Dustin’s Blog

Here is the short version of my review. If you are a fan of the Zelda series in anyway, then you need to go out and get this game. This game is visual treat with great music and superb story with game play that is quite similar to The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. You owe it to yourself to play such an excellent game.

Now if you’re interested in a slightly more in-depth look, then read on. Wikipedia currently describes Ōkami as:

“Set in an unspecified period of classical Japanese history, Ōkami combines several Japanese myths, legends and folklore to tell the story of how the land was saved from darkness by the Shinto sun goddess, named Amaterasu, who has taken the form of a white wolf. It features a distinct sumi-e-inspired cel-shaded visual style and the Celestial Brush, a gesture-system to perform miracles.” (Source: wikipedia.com)

There are many reviews for this game out there and I’m going to touch on a few of the things that stand out to me, both positive and negative, and why a Zelda fan should feel right at home with this title.

Ōkami was originally developed for the PS2 by Clover Studios and distributed by Capcom. The game sold less well than desired and Clover Studios fell apart. Due either to demand or a simple desire to capitalize on the success of the Wii Capcom enlisted the help of Ready at Dawn to port the game to the Wii. Many people feel the game is a natural fit for the Wii’s pointing functionality and I tend to agree.

Ōkami is graphically shown in a woodcut, water-color style that somewhat mimics the look of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. In motion this is one of the prettiest games I’ve seen in a long time and the attention this title was given by developers is obvious. One of the many things you can do in this game is earn praise by refreshing plant life or feeding animals and each time you do you are rewarded with a visual showing of appreciation. You’re pushed to do good deeds just to see the land around you become even more beautiful.

As pointed out in a few reviews, the game is graphically “upgraded” on the Wii and is more colorful than on the PS2. To some degree I feel this was a bad choice because water-color is generally a more muted style of painting and for the colors to be as crisp as they are on the Wii it seems a bit false. Without comparing the two versions side by side, the difference isn’t apparent.

Work was also done to allow the game to run in the Wii’s 480p display mode at a 16:9 aspect ratio. This mode is best suited for today’s widescreen HDTV sets. One particularly nice feature in Ōkami is the ability to tune the graphics for fixed pixel displays like an LCD TV or for a CRT TV. Personally I found the CRT setting to be a bit too soft but you should try out both settings and decide for yourself which setting you prefer.

In many reviews it is also noted that the original PS2 version of the game sported a “paper filter” giving the impression that the game is literally being played out on a canvas. While it is claimed that the Wii version does have some of the paper filter left, it is so subtle that I can’t pick it out at all. Oddly enough however, there is at least one cut scene early on in the game where the paper filter is very obvious.

While your feasting on Ōkami’s visuals your ears will also be treated to a wonderful soundtrack that makes great use of Dolby Pro Logic. If have the means you should really enjoy this game on a full surround sound system and the volume up. The music has a wonderful Japanese style that is blended in with superb ambient noises such as birds and other wildlife.

Unfortunately, Ōkami has fallen victim to few porting glitches which is probably the biggest issue with the game overall. There are small graphical issues related to loading screens where you can see the screen off to the side. The issue wouldn’t be apparent on an older CRT based TV but when using any sort of fixed pixel type display that doesn’t overscan the issue is obvious. While not a porting issue in itself, the loading screens are positively lame and I’m very surprised more effort wasn’t put into these screens.

One other porting issue is the controls and oddly enough it has nothing to do with the Wii remote. Rather the issue is in how the game reads the thumbstick. All Nintendo controllers since the N64 have had notches indicating important position such as straight up or left and right. In Ōkami, pushing the stick into the straight up position results in Amaterasu running slightly to the left. Worse is how Ammy seems to prefer walking over running at times. Both issues can be overcome after a bit of play and getting used to and expecting them but just a bit more tuning on Ready at Dawn’s part would have been nice.

Game play in Ōkami plays very much like a typical Zelda title and in fact, the similarities between Ōkami and the Zelda series are striking. Like a Zelda title, you fill your time exploring the landscape, talking to people, performing tasks and battling monsters. Like all Zelda games you have no lines or dialog. During dialog anything that is important is highlighted in some other color and like every 3d adventure Link has been on Amaterasu has a small guide called Issun. Ōkami even steals from the Zelda series’ fixation on butt slapping monkeys.

Ōkami improves upon the Zelda formula by automatically saving the important dialog so you can refer to it during your quest. This is great for a player like myself who doesn’t always get to put in long hours or doesn’t get to play every day.

The last thing I want to touch on is the controls. It seems that a Wii title isn’t complete unless it has some sort of motion control and Ōkami once again borrows from the Zelda franchise by making use of a shaking motion to initiate an attack. Unlike Twilight Princess however the developers programmed the game to require a bit more finesse and you can’t simply shake the remote to attack. Stringing together a series of attacks requires a fair amount of timing and when you get the timing right it feels much more rewarding.

One of Ōkami’s major elements is the celestial brush. This brush is how Amaterasu interacts and shapes the world around her and throughout the game you learn new brush techniques that help you along. One of the earliest abilities you obtain requires you to draw a straight line. If you’ve ever played Trauma Center then you know how difficult it can be to draw a straight line. Ōkami attempts to overcome this by allowing you to use the Z button but despite this handy helper drawing a straight line can still be troublesome.

Ōkami, despite the small porting issues, is a perfect fit for the Wii and is a game that you simply cannot pass up if you enjoy the Zelda series in any way. As of this writing the game is available for just $40 which is a steal for such a creative game, even if it is a port. Other reviews have stated this game requires 30 hours minimum to complete and will take more if you do the side quests.