Okamiden Demo Impressions

Okami was a rather overlooked Nintendo Wii game that came out here in 2008, skillfully blending art and puzzles to form a masterful experience that very few players actually tried. Now, developer Clover Studio is having another go on the Nintendo DS with Okamiden, a spirtiual sequel that uses the touch-screen function of the dual screened handheld. As you can see from the image here, the visuals are once again beautiful, especially for a console that cannot always handle top notch graphical schemes (see LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy and any Spider-Man game available for it for proof of this!), and the soundtrack also feels really nice to listen to with its whimsical Japanese tones. Most of the features in the original Okami have made it through here: the paint brush still remains, allowing players to slice through objects and fend off attackers; however, even more features have been expanded and added such as the rider of Ameratsu (the wolf who you play as, also featured recently in Marvel VS Capcom 3) being a playable character in complex puzzles and choosing whether to enter a fight or find a way around it with a tougher challenge. Little tweaks like these seem insignificant at first, but it's when you start to realise the sheer scale of Okamiden, the vast landscapes you can roam and take control of with the touch screen, that what will probably be one of the last deep DS games before the 3D incarnation takes over in March becomes all the more impressive. Unless something goes horribly wrong in the weeks left before release (and given that the demo was likely taken from the final build of the game, that's very unprobable), Okamiden should be a true contender for DS Game of the Year, a true treat for any fans or newcomers who return to the series!