Overrated: Ōkami
Despite having played Ōkami around eleven years ago, it's regularly a topic of conversation between a friend and I. The two of us and another played through the game together, and we were appalled at how a game with such high praise was so disappointing. I'll briefly mention its negatives.
- Too much hand-holding: A lot of information is repeated, time and time again, stating exactly what the player must do which prohibits the player from discovering on their own what to do.
- Unfulfilling side objectives: Normally, side content is something I naturally gravitate toward accomplishing, but I felt what's available was quite underwhelming with little variety or depth. Additionally, it seemed like there was little time to explore the world at large beyond progressing through the main narrative.
- Poor tone: In short, much of the game regarding dialogue and character design is crude and sexualized. Perhaps that's fine for some games, but I'm of the opinion that these choices did not complement the atmosphere at all.
- Gameplay loop: Above all, though is the gameplay loop. If players are wanting to see the game's ending, they essentially must beat the game three times. Each of the three boss encounters (which should signify the game's at the first battle instance) feature the same boss enemy and are nearly identical in strategy. The gameplay sequencing between these moments remains stagnant too, so it genuinely felt like, by the time the credits appeared, I had beaten a lackluster game three times.
Of course, I'm aware of the praise for Ōkami's gameplay regarding brush controls and for its art direction. I, too, believe these are successfully designed and implemented. However, the game's faults are too apparent and disruptive to the overall experience. I remember falling asleep as one of the two others players on several occasions—actually, I think we all fell asleep at some point without the control in hand.
I never really liked Okami either, I dropped it after 7 or 8 hours of playing.
I find the game too talkative and the gameplay with the brush a little imprecise, which is what irritated me at one point when it came to progressing in the game.
For Sunset Overdrive, the game is not bad but too repetitive.
