Game Rage

Back in 2007 I played Okami, a brilliant, original but criminally underrated PS2 adventure/RPG. Sadly Clover Studios, the developers, closed after the production of the game, but luckily for the fans Capcom decided to develop a sequel themselves for the DS, called Okamiden, which translates loosely to ‘Okami Chronicles’.



At first I thought it was brilliant. Okami is possibly my favourite game, and I jumped at the chance to get to play again in its glorious watercolour world. I picked it up shortly after its release and have been playing it non stop... until now.

The thing is, there’s a boss about 12 hours in that is driving me to distraction. No matter what I do, it takes me down again and again. I’ve tried over and over but in the end I had to admit defeat and put the DS down. If I don’t figure out how to beat it, I can’t progress and that’s the end of the game for me.

This isn’t the only time I’ve had to give up on a game half way through. Katamari Forever was consigned to the shelf after a ridiculous level where the Katamari had to be kept at a certain temperature, or the player would lose. After about 536764767 (approx) attempts, I packed it in to go do something more productive, like slamming my head against a brick wall. I never got past the half hour mark in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas because the fiddling about taking CJ to the gym and to fried chicken shacks (a contradiction in terms, surely?) got in the way of, you know, actual gameplay.



It’s not just me sucking at games either, a quick search of Google throws up a massive list of games players couldn’t bring themselves to finish. If it wasn’t the glitchy and broken controls, it was impossible bosses, if it wasn’t horrible and badly written storylines, it was the artificially lengthened game time with rubbish side quests and irritating backtracking.

Interestingly, you don’t see many older games on the list. A random sampling (i.e. me scrolling up and down really quickly on the page) comes up with Bayonetta, Bioshock, Demon Souls, Assassin’s Creed and Brutal Legend.

You’ve got to wonder whether today’s developers are missing something. Not all of them, I hasten to add in case any angry developers start banging my door down seeking revenge, just some. When games cost in the region of £50, it feels as if games are having to be tarted up and billed as the biggest/maddest/most offensive thing out there. (I mean, you saw the Dead Space 2 ‘Your mom will hate this’ ads, right?) With this happening though, it seems as if all the original ideas and compelling gameplay are being left by the wayside.

This is just my argument from last week, but I think it’s important enough to make again. The problem is, this will carry on happening as long as we buy them. If a game garners a decent enough fanbase, then sequels and similar titles can be churned out to suck the money from the gamers’ wallets without any thought into progressing gaming as an art form.

It’s sad but if we made conscious efforts to pay for original and enjoyable titles, we could encourage the industry to give us something better.

Thing is, that’s what I was doing when acquired Okami and Okamiden, and look what’s happened. I really hope I figure out how to beat that sodding boss. Okamiden features the cutest puppy in the entire universe and I will cry if I have to stop playing. I mean, look at him:



How can I say no to that?

-Friday Voni