Okami

Clover Studio - 2006 - PS2/PS3/Wii

This is unfortunately one of those “best game no one has ever played” games. Okami is a very artistic, creative and refreshing take on the "Legend of Zelda" formula. You play as an incarnation of the Japanese Shinto sun goddess, Amaterasu, who has returned to the land of Nippon incarnated as a white wolf to save the land from the evil 8-headed dragon serpent Orochi. Everything from the art style, to the musical score is highly Japanese culture infused. But it's more along the lines of ancient Japanese history, folklore and religion than like Japanese anime, for instance.

Art plays an important role in Okami. Early in the game, you'll meet up with Issun, who is an artist, painter and muse. Issun kind of serves as the game's narrator and Amaterasu's voice, the same way the fairy in a Zelda game would. Issun and Amaterasu soon come into the possession of the "celestial brush". It is a magical paintbrush that allows Amaterasu and Issun to perform miracles and is also Okami's main gameplay device. It allows the player to essentially freeze frame the game and paint on the canvas that is the current image on the screen. So for example, after unlocking the wind ability for the brush, painting swirly lines in the sky will cause wind to blow, which may turn a windmill that unlocks a gate blocking your path or something like that. Or in combat, drawing a slash through an opponent will cause a magical sword to appear, cleaving an enemy in two. It's an interesting gameplay device that is both the game's main puzzle solving mechanic and fighting mechanic and also fits in perfectly thematically with the game.

Most of the gameplay in Okami is puzzle solving and fighting with the celestial brush. The brush is used to "perform miracles" which usually involve restoring and healing wildlife or feeding animals. Doing these tasks gives Amaterasu more "praise" (experience), which can be spent to upgrade Amaterasu's stats. Honestly the combat system in Okami was kind of "meh" for me. You pretty much just figure out which brush technique works well on which enemies and then you're good to go. There's not a lot of challenge offered by the combat here. If you're playing Okami, you'll be doing it for the visual style and the presentation of the game's story. Okami's focus on storytelling is pretty strong and the game can get fairly text heavy at certain points. Actually I believe the game's opening cutscene and text bubble intro take a good 10-15 minutes to get through. So if story isn't your thing, you may be put off by the amount of reading you'll need to do. But Okami tells a pretty interesting and unique story. As someone not too familiar with Japanese folklore or the Shinto religion, Okami's interpretation of these things was pretty interesting and fascinating to me and kept me playing through the end.

I don't think I've ever been so positively struck by a game's art direction. Everything in the game has that large brushstroke accent that you typically see in classical Japanese paintings. It makes the entire game look very stylized and painting-ish. Very cool. Check out the screenshot below, click to enlarge it. The art style of this game is a huge plus, and I'm not someone who typically cares about that kind of stuff. It's a great case for art style being more important than realism in games. The excellent soundtrack further helps in immersing the player with the use of traditional Japanese string instruments, wind instruments, and drums. I'm sure the instruments all have specific names, but I'm too lazy to look them up. Here's a sample of the soundtrack. Awesome stuff

Summary:
Okami is a very refreshing and unique experience and it's a shame more people didn't play it when it came out. It's definitely worth a look if you're a Zelda fan or are looking for something very different to play. As long as you're aware of the amount of text reading you'll do in this game, you won't be disappointed.