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Okami
Is Capcom's port too little, too late or every bit as good as it was a year-and-a-half ago?
April 22, 2008 | 5:45 PM PSTKombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game's About
During the fall of 2006, Capcom released the Clover Studios-developed Okami on PlayStation 2. The adventure title puts you in control of a goddess wolf named Amaterasu, who embarks upon an epic adventure to save the land of Nippon from great evil. The storyline is simple, but it's also charming. The real star of Okami isn't the plot or writing, though, it's the Zelda-like gameplay, which drives the adventure. Leading up to Okami's original PS2 release, fans cried for a Wii port, arguing that the stylized adventure game was ideal for Nintendo's new console and would work splendidly with the Celestial Brush. At the time, Capcom producer Atsushi Inaba disagreed and said the game wasn't suited for Nintendo's controller. A year and a half later, Ready at Dawn has accomplished the seemingly impossible: rebuilding Okami from the ground-up for Wii (which had to be done thanks to a scarcity of the original's assets, which were lost when Clover Studios closed up shop). The end product is an enhanced port of the original Okami – the enhancement being Wii-mote controls.
Okami
What's Hot
All you really need to know is that if you haven't played Okami on PlayStation 2, as a gamer, you owe it to yourself to play it on Wii. The adventure comes in the form of Nintendo's own Zelda franchise, which means it captivates with a charming storyline, diverse locales, intelligent puzzle design and enough personality to keep your hands glued to the Wii-mote and nunchuck. The world within Okami is gargantuan in scale and overflows with careful attention to detail – both in the way of artistry and underlying gameplay. There's so much to do and see here, including a huge number of sidequests, that you'll be kept entertained for 30 hours or more, and every hour will fly by you at lightning-fast speed. It's simply that good.
The star mechanic in Okami is the Celestial Brush. The tool allows you to interact with the game's environment in a way that is unique to Okami, drawing on the world around you to change it. It's true, the concept sounds like something you'd find in a Zelda game, and in action, it works just as well. In the PS2 version, you controlled the brush with the controller's analog stick, but in the Wii version, the IR-based pointing controls of Wii power the brush. The precision allowed by Nintendo's controller makes me wonder how I ever played through Okami with the PS2 controller. Drawing on the sky and on objects is as easy as pointing the Wii-mote at your screen and drawing. Indeed, the Wii-mote works every bit as well as I hoped it would.
Last but not least, Okami is gorgeous, featuring a unique art style that makes it stand out in a sea of Wii software with mostly uninspired art-direction. The adventure is realized by a unique approach to cel-shading, and playing Okami it's as if the artwork in a Japanese watercolor painting has jumped right off the pages of an art book and sprung to life before your very own eyes. On PS2, the paper filter, which gave the title a paper-like look, is more pronounced, but on Wii, Okami looks shaper and supports 480p and 16x9 widescreen.
Okami
What's Not
The adventure, as superb as it is, is not flawless. The game is a little easy, and for skilled gamers, the lack of challenge might result in disappointment. More importantly, there are some problems in regards to the game's controls. Ready at Dawn has employed waggle controls for much of the combat in Okami, meaning to attack with Amaterasu you'll have to shake the Wii remote. A similar control scheme was used in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but it doesn't work as well in Capcom's game. Attacking in Okami is slower paced, and it's difficult to find the right rhythm to swinging the remote. Just mindlessly waggling the controller will result in leaving yourself open for attack, and while it sounds like this might add depth to the experience, it doesn't. Instead, it becomes frustrating. Swinging the Wii-mote to attack accomplishes nothing that simple button presses couldn't have accomplished, and as a result, combat is better in the PS2 version. The Wii waggle doesn't just ruin offensive attacks in Okami, though. As you progress into the game, you'll unlock an evasive dodge maneuver, which is controlled by shaking the nunchuck. Unfortunately, the nunchuck's accelerometer regularly fails to detect your quick jolts of the controller. The unresponsiveness of the nunchuck makes the move nearly unusable and reminds that conventional button presses still have a place in gaming.
A minor gripe I have with Okami, which some might share, is that for those who have already played through the game on PS2, there is no incentive (unless you really love waggling the Wii remote or simply want to replay Okami) to revisit the adventure. There is no new content in the game, which is a little disappointing.
Okami
Final Word
I said it in the beginning of this review, and I'll say it again: if you haven't already played Okami, you absolutely must play it now. Ready at Dawn has rendered you a second chance to experience one of the best adventure games ever crafted. Originally, I would have scored Okami high into the 9s, but considering it's a port of a nearly two-year-old PS2 game, has no new content, is marred by some slight control issues and still has the same framerate drops found in the original, I have to rate it lower. That noted, this is a Zelda caliber adventure that only barely falls short when compared to Nintendo's own legend. Still, Okami is imaginative and fantastic, just begging to be played. For $40, it doesn't get much better than this.
