Okami impressions

After the boss attacks for a few moments, it put out a fleshy appendage. Slashing it with the Celestial Brush caused some hooks on the boss' top to come into view. Using the Brush, you can then attach them to flowers in the level which act as pulleys - pulling the boss' carapace open and allowing you to get close and smack the hell out of its unprotected eyeballs... which, for some reason, are arranged in a ring inside. We don't argue with malevolent spider goddesses about physiology, though; we just kick their asses.

Once we the boss was almost dead, it decided to up the onslaught by firing huge projectiles and trying to escape to the safety of the ceiling by climbing its thread - but a stroke of the Celestial Brush took care of both of those. In moments, it was slain.

We've long had our eyes on Okami. The more we see, the more we become convinced that this game will live up to the promise of an expansive and engrossing adventure game for the PS2 - something that hasn't really been managed by anybody just yet. The PS2 is home to some exceptional games, but none of them quite blend the action/ puzzles / bosses game flow Nintendo fans consider to be uniquely their own. Well, they may have a wolf on their side, but Sony owners do too.