With beautiful cell shaded graphics and addictive RPG gameplay, Okami easily makes one of the best games of 2006.
The Gameplay - The gameplay was surprisingly refreshing from this cell shaded RPG. It definitely had a new flair to the typical RPG. Everything in my opinion was flawless. The controls for moving are great with the left analog to change direction, and the right analog to change camera angles. Also, being the first of its kind to implement a magic paint brush that you can easily access by hitting the R2 button. With that you can use attack skills, support skills, or just have fun expirementing. The only drawback that I noticed, is once you get pretty far into the game, about 30-50 hours worth, the game started to glitch here and there. It wasn't anything major or gamechanging, It would just start to lag every once and a while. It could have been a console issue, I don't know, but I have several friends who had the same problem. But, It was definitely there. Other than that, the gameplay was great.
Graphics - The graphics are probably one of the things I was mosst impressed at this game for. Yeah, they were cell shaded, but they were just done so well. Usually when I think of cell shaded games, it reminds me of Paper Mario, when everytime he moved in a different direction, it looked like paper flipping over. But, this game was not like that. They implemented this cool 3D effect into the graphics that basically makes the game elite over other cell shaded games (graphics wise). But the graphics moved smoothly, great transitions from one motion to the next, and one of the coolest parts were the closeups with people and the expressions that they have, they're really quite interesting. Sound - Alright, I'm going to be short and sweet for sound. Overall, this game has one of the coolest soundtracks that I have ever heard. It is more of that oriental ancient music, which I just happen to love. And I know that if any of you like it as much as I do, you'll LOVE this games music. However, the biggest drawback to this game, are the voices in the game. It is a sad Animal Crossing remake all over again. No real voices, only random mutters and sputters of sounds which resemble nothing of a language. But, that is my only beef with the game.
Value - Basically, at 40 bucks? You cant go wrong! Your are almost guarunteed 30-60 hours of gameplay time and every minute of it is new and exciting. You definitely get a bang for your buck with this one!
Tilt - Soo, this game has definitely become one of my favorite games so, I easily gave this section a 10. All in all, this game is simply amazing. If you are at all interested in RPG's, Japanese myth and legends, or just a fun game to waste an hour or two on, I would definitely pick this game up!