okami ps4 game review

Test: Okami HD: A light reissue for an exceptional game

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine yourself in front of a painting. Place your hand on its surface and slide it onto the canvas to capture all the subtleties. Smell the smell of paint, know how to appreciate its roughness, feel the force that emanates from it. Now take a deep breath, open your eyelids, let yourself be completely engulfed in a flowering of colors, a waltz of lightness and be yourself the actor of this pictorial and auditory fresco by the name of Okami.

Directed by studio Clover under the guidance of Hideki Kamiya, Okami is one of those critically acclaimed titles that players have shunned. Whether on PlayStation 2 or Wii, Capcom's game remains a pearl misunderstood by the general public. With its stylized graphics and its very Japanese atmosphere, the Amaterasu adventure did not receive the welcome it deserved, due to various factors (lack of communication, few boxes on the market ...). More than ten years after its initial release, the white wolf returns with an HD edition sold at a low price. What if, for once, we gave him a chance?

Before we get into this updated edition, let's take a quick look at the development of the game. It all starts when Hideki Kamiya plans to represent his love for nature in a video game. Lover of the Japanese countryside, he wishes to find the ambiance of his childhood and to produce a production aimed at "appeasing the spirits". Once the concept is laid down on paper, the developers get to work and model environments in realistic 3D. Indeed, arriving at Capcom, Hideki Kamiya discovers the remake of Resident Evil to be published on Gamecube. The title is then in development but the Japanese is captivated by the beauty of the graphics and wants to use a technology that is close to survival-horror. This is how the creation of Okami begins. And then, one day, a studio employee drew a sketch of Amaterasu, in ink, with a brush effect reminiscent of Japanese prints. Totally seduced by the style of this drawing, Hideki Kamiya decides to use this artistic approach to bring his work to life. However, over the weeks, something is wrong. As Clover reaches halfway through the project, it has no clear direction. The interested party, in an interview in the presence of Satoru Iwata, late President of Nintendo, explains that the game looked like a simulation. There were roads, fields, houses, lakes ... but the creator had no idea what the final version was going to look like.

THE CLICK

One day, producer Atsushi Inaba arrives in the studio and discovers the extent of the damage. Punching his fist on the table, he asks the team to find a solution as soon as possible. Ten members of Clover will meet for a weekend to brainstorm different ideas. For three days, developers tap into their brains to find the concept that could change everything. The first day, the atmosphere is abysmal and nobody manages to have the click. All the team has right now is a video that shows the white wolf running through a setting where plants and trees start to grow. Finally, the next day, an employee said, "But wait, a goddess can do it all!" " Based on this observation, the ten members of the "seminar" will put together the idea of the paintbrush and its propensity to modify the environment that surrounds Amaterasu. While the original game was twelve pages long, the two / three pages of the new concept will be enough to give Okami the final direction. Pretty cool story, right?

CALLIGRAPHY WITHIN PAD

For this edition of 2017, we find the unique atmosphere of Okami. With its scenario revolving around Japanese legends and spirits, the game transports us, as Hideki Kamiya wanted, to the calm of the countryside of the Land of the Rising Sun. Deeper than you might think at first, the epic of Amaterasu is also energized by a pervasive humor and gameplay that has not aged a bit. As in the original, the title of Capcom elegantly mixes the action phases with the lines of the celestial brush (calligraphy can be done on the touch pad of the PS4). Although the environments may seem limited these days, the game manages to grab the player thanks to its rhythm and its side quests. Admittedly, the tutorial is still as long (you cannot speed up the text during the cutscenes) and the camera is not optimal but Okami certainly enjoys a charm from elsewhere

JOURNEY TO THE LAND OF MYTHS AND LEGENDS

Okami is representative of a time when developers had more freedom, even if it means taking real risks. The Clover studio did not resist the bad commercial reception of the game but can boast of having marked the spirits as rarely. Inspired by Shinto mythology, Okami, although he borrows many elements from the Zelda license, has no equivalent today and offers a tale that is both attractive and epic. And of course, being able to enjoy it with high resolution graphics is always appreciated, especially if you have a console or a PC that can play the game in 4K. It is even possible to play with the 4/3 format of the time. Be careful however, we advise you to go through the options to reduce the strongly pronounced blur effect (in other words the blur). Once you have made the appropriate settings (audio, visual ...), you can dive into this wonderful game, served by a beautiful traditional soundtrack.

Still as exquisite, Okami HD would have deserved less frequent loading and some real innovations. As it stands, it remains strictly identical to the original game, but its visual adjustments give players better comfort. We can not say that Capcom broke the bulb to sublimate the formula but, at the same time, it was already so excellent that it is self-sufficient. Really, if you've never touched this masterpiece, this is probably the right time to crack.

OKAMI TEST BY LOGAN (02/05/2007)

If Okami is indeed a video game, it is above all a declaration of love from passionate to passionate, an ode to pictorial refinement, an artistic pamphlet and a majestic fire against those who have not not yet understood that certain video games deserving the qualification of work of art have as much their place in a museum as a Picasso or a Monet. But where it is only allowed to admire the work of the painter, the title of Clover Studio offers the graphic palette to the player by politely inviting him to compose with his environment, not to remain inactive, to participate as never in a unique experience, both in front of and behind the screen. So while getting to know the goddess Amaterasu reincarnated as a beautiful white wolf, the game gradually opens many doors behind which hide treasures of ingenuity. In fact, if the gameplay does not exclude the gain of experience essential to the evolution of our avatar, obtaining combat techniques or the discovery of new weapons (these last two points being linked), the most clever is the use of a brush, a true extension of the character we embody.

