Okami Preview

Creating magic in any medium isn’t something that comes easily. Clover Studios have gotten close before with Viewtiful Joe, breathing new life into the side scrolling beat em up genre. They combined this with a genuinely unique visual style to create something very special. The only problem was that it alienated a large number of people with its sheer difficulty. Well, Okami is here to make amends and push Clover up to the level we knew they deserved. This is a game that will remind you why you love video games.

Okami focuses around a wolf god known as Amaterasu who has been reawakened in order to help Japan. You see, in the time she has been gone an evil presence has set in on the land, blackening everything it has touched. Amaterasu has been tasked with setting this right, along with a fairy guide known as Issun who helps the silent god along the way by essentially acting as her voice.

At this stage in most games, you will be required to complete quests and tasks in order to revive the land. In Okami, a much more hands on approach is called for, involving the use of the fabulous tool know as the Celestial Brush. At any point in time by simply holding R1 the game world is frozen and recreated as a brown-hued canvas. This can then be manipulated in a huge variety of ways, depending on your environment. Draw a circle around a withered tree and it blossoms to life, draw a line through a rock to slash it in half, clearing a path. It’s an ingenious system and something that Capcom has promised will be used in many other ways during the full game. It’s not that Okami doesn’t require you to complete tasks and missions, but once the Celestial Brush is brought into play they never feel the same as any game we’ve played before.

The game world is absolutely breathtaking as well. Using cel shaded techniques, this 3D environment looks like a mixture of the Wind Waker and Viewtiful Joe: A fine pedigree. So many nice touches are evident even in this early stage of the games development too. As Amaterasu runs, flowers sprout up behind her and lily pads appear in the water as she swims. It’s difficult to believe the game is only 30% complete.

Combat is basic, but fun, and we only met a few of the easier foes. Yet again, this aspect is elevated by the use of the Celestial Brush. At critical points Issun will draw a red circle around certain enemies allowing you to slash them in half with your brush. It’s enormously satisfying and is a superb way to implement a finishing move, and certainly beats all those awkward combos we’re used to.

We never thought we’d see a time when an adventure game became blended with Japanese Calligraphy, but the results are fabulous. Even at this stage the game stands out as something truly special among the throng of games at E3. It really is magical in so many ways. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine how this could get much better, but we have a year to wait. In all honesty, it can’t come soon enough.