Second Chances

I'm still having mixed feelings when it comes to the upcoming Okami for the Nintendo Wii. Sure the chance to experience hideki kamiya's labour of love on a higher definition graphics with widescreen is appealing but i'm also well aware that hideki is no longer with Capcom. To add to my fears, Capcom decided to draft a couple of outsiders, namely the guys at Ready at Dawn and assign them to do the port. First things first, what happened to the remaining members of Clover studios who were absorbed into Capcom and were earlier working on Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles? and secondly, Okami is a distinctly Japanese-favoured game as were Clover Studios, having a bunch of Yanks messing around with the original game just doesn't sit well with me.

Thankfully, Ready at Dawn seems very respectful of the original game and promise not to change anything at all though i still feel once the original visionary leaves the project, any attempt to improve upon the game and deliver the definitive version just feels empty and souless. Separate Ways was a great addition to the Playstation2 version of Resident Evil 4 but the bonus costumes and all additions just didn't felt like they were meant to be there, as evident by the last iteration of Resident Evil 4 on the Nintendo Wii. As far as i'm concerned, Shinji mikami delivered the first and best iteration of Resident Evil 4 when it debuted on the Gamecube, all other version were just poor imitators.

Hideki may have left Capcom but his legacy there lives on through this latest iteration of Okami, i just hope Ready at Dawn gets it right and not splatter their names over his in the ending credits...

The Great Pretender

Next gen games define the expectations of what the platform is capable of. When everyone finally got to play Resident Evil 4, no one could believe the Gamecube was capable of such feats so much so that the mere idea (back then) of porting it to a lesser platform seems impossible.

God of War Chains of Olympus evoke the same kinda feelings, the game looks and plays just like the Playstation2 games it spawned off from, save perhaps for some jagged edges on some of the background textures. Back when the PSP was first launched Sony said it's performance lies somewhere in between a PSOne and a PS2, now the PSP is looking more like a PS2 made portable. Does this make Chains of Olympus a great game? Not necessarily so as i always believe the needs like a handheld game and console game are very much different and just because some developers are smart and capable enough to 'shoe-horn' their console franchise onto a handheld without making any compromise doesn't mean that it's a great handheld game. In fact, it is pretty sad seeing that handhelds were supposed to be the perfect platform for innovations for developers to take risks and try new things without running into a budget big enough to sink the company.

But this is the PSP we are talking about and Sony has from day one marketed their system on this very basis, a handheld able to offer console gaming experience on the go. I applaud Ready at Dawn for their efforts, the game is just overflowing with production values the God of War franchise is famous for. However it's greatest strength is also its' biggest weakness as the game is painfully devoid of any innovations, it's the same type of game we played three years ago on the PS2, so as long as you don't mind playing the same type of game again on your PSP then you are sure be very well pleased with Chains of Olympus. To be fair, this is still a hit in Sony and RAD books, if Okami Wii is just as pleasing then RAD would have gone three for three on their first three games, not bad. However, putting out a game using others intellectual property is much easier than doing your own, as there is already a proven winning formula to follow so the jury is still out on whether Ready At Dawn can cut it with their own games.