Awesome Games in the 21st Century: Okamiden

I got a 3DS.  Damn you, Tenchi.  You have convinced me for the last time!


But god damn it, this game is adorable.  It's the sequel to Okami, which kind of freaks me out a bit seeing that most games like this are not direct sequels.  The gameplay is pretty nice, and with the drawing ability for this system, how can you not make this game for the DS?
Yeah this game is a DS game.  Unfortunately I didn't buy a 3D game right away, but because I was in love with the gameplay and storyline of the first game, I really wanted to see what the sequel had to offer.

One thing that's hilarious is that you get different kids riding on Chibiterasu's back the entire time.  You get attached to one guy, who also fights, then have to immediately get used to another one and complete a dungeon.  Not that bad of an idea, but I was so used to the fact that the first character, the son of Susano, would be there the entire time.  Then some mermaid thinks it's alright to just climb on up and hang around for a while.  Freeloaders...

Story's not that horrible.  Rarely there are mentions of the previous storyline except if you read the history scrolls, but reoccurring characters do show up every now and then or at least get mentioned.  The world map also expands like it has been a while since the last game ended.  New places are discovered along with new areas within some of the familiar lands. 

The battle system is also very different.  Like I said before the different partners also fight but usually at the end of your combo.  You also get graded for how much they fight at the end of the battle mode like it does in the first game.  Your partners also have abilities to walk towards different switches or weird terrain that the puppy Chibiterasu normally can't walk over.  This also comes to play with some different brush techniques made for this game that the original didn't have.  Funny thing is all of the brush gods have kids, too, so you get these cutscenes after constellation drawings of these baby versions of the gods doing something clumsy and stupid.  So far I have run into about two different techniques that are new to the series, and it adds more activity to the drawing modes in the game. 

Overall, without finishing it, I find it engaging but with not as much depth as the original had. Sometimes you'll find yourself flying through the game and other times getting stuck or skipping a few boring cutscenes.  But there are tons of treasures to find and other sidequests to do that could probably give you a break from the linear storyline.