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Okami (Wii) By: Adam Waddilove Is Okami on the Wii more than a just a simple port? Indeed it is Originally designed for the PlayStation 2 and released in 2006, Okami now comes alive in an entirely new way on the Wii with its visually stunning art style and beautiful scenic 3D levels that have the appearance and texture of paper scrolls brushed with watercolour-like calligraphy art. Throughout Okami's vibrant and distinctive surroundings, Okami players must use the Wii remote to interact with a dynamic world and cast of characters. Okami's blend of stylised graphics, movements and unique gameplay will result in a rich and dynamic experience never seen before. The story of Okami puts you in the role of a white wolf that is an incarnation of the Japanese sun god, Amaterasu. The back-story tells of another white wolf who banished away a demon god called Orochi, but died in the process, but 100 years later someone breaks the seal and unleashes doom for the planet, only Amaterasu can put a stop to this, by learning 13 impressive fighting techniques that you use with a brush. You may think that it’s nothing more than the Wolf sections of Zelda: Twilight Princess, you would be so wrong but it does have that Zelda feel to it, that’s for sure. The game is actually very linear but it allows you to take small side-quests on, although usually you’ll be searching for a proper way to progress. The game is like one big piece of art come to life and you’ll eventually earn the ability to brush stroke, essentially it’s a case of holding down a button to make the game change colour and then you draw a symbol somewhere on the screen with the Wii Remote, there are 13 in total to find and each one is extremely handy. But there is a level of difficulty to actually drawing the symbols with the Remote, the detection is a little off in places and sometimes it won’t recognise what you were intending to do. You more or less need to perfect your drawing skills with it, but chances are you will get slightly frustrated at it...I know I did. Okami manages to balance combat and puzzles fairly well, dividing most fights into arenas that you can’t escape from with only a handful of enemies to fight. Attacking is simply a case of swinging the remote or drawing symbols with the celestial paintbrush, but puzzles require much more precision and dedication, like trying to draw a big circle around a tree to make it bloom, it sounds simple but sometimes it’s just not recognised when you need it to. The most irritating moments are when you have to do a slash move 5 times during a cutscene and if you miss one, then you’ll need to repeat the whole thing and the slow dialog leading upto it. Another issue is that you use the d-pad to rotate the camera, but it can be somewhat slow and it can let you down during combat.    If you can overcome these small hurdles, then I can guarantee that you’ll fall in love with Okami. The Wii version looks more natural than the PS2, but the PS2 version itself apparently looked like it had a better paper filter effect, but I would recommend the Wii version as it has much improved visuals and lovely 16:9 support. It also follows Zelda in terms of voice acting; there is none other than few grunts and what else you’d expect. The soundtrack is pretty impressive and does the game justice, although the truth about Okami is that it’s not for everyone. The PS2 version didn’t sell as much as we all expected, so I can only hope that the Wii version will do better in sales. Like I said, it’s not perfect but it’s incredible nonetheless. The visuals may be off-putting to more hardcore gamers, but it’s a vibrant and beautiful game that’s worthy of their attention, even if they don’t realise it. The game will last anywhere between 15-25 hours, depending on how good of a player you are and how often you save. If you don’t save often enough and die, you could lose a lot...I learned that firsthand. The Verdict The Wii version of Okami is pretty impressive, although I can’t help but think that a DS version would have been more appropriate with the celestial paintbrush. It may have its issues, but it’s certainly more than just another port with tacked on motion support, this one is special and needs to be enjoyed by a lot more gamers this time around. 
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