Okami is Awesome, GTR2 is Hard

I think that's about all I have to say about that. I regularly play videogames. On any given week you could find a few videogames taking up my spare time. With the recent procurement of a DS, I've played through a few great platform games: New Super Mario Bros, Sonic Rush, Castlevania:Aria of Sorrow. Next on my list to tackle are: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Two recent games tore me away from my DS. Okami and GTR2. Okami is awesome. I'm willing to put it in my top 10 of he last 5 years. More near the top than the bottom. Not that I have a formal top ten, but if I did, it would be up there on the highest echelons of awesome, right next to totally sweet. Zelda + Calligraphy + Weird Japanese mythology = Okami. I'm also not talking about that cheesy Zelda for the CD-i but Wind Waker/Ocarina of Time awesomeness. I have less to say about GTR2 that doesn't involve streams of cursing due to its difficulty.

I have a distinct problem. I have some sort of weird aversion to "digital assists" in racing games. This causes more spinning out than is normally necessary, hence, cursing. Ths could be easily avoided by turning auto "*****" control on where "*****" is everything. What racing sims like this need is a "make me look cool" button where I can both drift, and race fast, while talking to my wife about her day and generally being awesome, but sadly, the furious spinning of both my nifty logitech steering wheel and my on screen car breaks everything down enough for me to cry. Yet, I have to conclude that the game is absolutely amazing. It feels somehow lighter and less connected to the road than say, GT4, but I have a feeling that the perspective and force feedback has more to do with that than any lack of physics model.

In short, buy okami.

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