Ōkami

In short, Ōkami is a nearly perfect 20 hour game that happens to be 40 hours long. Tons of weapons, abilities, and collectibles populate the already beautiful and expansive world of the game. On top of that, combat sequences are quick and each enemy offers a unique challenge. Impressive boss battles nicely magnify both the challenge and scale of the creatures you're fighting. Unfortunately the entire game is undercut by a terrible sense of pacing. No matter how much good content exists in the game, it takes far to long to get to the next bit. There's a point at which you can't possibly believe that there is more game to play, and this point is about exactly halfway in. For many people, it just won't be worth it to keep playing.

I won't lie, Ōkami has some problems. Even though I stuck with it until the end, it can't be ignored just how poorly paced this game is. And it's a shame. The game isn't needlessly long, it just doesn't keep you interested in what's coming up. By the time you make it to the half way point, you're just confused that it still has more content to show.

It's surprising that the game has so much to offer, and how unique everything is. To begin, you're put in a small rural village with a big field and some scary demon caves in the distance. You think to yourself, “Oh, this is a simple enough setup. I can see where we're going from here.” But you don't actually see. You couldn't. The game never even mentions that there is a capital city that you'll travel to. Nor does it mention that at some point you are going to wind up underwater visiting a sunken ship.

Oh, and how about the vast ice continent on the other side of that mountain? You know, the one where the clockwork owls live.

There's are so many places to go, people to meet, abilities to collect, and monsters to fight. Much of it is being pulled from Japanese mythology, which means that the more familiar you are with the source material the less interesting it will seem in the game. It's still stunning how much they have pulled, and how much effort they've put into keeping it all interesting in the context of the game. Even in just meeting characters, there are some funny and clever ways they are tied into the story as a whole.

There are also a lot of tricks and interesting combinations to be found between these classical monsters and your array of Celestial Brush techniques. Many people seem to find the combat system dull and repetitive, but I think it is the spirit of experimentation that keeps it fresh and fun. It's pretty great when you learn that certain monsters can be used as a source of fire to ignite other monsters. And all this is on top of the selection of traditional “mash square to attack” weapons, each which have a style, upgrades, and support ability that comes with them. Between all this there is a fun system, but even those who just see it as a grind should be able to find a way to make the time bearable.

Ōkami is a very long and slow crawl through an amazing landscape. It is often compared to hack and slash adventure games like The Legend of Zelda, and to be fair there are a lot of similar elements. Yet in reality, Ōkami is a game about the small things you encounter during your adventure. Take joy in stopping to feed rabbits. Helping a boy to catch a fish. Watching flowers bloom. And if the grand story stops by, simply yawn as it tries to present before you the unlimited power of the universe.