Okami Wii

Okami is a beautiful cell-shaded adventure, and the Wii version is pumped with more polygons than last year’s PS2 release. The game is based on Japanese traditional mythology where Amatersau, the Sun Goddess takes the form a white wolf (a similarity between Japanese and Indian myth where gods take the form of animals). Okami is a classic tale of the good vs evil. The story revolves around Okami and Nego who fought the eight-headed monster Orochi to save the Kamiki village. The monster is tamed and sealed, but the seal is accidentally broken and the monster escapes cursing the land, and eventually the sun goddess is called for help.

The game play is similar to most action/adventure games involving a mix of puzzle solving, fighting and quests, but in a very illustrated, cell shaded style, with stark similarities to Manga. Okami also relies a lot on brush methods – a unique form of game play. For instance, if you have to cross a broken bridge you use the Wii Remote to draw the bridge on a flat surface (canvas) and jump across to fight your opponent. Each battle won adds to your wealth and like most RPG/adventure it can be used to purchase better weapons, combination to aide you in the fight.

A few impressive additions to the Wii include widescreen support, the motion sensing technique of the Wii controller as the Celestial Brush (for the drawing on the canvas), updated polygons and the ability to skip or cut scenes, but these are just minor changes from the PS2 installment. The game remains linear.

You’ve got to give it to Okami’s visual appeal but sadly, the Wii version still lacks extra content like chapters.