Jamie Clark’s Posterous

The Wii version of Okami fell through my letterbox this morning - I'd ordered it Monday afternoon from GAME.co.uk for as little as £4.98. I hadn't read any reviews on it, though I had heard that it was a very highly regarded game, so I gave it a shot. The following thoughts come after about an hour and a half of gameplay, so it's safe to say these are very early impressions.

It's also worth noting that this game was originally released on PlayStation 2, and that I've never played that version.

First of all, some bad news: I don't think much to the story so far. It probably doesn't help that when you first start Okami the actual playing of the game is delayed by 10 or so minutes whilst it gives you a story to read. I'm all for games giving you a bit of background, but I was already bored when I finally gained control.

OK, so not the best start, and things continue at a fairly slow pace whilst you completely a little training level. However, GOOD NEWS, the controls on the whole feel nice to use. They're responsive (for the most part), they're intuitive - it certainly doesn't feel like a game that originally used a standard PS2 controller. In fact the drawing bits make you wonder how they did it with PS2, as waggling an analogue stick can't have felt the same. The only place the controls are a bit of a let down are during combat. Waving the Wii-Mote is a touch unresponsive (gasp), and if there are new attacks you can learn later on, I can see myself struggling to get the game to recognise one waggle from another.

But moving on now, let's talk about the graphics. This game is beautiful. It uses a mix of cel-shaded visuals and an East Asian kind of brush painting known as "sumi-e" in Japan, and it suits the Wii perfectly (ie. it can handle it). Everything is consistently sharp, although there is the occasional bit of pop-up here and there.

The music is also a treat, and reminds me very much of a Final Fantasy game. The other thing that reminds me of an FF game is the way it deals with saving. Rather than giving you a save option in the pause menu, the developers created specific save points. I guess it comes down to personal preference, but I absolutely HATE this sort of saving system. There's nothing worse than making loads of progress in a game, then realising you can't find a place to save your progress. I guess it'll depend heavily on how frequent these save locations are.

All in all I'm actually really looking forward to playing through Okami, despite the overwhelming amount of negativity shown here. It's the kind of game I could easily see myself getting addicted to. However, it also reminds me of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which is worrying as that game bores me beyond belief. We'll see...