Ōkami

Throughout my life I've always thought achieving true perfection was impossible. As no matter how good something is, there's always some sort of flaw. And that flaw -- whether it be a big one or a small one -- keeps it from being perfect. This is especially true for videogames, as they possess a wide variety of possible problems, and at least one of 'em can be found in any game. Because of that, I had gotten used to the fact there would never be a perfect game.

But in 2006, that changed. As that year marked the first time I played Okami. And it quickly proved that videogames can indeed be perfect, with its stunning visuals, superb gameplay, and well crafted story. It's easily the one game I'd say is truly perfect in every way possible.

Okami puts you in the role of the Japanese sun goddess, Amaterasu, in the form of a white wolf. Who was called upon to once again defeat, Orochi, an eight headed serpent who once again threatens the land of Nippon, after his previous defeat at the hands of Amaterasu 100 years earlier. However, Orochi isn't the only foe you'll face. Over the course of her long journey Amaterasu will face many other fearsome foes, and take on other dangerous tasks such as purging a deadly plague threatening the citizens of a huge city, stopping a raging water dragon that terrorizes the cost of Nippon, and more. Accompanying Amaterasu on this perilous journey is, Issun -- a wandering artist the size of a bug -- who joins you at the very beginning of the game. And throughout the game, he does all the talking for Amaterasu, who can't speak. And speaking talking, there is much of that in Okami. As there many long conversations between characters throughout the game. Thankfully, all the dialog is well written, and quite entertaining sometimes. So it's not really an issue.

The first thing you'll notice upon starting Okami, is its beautiful visual style, which is reminiscent if the style found in Japanese watercolor paintings. Which conveys the feeling of being an interactive painting rather than a videogame. Which is further helped along by the fact the characters and environments all look like they came right out of a painting. And little details like the flat trees, and the black lines around the characters, and bits of the environments further help convey that feeling. And even the animations are nicely done. All the characters move with a nice amount of fluidity, which in Amaterasu's case, is a good thing, as she possesses a wide range of abilities. All of which have very smooth animations.

Of course, the visual style isn't the only thing that's related to painting, as one of Amaterasu's abilities known as the Celestial Brush, allows her to manipulate the game world with a single brush stroke. Which is all you need to do to use many of the 13 brush techniques. As many of 'em require you to draw something simple like a circle, which yields different results depending on what you draw it on. So drawing one on a withered tree will make it bloom, and drawing one in the sky will make a sun. A good portion other techniques require you to draw a line from a source of something like fire or water and connect the line to your target. All the techniques can be executed easily and without failure, thanks to the simplicity of the brush strokes.

The rest of the game, however, isn't on the same level of simplicity. But that's not to say it's complicated, because it isn't. Most of the game consists of running around talking to people taking on quests and getting information, exploring various caves, ruins and other various structures, and, of course, fighting monsters. Which, for the most part, all these element give the game a very Zelda-like feel, especially when your running the villages talking to townsfolk, and exploring dungeons. Which is by no means a bad thing. As all these elements work brilliantly together. In fact, simply moving around the land of Nippon somehow never becomes dull. And that's partly because there's simply so many places to explore, which the game helps encourage you to do, with the many secrets and hidden treasures the vast land of Nippon holds.

The combat is great too. It's simple, but has plenty of depth. Which is partly due to the fact that you can equip two weapons. There are three types of weapons you can use in the game. The three types are Reflectors, Rosaries, and Glaives, all of which have different affects depending on whether its equipped as a main or sub weapon. For example, when a reflector is equipped as a main weapon, it acts as an offensive weapon. And as a sub weapon, it acts as a shield. This adds a small bit of strategy, as each of possible combination allow for many different ways to chain attacks together to make for some very devastating combos. As using the Celestial Brush in combination with your standard combat abilities opens many possibilities in terms of combos. A good example would be using your main weapon (which, for me, was a Reflector) to hit 'em a few times, then attack 'em a few times with your sub weapon (which was a Glaive for me), then finish 'em off with a Power Slash, then move on to the next enemy seamlessly. All that is easily executed because of the fluidity of the combat. Amaterasu can move from one enemy to another easily so that you can keep a combo going, and, of course, defeat enemies with ease.

The boss fights are pretty much the same, except that they require you to make use of the Celestial Brush a little more than the typical battles do. As you're pit against a large opponent most of the time, and in order to attack them you typically need to use the Celestial Brush in some way to open 'em up for attack. It's a pretty simple process, but it works well. The bosses provide a decent challenge, and the brush techniques are used well. They're not the greatest boss fights ever, but they're still great.

So moving on, the audio -- like the rest of the game -- is great, particularly the music. Which -- much like the visuals -- has a very Japanese feel. Which is due to the music being done on traditional Japanese instruments. Which really adds to the games atmosphere. That and the music itself is great, so that helps. And the games vast array of music ranges from the relaxing sounding tunes of villages like Kamiki, to the fast paced music of battle. Okami features some great sounding music, and always uses the right tune at the right time.

It also features voice acting, but not in the way you'd expect. Instead or there being English (or even Japanese for that matter) voice acting, the game opts for something resembling Simlish, which vaguely sounds Japanese. But the game's lack of proper voice acting isn't really an issue. It would have been a nice addition, but it's exclusion is by no means terrible. As the Simlish-like speech is a fine substitute.

In short, Okami is an outstanding game. From its breath taking visuals, and its excellent gameplay, to its superb story and audio, everything in the game is truly outstanding, and expertly crafted. It's one of the most amazing and unique game experiences to date. It's easily one of the greatest games ever made.

Now then...if you'll excuse me, I'm off to play Okami…again.