Okami First Impressions

Inkpots for your brush can be picked up by smashing jugs.

Our Capcom guide reckons that Okami could clock in at around 60 hours in total, and its size is one of the reasons we haven't heard much about it since last E3 when we said it was the most beautiful PS2 game since ICO (that's arguably still true, and there's a timeless air to the game's graphics that means they still impress just as much a year later; playing it's like swimming through an oil painting). But it'll be back at E3 this year and we've played the new section, in which wolf god Amaterasu continues her quest to regain the 13 powers of the mythological celestial brush, helps a duff warrior sort out an unwelcome cave-squatter, and eventually uses a beach ball to grow a tree.

For the benefit of those who missed out last year and can't be bothered to read up, Okami sees Amaterasu navigating various dreamy locations fighting bad guys and solving puzzles - all with the help of the aforementioned celestial brush, which can be used to cut through rocks and wooden barricades, smack enemies and draw in missing scenic details. It works like this: when you've smacked an enemy enough for the game to highlight him with a red circle, or you've found something to paint, you hold R1, which pauses the action and lets you view it a bit like a sketch on canvas, at which point you use the analogue stick to manoeuvre your celestial paintbrush and square to daub the canvas with it. Draw a slash-line across a stunned enemy to strike him, do the same to a boulder or a tree to carve it asunder, and twirl it in a circle on the horizon to draw the sun - providing that's pertinent to the puzzle.

Battles are real-time, but each one confines you to a circle area wreathed in flame.

As with last year's demo, we're still firmly in what feels like tutorial-land, with Issun, who rides around with you explaining story details and whatnot, imparting all sorts of information as you go along. This area is doing a better job of restraining the resident deity, says Issun, so beating up the thugs at the cave entrance won't be enough to bring life back to the compost-coloured hillside. So you journey a bit further, facing off against plants that lob exploding seeds at you - and defeating them by gripping R1 as they launch their projectiles, then slashing them in mid-air with the brush to send them back, stun the plant and let you pass by untroubled.

Soon you run into a warrior chap called Sasumo, who shrugs off your offers of help before running off to hide-WHOOPS-meant-to-say-train in his cave. This sort of stuff underlines the game's sense of humour, really - gentle and Zelda-esque. Following Sasumo, you find him staring down a bear which appears to be fast asleep (I'm not quite sure why the rhythmic expansion of its snot bubble conveys this, but it does), standing on top of what appears to be a silvery beach ball. Sasumo isn't going to stand for this, but he isn't much of a swordsman either, so as he does his super four-thrust attack, it's your job to hit R1 at the right time and slice what he's been trying to cut to salvage his dignity. Then, when prompted, to do the same to the bear.

It isn't just puzzle bits you can slash - some objects, like trees and rocks, can be broken down with the brush too.

Sasumo then pegs it, and you're left with the silvery ball, which you soon realise would complement the picture outside the cave, where a dark sky hangs over a small pool that's been raised up next to a withered sapling in the centre of a clearing. The solution is to have Amaterasu nudge the ball outside into the pool, and then position her to paint the sun into the gap where the dark sky hangs. This then shines on the ball, which in turn concentrates a beam on the sapling, and soon - with a bit more brushing - life floods back into the area. This sudden eruption of life, which has been a theme of each of the Okami sections we've seen, is a gorgeous sight and the PS2 has no trouble doing it justice.