NPCs, which keep things entertaining.
Story (score 10/10): Compared to other RPGs, the story is pretty unique. You start out with some back story about the evil demon Orochi, who was defeated by Amaterasu in the past. This battle ended up killing them both. But surprise! Neither of them is actually dead and you must play as Amaterasu to destroy Orochi once and for all. Okay, alright. So this is pretty much the same save the world scenario in every RPG ever made. But Okami really handles this story well, and makes it feel fresh. Not to mention, there are even some twists along the way, as well as several subplots to keep your interest. I personally thought that their attempt to take a common RPG formula and present it in fresh new light was excellently handled.
Battle System (score 10/10): This is an action RPG (no turn-based combat here), so everything takes place in real time as you smack enemies using the Square button. Battles occur like this: you touch an enemy on the field (no random battles) and the screen takes you to an enclosed circular area. You are free to run around this area and smack the enemies with your weapon. You can also open the menu to use an item. Now, I'm a huge fan of turn-based combat and don't normally like action RPGs, but Okami is truly a fun game to play. I like the fact that it isn't so difficult that a turn-based fan cannot pick it up, but it still manages to remain somewhat challenging. I especially enjoyed the creative boss battle designs. I won't spoil those, but just know that they are very fun to figure out.
Gameplay (score 10/10): This is a bit of a catch-all category for me. The controls work wonderfully. The camera isn't unwieldy or difficult, which is very important in an action RPG. Also, this is the only game I can think of where simply running is fun. The controls for movement are fluid and smooth, and when you run, grass and leaves sprout in your wake. It really does make you feel like you're controlling a goddess with proper divine abilities.
Overall (score 10/10): NOTE this score is not an average; it's my subjective overall score. I don't often hand out perfect 10/10 scores for games, especially not in every category, but Okami truly deserves it. I can't really recommend this game enough, especially if you are a fan of action RPGs, regular RPGs, or really any games in general. It's pretty cheap now, so pick up Okami for your collection; it's really worth it.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Really awesome game!
Added 8/29/2009
This game might look childish at first, but as you play it, it becomes more and more difficult... Really Awesome designs.. Cool game, hours of fun~
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Best Game I Have Ever Played
Added 8/12/2009
It's hard to find the words to describe Okami. You have to play it yourself. For each person it can take on a different meaning. It's not some empty action game where you run around as a wolf and kill monsters. It's soooo much deeper. In fact it goes way past the product description which hints that the ultimate enemy is Orochi. That's just to leave the rest to surprise you. The story lasted delightfully longer than I expected.
STORY~
Orochi (a mythical demon) has covered the world in darkness. You, Amaterasu, have been reborn in the form of a wolf. From that point on you adventure through the game meeting very memorable characters. Your goal is to dispel all the evil from the land of Nippon. Your journey will not be very straight-forward. It will take many bends and loops that lead you to different destinations. The great thing about this game, is that once you've finished one point in the story, you may always need to go back there to finish another (don't worry. Running with Amaterasu is very fun. And later on if you buy a certain jug of mist, you can teleport). You are always free to go back and explore. There are almost endless mini-advertures and countless hidden surprises and treasures.
GAMEPLAY~
Everything about Okami is fun. Even running around is fun. Amaterasu will speed up in stages as he runs, reaching a very fast high speed. While he runs, flowers, grass, and other life shoot up behind him. Amaterasu can also swim, though pretty slowly and he can only stay in water for a limited time. But don't worry. The most important feature of the game fixes that. The feature that difines this game is calld the Celestial Brush. By holding R1 down, the screen turns to a canvas and you can paint many different things into existence (depending on how many Brush techniques you've acquired). This feature is used in almost every corner of the massive game. As I was saying, since Amaterasu will drown if in water to long, there is a brush technique that allows you to draw a circle in the water to make a lily pad appear. Problem solved. On of the most used techniques is called Power Slash. It's very simple. You simply draw a line through, say a rope, a tree, or perhaps an enemy, and it slashes through it. Believe me, there are soooo many more techniques that are sooooo much cooler than these two, but I'm not going to spoil it.
