Okami Preview March 26,2008 - Though it was definitely one of the greatest and most unique adventures to grace the PS2, odds are you have never played Okami despite the relatively high rating we gave it. Why do we say this? Because in terms of sales, Okami flopped—hard. Be that as it may, the game is getting a second chance on the Wii. Seeing as how cel-shaded adventure games with wolves as the main character are so popular on the console, the Wii just might be the perfect system for Okami’s regeneration.

You play as the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, who takes the form of a wolf. While the game is of clichéd sorts as it’s another “save the world from great evil” kind of story, it isn’t anything overly redundant. The story is told through the art of the ancient Japanese paint scriptures. This is done by its outstanding cel-shaded graphics—which have been more touched up to better fit the Wii’s visual capabilities. The Sun Goddess is the only one who has the ability to use the Celestial Brush, the main tool used to solve all the puzzles and progress through the game.

In the original PS2 version, use of the Celestial Brush was left under the mercy of the slow and sometimes unresponsive dual shock analog controls. On the Wii, painting is as easy as holding B button and making quick and decisive motions with the Wii Remote. While the use of the Celestial Brush has been the most improved aspect of the gameplay, some parts of the controls feel unnecessarily complicated because of the lack of buttons and analogs with the Wii Remote and Nunchuck combo.

For example, while some simple attacks such as charging and biting have been properly mapped to certain buttons on the control configuration, a lot of the other moves require you to shake the Nunchuck. As in games such as tennis in Wii Sports, sometimes it just isn’t as functional as you’d like, and it jeopardizes the ease of the combo system which was well presented in the original PS2 game.

Since the game will be coming out in a few weeks, we expect the visuals and sound to be virtually unchanged from the demo we played. The game looks a lot smoother, brighter, and more colorful than its PS2 counterpart, terminating that old grainy look. It’s hard to tell whether that’s a bad or good thing though, because the grainy look really gave the game the aesthetic of being painted on parchment. However, it makes everything look a lot cleaner on the Wii, so that’s probably just a matter of a preference. As for the sound, the Wii version still lacks voice acting, which isn't a big deal, though some of the characters' "greeking" voices begin to grate.

The bottom line so far is that the Wii port of Okami is shaping up well, and we expect the same greatness in this version as we did with the PS2 version. If you already owned and finished the PS2 version and you’re expecting something new, you’re probably better off letting this one go. But odds are the ones reading this preview are those hardcore Nintendo fans who missed out on the original Okami, and this is who Capcom should be targeting. Okami is scheduled for release in a couple of weeks, and we’ll have a review up around that time.

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