peterzolli

I'm getting kind of a Steins;Gate vibe here; the two main male characters remind me of Okarin and Daru. We'll see how things develop...

I can echo all of what was said above: Great art design, great music, and above all, great story -- very rare in video games, and indeed Beyond Good and Evil's story and characters have more "meat" than most sci-fi blockbuster films.

The reasons why this game was overlooked are simple. One, the game is mis-named; the title really doesn't describe the game in any meaningful way. The second and far more important reason is that, in the U.S. anyway, this game was released during the "Christmas Rush" that plagues the gaming industry. In an effort to capitalize on holiday sales, game publishers save every game they've spent any money on and then release them all during November and December. It's inevitable that some games -- often very good ones, and especially those that are left-of-center -- are going to get lost in the shuffle.

The director of this game, Michel Ancel (also the creator of Rayman, one of my favorite VG characters), is one of video gaming's true visionaries. Any of his games are at least worth a look, and BG&E is worth more than that.

One note of hope is the fact that it has happened in the past that games that didn't do well initially have gone on to become "cult classics" and actually spawned sequels! Maybe this can happen with this great, overlooked game.

Okami is a video game in which you play as Amaterasu, a god from Japanese mythology. Amaterasu's mission is to restore Nippon's ecology by defeating demons, as well as to restore the faith of the Japanese (Nipponese?) people. In this aim, she is assisted by Issun, a tiny painter with a big ego, who provides comic relief from the game's rather philosophical concerns. While I don't know much about Japanese mythology, apparently all of the characters and many of the plot-elements are taken from this source.

Okami features a stunning and unique art style based on Japanese charcoal drawing. The main game-play innovation is the use of the Celestial Brush, a tool which allows you to "paint" features into the game (slash through obstacles, restore broken bridges, grow trees and flowers, and many more) which you can then interact with.

Okami's story is well-written, full of surprises, and at times genuinely moving. I actually cried (a little, anyway) at the ending, which I can not say about any other video game.

The question has been asked, "Are video games Art?" I think the simple answer to that question is "yes, they can't help but be," but the more important question is, "Can video games be GOOD Art?" I think Okami, along with a very small handful of other games, answers that question in the affirmative. At a time when films and music are often as artistically debased as most video games are, Okami has a powerful and positive story to tell, and tells it beautifully.