Okami: The Great God...A Wolf?!

Title: Okami
Developer: Clover Studio
Platform: PlayStation 2
Release: 2006

I bought my Okami game mainly because I found the cover amusing - a wolf with a flaming stone-like thing (which I later found out was a weapon) on its back. Oh I also bought it because it was set during ancient Japan, though I'm not sure which part exactly.

Anyway, Okami is a single-player action-adventure game where the player takes on the role of Amaterasu (a white wolf) who has come back to earth because of the demon, named Orochi, whom Amaterasu defeated before has escaped from its tomb. Amaterasu must find a way to defeat Orochi once again before the demon's curse spreads throughout the land and corrupt everything on its path.

As you can see in the picture above, Okami's graphics look like an animated old Japanese painting. All throughout the game, the player can hit a button and the scene freezes into a canvas where he can paint to bring out Amaterasu's powers. The powers of Amaterasu are brush strokes that represent different elements like water, air, fire, etc. that you can get by discovering where different constellations are. The constellations are represented by different animals, some from the zodiac too, I think.

Okami is an easy game but at the same time, it's quite challenging too. I also love the characters' voices. They're uhm...unique. You have to play it to see what I mean. Oh and there are cute moments too, when you feed different animals specific kinds of food to gain praises. Oh yes, you need "praises". Try playing Okami, not because I said so, well, yeah because I did, but also because it gained quite a few good reviews from other players. I think it's also the last game Clover made, I'm not sure about this though, so correct me if I'm mistaken.