Genre: Opinion/Argumentation

Email a copy of: Review: Okami HD for PS3 is a great game as long as it is muted to a friend Review: Okami HD for PS3 is a great game as long as it is muted Releasing an HD version of any game, even when porting the title to a similar console, can be complicated. The original fans of the game are going to want it, but any changes you make are likely to be met with hesitation. The whole idea is that you're re-releasing the game so it is enjoyable on new consoles. With a unique title like Okami , you're got the added bonus of knowing there's a niche market ready to stuff dollar bills into the DVD slot on the PS3 . While Okami HD looks like a recipe for a quick trip down memory lane, the game is only playable when muted. If you are unfamiliar with Okami , you should know that there's a lot of text to read. The first 20 minutes of the game go deep into explaining the back story and end with an extended conversation between the characters. Unlike the original version, there's no way to skip these scenes. During the sequences of endlessly flowing text, there's a voice in the background. Like the original, the voice isn't actually saying words. Instead, you get this multi-tonal babble that just sounds like chaos after a few lines of text. There is no way to escape this aside from muting your audio, and you have to hear it every single time anyone in the game speaks. As promised, Okami HD revisits the story of Amaterasu and her giant ink brush saving the world from a great evil. All of the assets for the game have been enhanced to look excellent on high definition televisions. The same unique animations from the original game, complete with backdrops reminiscent of traditional Japanese paintings and brightly colored scenery all look great. The combat sequences stutter a bit when trying to perform combo attacks that involve switching to the brush for attacks, often resulting in the brush moving slightly before touching the joystick. I never found it to be something that inhibited gameplay, but if you use the brush a lot in your attacks it is noticeable. The button placement for the PS3 controller is very much in line with the PS2 version of the game, so users who sunk countless hours into the game will have no problems picking the game back up. If you played Okami on the Wii, or if you've never played at all, there's a pretty basic controller walk-through in the beginning of the game that does a good job explaining everything. If you are a Playstation Move user, the wand offers you direct control of the paintbrush on the screen. This is really nice for attacks that benefit from a quick flick of the wrist instead of a pause in gameplay to lineup the brush and draw with the joystick. If you are a fan of the original Okami , $20 is a small price to pay to see the game re-done with HD assets. It's an artistic title with some really beautiful backdrops later in the game, and as an action title it can get challenging at points. It's a shame that someone forgot to let you skip cut scenes or apply some actual voice-overs to the game. Or, just remove the fake talking altogether, since it adds absolutely nothing to the title.