COMBAT~
This is not a combat-based game. Its adventure is more enjoyable than the combat. But there is no lack of combat. Demon Scrolls, which float in almost every area at every time in the game, when intercepted with, will initiate a small battle between you and about 4 or 5 monsters...or perhaps one bigger, stronger monster. You are awarded gold and extra gold based on how much damage you take and how long the battle took you. After a while, simple Demon Scrolls will take sometimes only 30 seconds at most. Combat is not very challenging, in my point of view. As you progress, you will be introduce to more and more varieties of monsters. Boss battles are obviously tougher. But they are not nearly impossible like in some games. Boss battles are based on a pattern, involving your brush, that you follow in order to defeat the boss. For example, to defeat the Spider Queen, you need to pry her pod-like abdomen open with your brush techniques in order to attack her weak points. Amaterasu's life is measured in "Solar Mirrors" (i think thats what they're called). His brush abilities are measured by Ink Pots. As you make a change upon the world with your brush, and ink pot is used (they refill in a matter of seconds). As you take damage, you lose solar mirrors. A back-up plan in trouble is the "Astral Pouch." You fill it up by eating food, which pops up everywhere. A full astral pouch will restore your life if you die. But you'll have to fill it up again to use it again.
IMPROVING~
As you go through Nippon, you will gain Praise Points from doing all kinds of things. You get them from restoring trees, feeding animals, and generally anything that makes people thankful and happy. You can use Praise to advance your stats at the menu. You can: 1. Add more solor mirrors 2. Add more ink pots 3. Add more astral pouches 4. Increase the amount of money you can hold. You can also buy new skills from the Dojo. You can find the Dojo in a few areas during your journeys. Skills include double-jumping, digging through solid rock, dodging, combo improvements, etc.
MENU~
The "Fan Menu" is a nice tool. You can view and change the weapons and tools you're using, Increase your stats, review your brush techniques, view the map, etc. The best part of the menu is the databanks of all the things you've collected and discovered. It includes a Journal, so you can look up what you should be doing. There's a list of the animal's you've fed, the fish you've caught, and the treasures you've found. It's shining feature is the Beastiary, a picture databank painted like a traditional Japanese painting on scroll depicting all the monsters you've faced so far. It also gives you helpful tips on how to defeat them.
EXTRA~
There is more to this game than eats the eye. So many secret things are hidden away. I'm the kind of guy that likes to look up game guides and find everything there is to know about a game i like. I've found just about every secret in the game. I've played it 4 times. It still does not bore me. If you want to really unlock some awesome secrets, i suggest you google some game guides. There are things called Stray Bead scattered across the game. Some are much more difficult to obtain than others. They are not needed to progress in the game, but if you collect all of them, you'll be glad you did. Google it and you'll find out what they do. Remember to go back and explore things you've passed, because things always change. Maybe a new rare item has appeared in a shop that allows you to walk on water (sorry, I had to give that one away). My point is that Okami has a lot of replay value.
OTHER~
I see other reviews complain that the intro was too long and you can't skip it. Yes it is very long, but it's not like any half hour or anything. It's there to introduce you to the story before you play the game so you will actually know what's going on. And you CAN skip it. The first time is the ONLY time you can't skip through it. When you go to play again, you can just push Start to skip.
CONCLUSION~
I really beg that you play this game. Please, at least just rent it for like a week. That's what I did. I don't even own it. I just rent it whenever I want to play it. It is such an awesome game. My review can't portray how good it is. Thank you. =)
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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I loved this game.
Added 7/5/2009
a lot of the games you can get now are just fighting games. If you like ones where you have to find hidden treasures and figure things out, this is for you. It is more of a Zelda type game; which are getting harder and harder to find. If you like Zelda, I think you'll like this.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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"God Hand: A Good Beat 'em Up Game"
Added 11/4/2009
I relieved a lot of tension from this game. The whole game is very repetitive, do not expect special missions. It is just plain old beat 'em up. Remember Golden Axe, yeah... it's an evolution of it.
Other than that,the colourful characters and their comments is surprising. You really do not know what world you are in.
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Near-perfect game.
Added 5/3/2009
God Hand is an absolutely amazing game. The graphics are great, the action is intense, the combat is superb, the control scheme is awesome, and the whole thing is funnier and more absurd than most other things that try to be. It's literally just a story of a guy who's pissed, so he beats the hell out of everything, but the story's also unexpectedly deep. Everything about this game just blew me away when it came out, and most of it still does.
And not only is it one the best games on the PS2, it originally sold for $20 and it's either that OR CHEAPER now! I can understand that not everyone likes the game, but you're doing yourself a huge disservice if you don't even try it.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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The smackdown
Added 4/24/2009
This game is a third person beat em up game. I bought this game because I saw that it had a silly gay undertone. And that is exactly what it was. the button mashing was being sophisticated by the arsenal of moves. All in all it was a fun game with silly music and a silly theme. If you are homophobic, don't buy this game. If you don't like silliness, don't buy this game. If you want a fun game the never takes itself seriously...bingo.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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