Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 10
Audio: 10
Value: 9
Tilt: 10
Overall: 10

Masterpiece work. The culmination of the industry as it stands. If Michelangelo made video games, this would have been his Sistine Chapel. This game is one of the "greats". If you don't own it yet, buy it now. If you need to, buy the PS2 to go with it.

You only think I'm kidding.

I've never been tremendously skilled at describing how a game's controls "feel" unless there's actually something wrong. I find that there is nothing I can complain about here, except to say that Okami's greatest shortcoming is the Dual-Shock controller itself. Even then, that is simply because of the celestial brush, which is genius and has clearly received such a great amount of attention that it largely overcomes the iniquities of Sony's well-recognized input device. I feel like Amaterasu, the main character of the game, is an extension of my body and that the celestial brush, though conceptually begging for a conversion to the Wii, could almost be my right hand. The camera can sometimes be a little hard to navigate, but only in rare circumstances, and let's see you do better!

Visually, the game is a treat for the eyes. Bright, vibrant colors of nature and an excellent reproduction of the sumi-e painting style of classical Japan prove that a game can still look fabulous on what many are already calling "last-gen" hardware. It actually does some credit to one of the lines to come out of Sony's big wigs that the PS2 wasn't dead yet. This game started a number of years ago when it released a tech demo for the PS2 showing a surprisingly lifelike wolf running through a field, a trail of flowers forming at its footsteps, as if its power to give life were so great that it could barely contain itself from bursting across the entire landscape. Back then, Okami looked stellar, and if it had continued like that then people would have likely complained of uncanniness. Adopting the sumi-e brush style into the game's visual theme is genius, allows the game to look better than any competing product available, and keeps the game within the capabilities of the PS2 hardware to render. And really, its core concept is that a game doesn't have to look realistic in order to look absolutely awe-inspiring.

To the ears, Okami is a teleportation into classical Japan, one which leaves me wishing I had a better sound system to further appreciate the shakuhachi, shamisen, odaiko, and other traditional instruments of music. The music, in particular, is masterfully composed and performed and amply succeeds in its pre-stated mission to tug at the emotional strings of the player. Saints Row, a game I worked on at Volition for the Xbox 360, does not sound this good (and my express apologies to Frank for feeling the need to say so).

The only reason I knock the game even the slightest in value, in spite of having stated at the beginning of this review that this game is worth purchasing a PS2 for, is an uneasiness that I may find replaying the game and re-earning all of Amaterasu's abilities from the very beginning to be too much a chore, and especially the task of running through every field, exploring every nook and cranny in search of animals to feed, plants to restore, secrets to uncover... there is so much in the game that starting over would seem like a daunting task, and I'm only 20 hours into the game! The game's quest is significantly longer than first appears, and comes with plenty of surprises and memories.

In my case, it probably doesn't hurt, either, that I'm a fan of Japanese culture, so of course I'm biased to enjoy the game, and will gladly tilt it further along its rating of excellence. I'm very glad to see that localization has not bastardized the myths and legends that the game is based upon - one of my greatest fears was that the localizers would get some idea of trying to find analogous Western references to dismember and try to bludgeon into a story that is clearly of Eastern descent.

I am spending every free minute I have on this game to the full exclusivity of all other games, and I'm loving everything about it. I hope that this game will someday be taught in school as famous literature presently is, because it is, quite simply, a masterpiece that should be enjoyed by all.