This game is highly recommended by Rez. It has a great sense of art and style of play is so unique. Leave it to Clover to create a fresh new title that we can all get into. I think this game is greeat for anyone with a PS2. The only downside is the fact that it seems to take from Zelda a bit, with the whole Wolf and fairy thing. Other than that, I see no problems

For anyone who generally passes up that "wierd looking" Japanese game in a store needs to back up a step, and re-think Okami. With the saturation of "realistic" looking games on the market, Okami is the artistic and fun one-two punch this industry needs. A stigma has befallen the world, almost all life has been stunted by it, now it's up to a goddess in the form of a white wolf and her flea-like sidekick to restore the barren world back to it's former beauty. And in this case, beauty is an understatement. The visuals alone are enough to at least play this game. They aren't cell-shaded in a gimmicky sense, they are used more as an extension of the painting and mythical theme the art style depicts. This is combined with a traditional Japanese audio track. To say the least it would fit nicely into any samurai movie out there, but it only adds to the grand feeling this game exudes in spades. Yet the major sore spot in the game, (at least in my oppinion) does come from the audio. The dialogue isn't spoken, but instead emoted with a bunch of strange grunt like sounds. It's hard to say if it was to keep the mood light, but either way, it becomes irritating quickly. Yet despite that minor gripe, the game still hits a target that a lot of Japanese games of this ilk miss on a regular basis, fun gameplay. The general exploring and combat are pretty standard stuff, Ocarina of Time actually comes to the forefront of references here. The main draw if you can forgive the pun is the painting mode. Drawing certain designs can bring trees to life, turn night into day, create bridges, or slash enemies in half. At first it sounds gimmicky, and by all accounts it is, but it's a fun gimmick that only adds to the fun instead of being there just because. Okami overall is a game worth it's money for adventure fans looking for something a little different, but still a fun experience. Future Japanese developers would do well to learn from Okami's mix of great gameplay and an original art style.