When I first saw Okage: The Shadow King featured in various magazine previews, I thought it looked like a pretty cool RPG. It had the look of Tim Burtons The Nightmare Before Christmas which I found pretty cool. When it was released last year it unfortunately got overshadowed by the likes of other games such as Grand Theft Auto 3 and Halo. Last week, I came across a half off sale in a local Toy Works store and amongst the games featured was Okage. With the half off, the game came out to a mere $11.50 plus tax. Not bad at all and a deal I couldn't resist.
Okage is about a young 16 year old boy named Ari. Ari's sister Annie has been stricken with a terrible disease which makes her speak only in pig Latin. To cure this, Ari's dad released the spirit of a 300 year old evil king called Stan. In order for Stan to cure Annie, he wants a host to posses their shadow. And guess who's shadow he wants to posses? You guessed it, Ari. After agreeing, Stan becomes Ari's new shadow and makes Ari his slave. Now, Stan commands Ari to search the land and help him track down and destroy various fake evil kings around the land.
That's all the story I'm going to tell, since I don't want to ruin it for anyone. Its a pretty whacked out story and while it may not have the depth of an epic like Final Fantasy 10, it does have humor and originality. Its good to see developers trying something different in the way of RPG storylines. Especially when its a really bizarre one like in Okage.
Character design here is very strong. Like I mentioned, it looks like it was strait out of Nightmare Before Christmas. Characters have sort of a super deformed look with their big heads and small bodies. The also kind of remind me of the characters in Evolution for the Dreamcast. While Ari and the rest of the cast are all cool, my hands down favorite is Stan. Stan is just too cool, even though he's nothing more then a flat, goofy looking shadow with yellow eyes standing behind Ari's back. He constantly goes on and on about world conquest and how evil he is, yet, no one takes him serious. There's some very funny incidents in the game that deal with this.
The overall gameplay in Okage is pretty familiar to anyone that's played RPGs in the past. There are a number of towns to roam around, as well as outdoor field maps to explore. There's also a number of little secrets and side things to do, such as finding all the gears hidden throughout the games worlds.
Dungeons are one of the games weak points. With the exception of the last dungeon, they all feel and sort of look the same. Simply find and destroy all the urns on each floor and trigger switch's that open doors and raise bridges. There's no real puzzles to be solved, just pretty much strait forward action here. The only thing really resembling a puzzle I've seen was this gear puzzle near the end. Its very simple and I wouldn't even really call that much of a puzzle though.
Combat in Okage is also fairly weak. Fights are not random and you can always see them coming. The overall system can best be described as being like a watered down Final Fantasy battle system. Only a lot faster paced and less polished. Each character has a little bar that raises up and then they can use an action once its filled. Characters can use their standard attack, use magic or items. One of the biggest let downs in the whole battle system deals with the use of magic and items. First off, everyone shares magic points. Why? This is a stupid idea. The second problem is that certain attacks don't use magic but rather they drain your life. While this may sound original, it doesn't really add anything to the system and in my opinion, hurts it. Also, you may want to be extra careful when using Ari's life draining attacks. Unlike other characters, if Ari dies, its game over.
One of the cool things I like about the combat is Stan. At random times before a fight, Stan will ask you something like how great he is. You then have to pick 3 words to best describe what he ask. If you answer correctly, then Stan will unleash a powerful attack at the start of the fight. Even if this doesn't occur before the fight, Stan will still attack at random during some fights. Its not quite as powerful as if he attacks after answering the question right, but its still quite strong and can really help out at times.
Graphics 8: Graphics are definitely a mixed bag in Okage. On one hand, the town and field map graphics are simply breathtaking. Textures are very crisp, clean and detail, characters look and animate great. So, what's the problem? A few things really.
First off is that there's some camera problems. Half the time, the camera is never where you want it. It will frequently swing around to the front of your character, so you cant see what's in front of you. Sometimes it even obscures your view completely with things like tree's. There's a button to adjust it, but it never quite stays put.
The second problem is the blurriness in the town and field graphics. While thing look simply amazing close up, at a distance they don't really look so hot. While this isn't quite as major as the camera, it does serve to annoy a little.
Finally, the dungeon and battle graphics are boring. Dungeons all seem to look alike and are really lacking in detail. The same can be said about the battle graphics as well. Things just look really plain in them. Magical attacks are nothing special looking at all and pretty boring. It's almost like the dungeon and battle graphics were rushed.
Sound 8: The sound here is pretty impressive. The music has sort of a movie like feel to it and fits the game perfectly. The only problem is that there's not all that many music track. There's only maybe about 10 or so that constantly repeat throughout the game.
Also, besides the cool sounding narrator, there's not really much in the way of voice acting. This is something that I would have really liked to have seen in it. Well, maybe in a sequel.
Control 7: While the controls are nothing bad at all, their held back by a very uncooperative camera. You find yourself fighting with the camera and trying to adjust it a lot more then you should. Still, its not that bad and even RPG novices should have very little problems with it.
Overall, I really enjoyed Okage. While it wasn't the next Final Fantasy or Phantasy Star, it was a very enjoyable game and a refreshing change of pace from the RPG norm. Its also a little short and can be beaten in around 24-35 hours. Still, despite the problems it has and its short length, I'd still recommend Okage to RPG gamers. Most hardcore RPG gamers may snuff it, but the more casual RPG gamer or beginner may find it just right. If you have any doubts then I'd advise you at least give it a rental. Great job but it still shows a lot of promise for a sequel.
