Sound/Music:

The music in the game is lovely and it suits the subject matter. There are harps and what sounds like koto. The music is very much the conveyance of the mood in the game. It changes to get the pulse racing during the fighting sequences. It evokes serenity and peace when Okami is returning the earth to its former beauty.

I only have one criticism of the the game. When you are reading the many, many text screens they are accompanied by a weird mumbling voice. It is cute at first. But it becomes annoying right away. I would have preferred actual Japanese language instead. Then it would make sense to have the subtitles. The same goes for the flea that follows Okami throughout the game and provides exposition. It could be a common facet of mythology to have a little flea along with a wolf or dog in a story, but it reminded me of Inuyasha where a flea also provides back story and it is done with a normal voice actor.

Gameplay:

The gameplay is unusual to say the least. It isn't particularly about killing things. There are plenty of enemies to dispatch. Some of the most fun parts of the game come from little things like making the old woman smile when you replace her clothes line, or when you feed the birds and they fly around your head thanking you with billowing hearts. That is a good thing. We have been complaining for a long time that we wanted innovation and new things to do. This game provides just that. You begin learning how to opperate the odd ball tools that Okami uses to fight with, and restore her energy. The learning process takes about 90 minutes and it is well done.

One of the main features in the game is the ability to use a calligraphy brush. At first I thought that it would be difficult to try and draw with a controller from a console. It was easy to do though. You are given 13 various tasks that can be performed with the brush and these unlock as you progress thorough the game.

Marketing Efforts Towards Women:

Okami may be the most important game this year as an example of a failure to market to women. The game itself is designed exactly for what women gamers would enjoy. It is too bad that the publishers had no clue what they had in their hands. They should have taken out large ads on all the women's game portal websites and in womens magazines. It is a lost opportunity. Once again they could have benefited by coming to us for advice.

Okami gets my best female character in a game this year. Okami is exactly what we have been asking for. She doesn't have wardrobe malfunctions, there is no T&A, she is a powerful and heroic female lead character in a game.

Okami demonstrates the type of game that women love, with a deep engaging story. There is fighting as well as more things to do besides warfare in it. There are many NPC's that are little girls and old people. It is balanced. It isn't pink, there isn't any stereo-typical nonsense. Thanks game developers, the best female character I have seen in 2006 is a dog.

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