Difficulty:

Very Hard

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Highly addictive"

Okami takes you on an epic journey, where you are a heroine known as Amaterasu, Goddess of light and Mother to us all. Along with Issun , your perky wise cracking brush wielding warrior who provides interpretation and comic relief. However to the rest of the world you appear to be nothing more than a shining white wolf and they are completely unaware of your divine ability and are in fact quite shocked when "miracles" happen around them.
On your adventure you free the furry guardians of Nippon who bestow upon you the legendary symbols that you can then use to defeat the various monsters that plague the land, discover hidden treasure, or to master puzzles. While at the same time you are cleansing the land of the cursed mark in a good old fashioned battle of good vs. evil.
The collection aspects of the game were great; collecting stray beads, blooming hidden clovers, and feeding the hungry animals of Nippon. Also I never felt that nagging urge that the world was too small, they did a very fantastic job at making it seem like you could explore everything should you really want to. There are a few mini games that your able to play and some special side quests that they tempt you with, easily distracting me from the main task.
Putting it simply, Okami is a gorgeous game. The artistic quality of the game made me fall in love instantly. I've always been a fan of the Japanese wood block or brush painting work. The character art work is nothing short of amazing, every character, every animal, every tree, every house, every enemy has a simple and beautiful technique applied to them.