Game Review: Ōkami (Wii)

Hi everyone,

This time, I’m back with my first game review~ *imaginary applause all around* …OTL Anyways, Ōkami was one of the first Wii games I’ve ever played, and I completely loved it. For those of you who have a Wii, if you haven’t played this gave before, you should give it a try.

*SPOILER ALERTS BELOW~*

Summary:

Set in the ancient world of Japan (called Nippon), the start of the game flashes back to a time 100 years ago, in which Shiranui, a white wolf, and Nagi, a swordsman, work together to fight Orochi, an eight-headed monster that threatens Kamiki Village, Nagi’s home, and Nami, Nagi’s love interest. Orochi demands the sacrifice of a maiden every year in return for not attacking Kamiki Village. Eventually, they manage to defeat and seal Orochi away, with Nagi’s sword acting as the seal.

Now back to the present, Susano, Nagi’s descendant and lookalike, believes himself to be the greatest warrior in the world and decides to pull out Nagi’s sword to prove that the story was false. Unfortunately, this breaks Nagi’s seal, and Orochi escapes into the world once again. Nagi flees in terror as Orochi starts to roam the lands, consuming all the life force from every living being.

Sakuya, a wood sprite and the guardian of Kamiki Village, summons Amaterasu, a white wolf and sun goddess who is thought to be the reincarnation of Shiranui by the villagers (they can’t see the patterns on Amaterasu; they only see a white wolf). Sakuya asks for Amaterasu to remove the curse from the lands by using her power to bring out the sun again (this is done by using the wiimote and drawing a circle in the sky). Issun, a tiny creature called a Poncle, is responsible for increasing praise for Amaterasu (doing this increases Amaterasu’s powers), accompanies Amaterasu on the way.

After Amaterasu brings back the sun, she is charged with the task of finding the other celestial gods and goddesses to gain their powers and save the world from Orochi and other evil forces.

What I liked about it:

I loved the game’s music, especially when the lands were being purified. I thought it correctly portrayed certain scenes in the game. I also liked the artwork, as all the drawings and even the gameplay artwork was very beautiful and colorful. The gameplay was really creative, as I never thought of using the wiimote as a brush. Furthermore, as Amaterasu, I enjoyed the fact that I was able to roam the lands and (sometimes) randomly go into people’s houses and scare them with my goddess powers.

I also liked how long the story lasted. I had to play Ōkami for a very long time before I finished it, and some parts were somewhat difficult, so sometimes a walkthrough was needed. I also thought the story was very interesting and emotional at times, as there was this sad separation scene, and I cried when it happened.

What I disliked about it:

There was voice over in the game, but I disliked how all the voices were just mumblings. In the Japanese version of Ōkami, all the characters spoke actual words. It would have been much more fun and cool if I could hear the actual characters speak, instead of hearing nothing but people mumbling.

I also disliked how I sometimes had difficulty in drawing certain symbols with the wiimote (I had to redraw it over and over again, and sometimes, the game recognized the symbol wrong and made undesired things happen).

Overall:

I thought this was a fantastic game that includes a lot of adventure and provides game play that can be challenging at times, so if you like these elements in a game (adventure and challenge), you should try playing Ōkami.

- Melissa He, Entertainment