Completely unbiased review of Okami.

Completely unbiased.

Okami is a game by Capcom, and is a rendition of Japanese mythology. It plays out the legend of Okami Amaterasu, the Japanese Sun God and “Origin of all that is good and mother to us all.” The entire game is done in Japanese painting, a style that is completely unique. There are no voice actors, just a weird gibberish hum when the people talk, even in cut-scenes.

I’ll be honest with you, this is my all-time favorite game, so in order to make this review unbiased and not me just trying to get you to love it, I will tell you some of the bad things about it.

First of all, because you are playing as a god, you obviously have a few god-like abilities. One of these abilities is using your paintbrush to draw things to life, or manipulate the elements. It’s a good idea, it really is. Now if only the brush wasn’t so picky and sensitive. For example: “You want me to bring this tree back to life? Oh yeah sure I can do that just have to hold this button and draw a circle around, oh that circle wasn’t good enough? Well I guess it was a little lop-sided I’ll try it again. Oh that wasn’t good enough either? Maybe I’m drawing it in the wrong place I’ll try again. Oh that wasn’t good enough for you either huh? Well guess what? I’m going to try it again later, maybe, if I remember.”

You have no idea how many times that happened to me.

Secondly, the combat system is expensive. Sure you might be able to survive with just the basics, but you’re missing out. This is one of the few games I’ve played where you have the opportunity to relieve yourself on your enemy. But it’s okay because you’re a wolf, that’s natural. In order to get new moves that look cool and increase your chances of survival you’re going to go broke. Millions of yen will go into this. Millions of yen will also go into buying all of the cool god like weapons you use called “Divine Instruments”. Some of the weapons harness a certain element, and your brush can use that element.

Next, the story might be a bit lost on you. The entire game is based on mythology so there are many elements that logically, don’t make a lot of sense. Typically flying fish that use their fins as weapons don’t exist. But, it’s all in good fun, and if you’re interested in the story behind the monsters, the scrolls in your menu give you the story of how the monster came to be.

Another thing that might annoy you is the collectible called a “stray bead”. Stray beads are collected throughout the game through story completion and meticulous exploration. There’s a hundred of them, and if you collect them all you get something really cool. I’ve never finished it, and I don’t know what the prize is so don’t expect me to tell you. But you can’t get the last bead until the end of the final battle, making it useless, unless you play the game again. It does carry over. Along with a few other things.

To me this game is an action packed fantasy adventure. Maybe that’s how it will be to you. I don’t know, that’s your choice.