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I didn't jump onto the Okami bandwagon until last week, when I traded a broken DS Lite for the Wii version of Okami.
Ever since I started Okami, I don't think there's any game that sucked me into the beautiful world of Japanese samurai culture and brushstrokes.
It literally made me feel like I was a character from one of my favorite anime films, "Princess Mononoke." For anyone who doesn't know, "Princess Mononoke" was a film about a young warrior in ancient Japan, named Ashitaka. He traveled the land to negotiate peace between the demonic animals and the violent miners of Iron Town.
This is probably the only game that puts me into the shoes of that warrior from Princess Mononoke. Well, I'm actually controlling a wolf under the command of the sun god, Amaterasu. Aside from that, every battle immerses me into a samurai duel that looks as dangerous as a fight in "Princess Mononoke."
With the Wii version, I can rhythmically swing the remote to slash the enemy imps. Even after killing them, I can cut the enemies in half by drawing a horizontal brush stroke through them. It literally looks as gory and shocking as my favorite anime.
[embed:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG3FtX9cqo8 ]
It also brings back fuzzy memories of my favorite samurai films. Although my wolf doesn't even resemble a hero from the Akira Kurosawa film, "The Seven Samurai," it still saves villagers' lives in the same manner.
I just wish more game companies could develop adventures that are as original and beautiful as this one. I want more games that allow me to use actual controller motions for efficient, fast-paced action.
There's so many possibilities with the remote controller. If Okami redefined how gamers use their remote controls, why can't Team Ninja create a remote control version of "Ninja Gaiden"? If Resident Evil 4 redefined the controls of shooting games, why can't we have more shooting games with remote controls?
I guess I'll just have to wait for the other games that these developers come up with. In the meantime, I'll keep reliving my favorite samurai moments by playing "Okami."