The story of the game revolves around many Japanese folk tales and Shinto mythology. You play as the titular character, Okami Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun who inhabits the form of a white wolf. As you begin the story you will battle the forces of Orochi, an 8-headed serpent demon who’s annual ritual involves devouring a young maiden from the village of Kamiki. The story starts out simple enough but gradually unfolds into an epic tale that spans the expansive world of Nippon and beyond. The dialogue is excellently written and often very humorous, especially the lines delivered by your bug-sized traveling companion Issun, who speaks for the silent Amaterasu, whom he affectionately refers to as Ammy. The game is heavily story driven, and weighs in around 30-40 hours depending on skill level, and can take much longer if all the side quests are attempted.

The methods Ammy uses to do to battle with the forces of evil are as unique as the rest of the game’s experience. From the beginning of the game you will carry a divine instrument on your back. You use these weapons much in the same way of a standard sword weapon such as Link or any other Adventure/RPG might wield. There are 3 basic types of divine instruments: Reflectors, Rosaries, and Glaives. The controls for using these weapons are much more unique on Wii than the previous PS2 version. However, they are not as simple, as the “waggle” controls you may have in mind. The reflectors are most like a standard melee weapon and attack at short range. You use the reflector by swinging the Wii remote, but not simply wildly around, you must time each swing carefully and precisely and the learning curve for doing so is actually fairly challenging. Using a Rosary will cast out a string of beads like a whip, and the Glaives resemble swords and are the most powerful in terms of raw offense. Each of these weapon types have totally different control schemes and are very creative. Ammy can keep two divine instruments actively equipped. The primary weapon is the one used for melee attacks and are employed using the aforementioned motion controls. Each weapon can also be equipped as in the secondary slot, which will use them for a totally different purpose using the Z and C buttons on the Nunchuck controller. For instance the reflector becomes a shield, the rosary beads are fired in rapid machine-gun like succession over a distance, and the glaives become a lunging charge or a powerful single charged strike.

However, Ammy’s most unique method of attack isn’t her divine weapons but her Celestial Brush. This is where the Wii’s controls really shine. Pressing and holding the B button will freeze the world around Ammy as a giant brush is superimposed across the now scroll like scene. Use the Wii remote to draw certain symbols to utilize Ammy’s divine powers. These powers are used both in combat and in solving puzzles in the story, for purposes as common as restoring an old woman’s clothes line, to calling lightning from the heavens to decimate your foes. There are many different brush strokes to be collected by the end of the game, and each is unique and feels very powerful when used against your foes.

Arguably the most unique aspect of Okami is its visual style. Okami uses cel-shading and watercolor graphics to give the impression of an ancient Japanese painting. The world is colorful, and each environment is unique from the beautiful Kamiki village where cherry blossoms gently waft through the air to the majestic Agata Forrest where tall trees tower high above the landscape. As you play the game you get the distinct impression that you are playing a painting.

In conclusion this game is an experience; like a great work of art and is a delight to the senses, with its beautiful graphics and epic musical score, combined with truly unique game-play. If you own a Wii, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of this game. I can’t say if the game surpasses the Legend of Zelda series or not, but the fact that such a comparison is even merited should give you a clue of the magnitude of this game’s quality.

When I had first played the demo of PixelJunk Eden I was a little frustrated with it. The controls were hard to get used to and I didn’t understand why people said it was a relaxing game, I thought it was very intense. Well once the full game was out I decided to purchase it because I knew I had to give it more time. I am a huge fan of the Pixeljunk series and knew that I would like Eden if I would just take the time to learn it. I am very happy I took the time because this game is great. There is some out-of-this-world feeling you get from playing this game. The colors are beautiful and the game is such a work of art. I know that it takes place in a garden but part of me relates this garden to outer space. I think of the pictures I saw before of the Eagle Nebula and it Eden reminds me very much of deep space. The higher you get the more this is made plain. Once you learn the controls and get good at playing Eden the game is taken to another level. You get sucked in and everything starts to flow.The main thing to remember is take your time and don’t try to rush or else you will end up falling and you don’t want that to happen.

The majority of the time I play PixelJunk Eden with my wife. I find it really fun to play with her. We have to work as a team and make sure that we stay together or else we will get penalized for either of us going off screen, this is the one thing that makes co-op play sometimes frustrating. If you go to fast and don’t wait for the other player then that player will go off-screen and you will lose half of any pollen you’ve collected in the pods. This is not good especially when you are in a time crunch. I understand that co-op would be too easy if they hadn’t made it like this.

This game also sports a YouTube video upload function. This lets you record yourself playing the game and upload it directly to your YouTube account. I found this feature pretty pointless. The quality isn’t the greatest which makes it hard to even see your grimp and I don’t think anyone will really be interested to watch them as there isn’t really that many interesting things you can do in Eden other than collect pollen and spectra. It may be put to good use if you want to show your friends the game to convince them to buy it but that’s about it.

PixelJunk Eden is a great game. It’s very fun and addictive and I highly recommend it. First impressions may not be the greatest but if you stick with it for just a little longer you will see why everyone’s making such a big fuss about this one. PixelJunk Eden is proof that games are definitely art.