Post by midnightclubx on Nov 4, 2012 1:43:41 GMT -6
When Okami first came out on the Playstation 2 back in late 2006, the game received glowing reviews (for the right reasons), but low sales (for the wrong reasons), which led to the closure of Clover Studio and the beginning of the end of Capcom as we knew it. The people that were able to play the game, however, were treated to one of the most beautiful games in gaming history since Ico and Rez. Also the last game that I would see with such beauty and filled my personal definition of "Games as Art" until El Shaddai came out just last year (a game I highly recommend renting).
Before I properly begin this review, I must admit that while I never got to play the original PS2 version when it first game out, I did get to play the re-release on the Wii that Ready at Dawn ported back in 2008. The game surprisingly made a great transition controls-wise, especially for the Celestial Brush segments... on a standard definition TV. When I rented the game again, two years later, the controls were suddenly horrible because this game, much like the console, wasn't made with HDTVs in mind despite the fact it came out a few days after the Playstation 3 (but the Wii U is coming out and it's backwards compatible with Wii games, so that might actually be solved). Despite that, the graphics were cleaned up and more colorful, and other than Capcom cutting off the original credits and only supporting the Ready at Dawn team, the game was faithful to the original.
The HD port came out about 5 days ago at this time of writing, and while I haven't gotten as far as I have in the Wii version yet, I can already tell that the people at High Voltage Software did an excellent job porting this game to the PS3. Regardless of whether or not you believe THIS TRAILER (and personally I think it's BS simply because the PS2 version never looked that blurry, and I saw the comparison trailer between the PS2 and Wii versions FOUR YEARS AGO!), the game looks as beautiful and vibrant as ever.
There is no slowdown from what I have played so far, the music and SFX are enhanced, and it controls great, just like if a Legend of Zelda game was made for Playstation controllers in mind. We also now trophy support as well (something that Disco Doof loves so much ;P [sarcasm] ), and while I personally have no bias for or against trophies, it is bizarre seeing them on what used to be a PS2 game, something that I still have not gotten over since I played the God of War HD Collection in 2009.
People who have never played the game before, please do yourself a favor and buy it; it's cheap for being $10-$15, and it will be one of the richest experiences you will ever have playing a video game. As for people that might have owned the PS2/Wii versions, buy it if your discs are on the verge of death, or you simply want an excuse to play the game again with more crisp graphics.
I admit that this was a rather short review, but I remembered writing a more in-depth review of the Wii port back in 2008 on my DeviantART page, most likely on the journals section. Go have a look-see if you want a more in-depth version of this review.
Post-review update: One more thing that I forgot to mention; anyone who got used to either previous version's controls will feel right at home, because the game also supports optional Playstation Move as well, which is a plus for anyone who has either played with the Wii version or wants to find good use of Sony's ice cream cone. ;P
Before I properly begin this review, I must admit that while I never got to play the original PS2 version when it first game out, I did get to play the re-release on the Wii that Ready at Dawn ported back in 2008. The game surprisingly made a great transition controls-wise, especially for the Celestial Brush segments... on a standard definition TV. When I rented the game again, two years later, the controls were suddenly horrible because this game, much like the console, wasn't made with HDTVs in mind despite the fact it came out a few days after the Playstation 3 (but the Wii U is coming out and it's backwards compatible with Wii games, so that might actually be solved). Despite that, the graphics were cleaned up and more colorful, and other than Capcom cutting off the original credits and only supporting the Ready at Dawn team, the game was faithful to the original.
The HD port came out about 5 days ago at this time of writing, and while I haven't gotten as far as I have in the Wii version yet, I can already tell that the people at High Voltage Software did an excellent job porting this game to the PS3. Regardless of whether or not you believe THIS TRAILER (and personally I think it's BS simply because the PS2 version never looked that blurry, and I saw the comparison trailer between the PS2 and Wii versions FOUR YEARS AGO!), the game looks as beautiful and vibrant as ever.
There is no slowdown from what I have played so far, the music and SFX are enhanced, and it controls great, just like if a Legend of Zelda game was made for Playstation controllers in mind. We also now trophy support as well (something that Disco Doof loves so much ;P [sarcasm] ), and while I personally have no bias for or against trophies, it is bizarre seeing them on what used to be a PS2 game, something that I still have not gotten over since I played the God of War HD Collection in 2009.
People who have never played the game before, please do yourself a favor and buy it; it's cheap for being $10-$15, and it will be one of the richest experiences you will ever have playing a video game. As for people that might have owned the PS2/Wii versions, buy it if your discs are on the verge of death, or you simply want an excuse to play the game again with more crisp graphics.
I admit that this was a rather short review, but I remembered writing a more in-depth review of the Wii port back in 2008 on my DeviantART page, most likely on the journals section. Go have a look-see if you want a more in-depth version of this review.
Post-review update: One more thing that I forgot to mention; anyone who got used to either previous version's controls will feel right at home, because the game also supports optional Playstation Move as well, which is a plus for anyone who has either played with the Wii version or wants to find good use of Sony's ice cream cone. ;P