Video game review by ERIK LEIJON

In an unfortunate move, Capcom recently decided to close one of its hottest development houses, Clover Studio, creators of the Viewtiful Joe franchise. Thankfully, Clover has bequeathed to us mourning fans two final PS2 titles, Okami (PS2/Capcom, Clover) and God Hand (PS2/Capcom, Clover). Both titles hint at the young team’s boundless creative potential.

Okami is the definitive, and possibly one of the final, statements on the cel-shaded art style in gaming. Cel-shading, in laymen’s terms, is when characters and environments are given thick outlines to give the impression everything was hand-drawn. In the case of Okami, the game looks like a picture book on overdrive. Okami is peerless in terms of luscious and vibrant graphics. The environments contrast between dark, moody, evil inhabited lands and bright, sun-drenched worlds engulfed with exploding plant life. The main character, the flaming wolf god Amaterasu, is a fairy tale creature come to life—his movements have an eerie, realistic quality to them, which make it possible for the mute animal protagonist to exude his godlike demeanour.

Digging further into the whimsical, artsy style, Amaterasu can affect environments and vanquish enemies by using one of 15 magic attacks, called mystical celestial brush powers, which are done by painting on the screen by holding R1 and using the left analog stick. For example, painting a circle will unleash the power of the sun, or painting a line directly through an enemy will slash them. By holding the R1 button, the game freezes the action and reproduces it on your drawing tablet screen, making it possible to take your time while drawing.

It’s highly inventive, and while slightly gimmicky since it’s not used all that often in the fights (which resemble action-adventure games like Legend of Zelda), the animations that occur afterwards are often worth the price of admission. Amaterasu can fill in constellations, plant trees, create wind and fix any problem in the game with his brush.

Okami has some camera issues, and the fighting is mundane and extremely easy, but the visuals are reason alone to try this game. Watching a black swamp transform into a meadow that looks straight out of Microsoft’s desktop wallpaper scheme is as breathtaking a visual as you’ll ever see on the current-gen. Another slight problem is that since there are only 15 moves you can perform with your brush, it becomes pretty obvious how each problem must be solved and doesn’t require much thought.

Only the second-best arm-themed title of the year (Enchanted Arms is the undisputed winner), God Hand has a ridiculous premise and laughably bad dialogue, but is also one of the better campy games of recent memory.

Taking place in a sci-fi Wild West, your task is to beat up every opponent by tapping incessantly on the attack buttons, until you build enough power to either pull off a special move or to turn on the “god hand,” where your hand glows and punches fly even faster.

The story and characters are stupid, the tapping re-aggravated my wrist tendonitis, and the character models look oddly tall, but it’s clear the developers had some fun making this horribly silly game. The moves look amazing, and run the gamut from punching with huge electricity bolts to kicking some helpless chump in the nuts. It’s not a great title, but as far as beat ’em-ups go, it’s a rental that will provide some easy laughs. And there’s blackjack too.

Trivia time

Okami’s cel-shaded graphics are possibly the most impressive we’ll ever see, but do you know which game was the first to include cel-shading? Send your guesses to erikleijon@gmail.com.