Tattered Page

Jenn’s been playing Okami since its release a few weeks ago.  Although I haven’t been at the controls much myself (I can’t wrest the controls off of her) the game is impressive on many levels- right now, I want to talk about the graphics.

 

Okami uses cel-shading to give the impression of a traditional japanese watercolor painting.  Thick, uneven black that resemble the black brush strokes.  Landscapes are given an uneven treatment so common in watercolors.  The animations somehow managed to reflect the fluid, drawn nature of the style.  Even the somewhat eerie abstract “dialogue” audio contributed to the illusion.

A few weeks back, the blogging community was abuzz with talk of what made “World of Warcraft” so successful.  Opting for a distinctive art style that didn’t tax the user’s machine came up repeatedly- as did the difficulties in taking that approach.  WoW took some criticism for their approach, but they focused on a distinctive art style and succeeded.

Okami, released for the PS2, isn’t a next-generation title.  It doesn’t use advanced technologies to sell the game (nor sex or gratuitous violence, for that matter) yet it delivers where so many other games don’t: true style. 

That’s something often missed when chasing after the next big tech advance.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 16th, 2006 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.