A leaf, a pot filled with ink, a brush, imagination and a seasoned eye. Presented as such, this aspect of Okami is intriguing especially when you know that this implies a freeze on action, an imposed downtime. Consequently, once your ink bottles are full, you will be able to cover the screen with a parchment in order to slide your pen there. But why then will you ask me with all the candor that characterizes you? Well, to create my good friends, to create. Placing ourselves in the position of great authorizing officer of the magic brush, Clover invites us on numerous occasions to use our artistic talents to shape the universe in which we evolve. Admittedly, I embellish the picture somewhat but beyond the restrictions imposed, we can not help using the ability given to us to draw water lilies to cross a body of water, to connect constellations to call a deity with calligraphic techniques, scribbling gusts of wind or erasing our drawing sheet to repair various constructions in order to attract the favor of grateful villagers. The idea is so well thought out that it can be split into two complementary uses. Clever subterfuge to return to the deities mentioned a few characters earlier.

Although Okami never misses an opportunity to have fun with or at the expense of its main protagonists, the title still retains a real cosmogonic dimension based on Japanese mythology. As a result of which, emblematic figures of Japanese folklore abound. To be precise, you will be able to meet thirteen of them which will each give you a calligraphy technique allowing to make trees bloom, to play with the moon and the sun (this being practical to meet certain people or to attend particular scenes), use lianas to reach inaccessible places, etc. If these techniques have of course a practical aspect, they will also serve you as an offensive means during confrontations against bosses requiring a particular method to be killed or during more conventional brawls against common enemies. You will then be able to strip the screen with a brushstroke after having made a few well-placed strokes to cut your opponent in half and thus obtain more items or money.

On this subject, once your "pockets" filled with ryo, it will be up to you to go and glean a few objects from street vendors generally posted in strategic places. We will find in these stalls the usual health potions (here represented by bones), magic, sake bottles to be more valiant or resistant ... In addition, it will also be a question of a master of arms, old , wacky but especially holder of destructive sequences or displays that you will have to buy before you can use them. On this point, Okami is also very strong knowing that depending on the placement of your weapons, you can use them in different ways. For example, if you have the mirror as a secondary weapon, it will serve as a shield, while as a primary weapon, it will allow you to attack. Then, you just need to press two action keys to alternate between the two weapons and thus achieve very beautiful sequences. In any case, at the end of each deadly ballet, you will receive a certain amount of ryo depending on the damage taken or the time you spent to eliminate all your opponents. The consequence of this dynamism is that we take a malicious pleasure in seeking contact with the enemies that can be avoided, most of them being visible. Yet it is indeed the meetings with the bosses that will mark the spirits the most as these scuffles synthesize the whole spirit of grandeur, strength and invincibility that should normally arouse these allegedly untouchable beings.

In short, the title of Clover seems to be close to perfection, even for those who will strive to look for the little beast to prove to whom it is deontologically impossible, and unseemly, to make a game so sacred. But force and recognize that as we probe the depths of Okami, we easily get lost in a serene contemplation born of a spooky atmosphere relayed by a fabulous graphics to which a light filter brings a grainy, rough side, to like a Canson leaf. Set aside to embellish some of the most dreamlike scenes ever seen in a video game, like this nature coming back to life in the form of a cascade of petals, this artistic device reinforces the impression of floating and serenity a little more emerging from this catalyst of pleasures. Resolutely environmentalist, deeply committed but above all eager to offer an enchanting and funny epic at the same time, we will also appreciate the longevity of the title whose side quests are hatching everywhere. In fact, outside the barges waiting for life-saving help, mini-games demanding speed, the harvest of stray pearls, you will have the opportunity to feed various animals populating the roads leading you to your destiny. But before you can do this good deed, you must first collect food of all kinds to satisfy all the residents of your pet store. Finally, it will be enough to give adequate food to the hungry animal so that it offers you in return a chain of spheres of happiness synonymous with experience.

Never looking for the easy way, Okami scribbles, sketches and piques the interest of the player to awaken his senses. From the appearance of the Clover logo to the plan closing the magnificent tracking revealing the end credits, the work of the Japanese studio is so generous that we almost forget that we have just had one of the greatest video game experiences there is . Impossible to say if just like me, Okami will change your perception of the adventure / action game but ultimately, this is not the main thing. What matters is that you rejoice while laughing at the adventures of Amaterasu, that you know how to capture the emotion of the moment before it flies away, that you take pleasure in the joystick in your hands. There is no single way to love Okami whose sincerity makes you smile as we are more and more watered with technical terms to highlight this or that game. Okami, he breathes life thanks to developers who once wanted to make their art speak by giving everything they had in their stomachs and in their hearts. In some ways, the result carries with it a share of sadness as Clover's swan song. However, it is useless to go back, what is done cannot be undone. Ultimately, the most important is that this title is never forgotten and serves as a reflection on what gives character, intensity, emotion to a video game. Meanwhile, Okami stands out as a work that will have marked this beginning of the century, like that, quite simply ...

The notes
+ Positive points
Masterful artistic direction
Greater visual comfort
A real journey
Amaterasu's class
Japanese humor

Negative points
Some camera issues
Too frequent loading
Voices in yogurt
Text is slow during cutscenes
No real news
Defining Okami amounts to praising it with a multitude of adjectives as the adventure offered is elegant, soothing, poetic, delicate, graceful. Having cared for the substance as well as the form, Clover has created a centerpiece whose full scope should be grasped. As hectic as intelligent, as original as generous, as funny as sincere, the work in question surprises, enchants, amuses and marks the meeting of developers with their public. The twirling pen, the ink flows and the magic happens ... Unprecedented....