What the Game's About
During the fall of 2006, Capcom released the Clover Studios-developed Okami on PlayStation 2. The adventure title puts you in control of a goddess wolf named Amaterasu, who embarks upon an epic adventure to save the land of Nippon from great evil. The storyline is simple, but it's also charming. The real star of Okami isn't the plot or writing, though, it's the Zelda-like gameplay, which drives the adventure. Leading up to Okami's original PS2 release, fans cried for a Wii port, arguing that the stylized adventure game was ideal for Nintendo's new console and would work splendidly with the Celestial Brush. At the time, Capcom producer Atsushi Inaba disagreed and said the game wasn't suited for Nintendo's controller. A year and a half later, Ready at Dawn has accomplished the seemingly impossible: rebuilding Okami from the ground-up for Wii (which had to be done thanks to a scarcity of the original's assets, which were lost when Clover Studios closed up shop). The end product is an enhanced port of the original Okami – the enhancement being Wii-mote controls.
Okami
What's Hot
All you really need to know is that if you haven't played Okami on PlayStation 2, as a gamer, you owe it to yourself to play it on Wii. The adventure comes in the form of Nintendo's own Zelda franchise, which means it captivates with a charming storyline, diverse locales, intelligent puzzle design and enough personality to keep your hands glued to the Wii-mote and nunchuck. The world within Okami is gargantuan in scale and overflows with careful attention to detail – both in the way of artistry and underlying gameplay. There's so much to do and see here, including a huge number of sidequests, that you'll be kept entertained for 30 hours or more, and every hour will fly by you at lightning-fast speed. It's simply that good.
The star mechanic in Okami is the Celestial Brush. The tool allows you to interact with the game's environment in a way that is unique to Okami, drawing on the world around you to change it. It's true, the concept sounds like something you'd find in a Zelda game, and in action, it works just as well. In the PS2 version, you controlled the brush with the controller's analog stick, but in the Wii version, the IR-based pointing controls of Wii power the brush. The precision allowed by Nintendo's controller makes me wonder how I ever played through Okami with the PS2 controller. Drawing on the sky and on objects is as easy as pointing the Wii-mote at your screen and drawing. Indeed, the Wii-mote works every bit as well as I hoped it would.
Last but not least, Okami is gorgeous, featuring a unique art style that makes it stand out in a sea of Wii software with mostly uninspired art-direction. The adventure is realized by a unique approach to cel-shading, and playing Okami it's as if the artwork in a Japanese watercolor painting has jumped right off the pages of an art book and sprung to life before your very own eyes. On PS2, the paper filter, which gave the title a paper-like look, is more pronounced, but on Wii, Okami looks shaper and supports 480p and 16x9 widescreen.
Okami
What's Not
The adventure, as superb as it is, is not flawless. The game is a little easy, and for skilled gamers, the lack of challenge might result in disappointment. More importantly, there are some problems in regards to the game's controls. Ready at Dawn has employed waggle controls for much of the combat in Okami, meaning to attack with Amaterasu you'll have to shake the Wii remote. A similar control scheme was used in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but it doesn't work as well in Capcom's game. Attacking in Okami is slower paced, and it's difficult to find the right rhythm to swinging the remote. Just mindlessly waggling the controller will result in leaving yourself open for attack, and while it sounds like this might add depth to the experience, it doesn't. Instead, it becomes frustrating. Swinging the Wii-mote to attack accomplishes nothing that simple button presses couldn't have accomplished, and as a result, combat is better in the PS2 version. The Wii waggle doesn't just ruin offensive attacks in Okami, though. As you progress into the game, you'll unlock an evasive dodge maneuver, which is controlled by shaking the nunchuck. Unfortunately, the nunchuck's accelerometer regularly fails to detect your quick jolts of the controller. The unresponsiveness of the nunchuck makes the move nearly unusable and reminds that conventional button presses still have a place in gaming.
A minor gripe I have with Okami, which some might share, is that for those who have already played through the game on PS2, there is no incentive (unless you really love waggling the Wii remote or simply want to replay Okami) to revisit the adventure. There is no new content in the game, which is a little disappointing.
Okami
Final Word
I said it in the beginning of this review, and I'll say it again: if you haven't already played Okami, you absolutely must play it now. Ready at Dawn has rendered you a second chance to experience one of the best adventure games ever crafted. Originally, I would have scored Okami high into the 9s, but considering it's a port of a nearly two-year-old PS2 game, has no new content, is marred by some slight control issues and still has the same framerate drops found in the original, I have to rate it lower. That noted, this is a Zelda caliber adventure that only barely falls short when compared to Nintendo's own legend. Still, Okami is imaginative and fantastic, just begging to be played. For $40, it doesn't get much better than this.
February 8, 2010
