Game Journal: Otogi 2

written on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009

GAME JOURNALS CONTAIN SPOILERS. DEAL WITH IT PINK BOY.

Otogi is a super Japanese pair of action games for the original Xbox (or oXbox, which is fitting as the thing is freaking huge for a console).

I played through the first one and was never really sold on the action game aspect of it. The game is pretty slow paced compared to Devil May Cry or God Hand. But that's part of the super Japanese atmosphere, and sometimes it's nice to play a slower game.

Anyway, I've been trying to take pictures for screen shots. Maybe one in twenty is even remotely usable. It'll be nice when I finally upgrade to an HD screen and have my computer and consoles all together. Then I should be able to simply hook up a USB video capture device. But that's a long way off. For now, you get...

this.

I swear it's a pretty ice cave. With a woman in a kimono attacking a crazy bird man with her scythe. Of course no amount of focus would make this next shot clear.



Dem's a lotta sparks. In addition to the special effects getting in the way, the camera is often a problem, especially during aerial fights, which often involve a lot of dashing and would otherwise be the coolest things in the game.



There's a lock on mechanic, but the lock seems to break easily and makes it easy to get stuck on stuff I didn't see when I'm trying to dodge horizontally.

These issues aside, the game is playable and unique. Where else are you going to be taking a sentient floating tree which uses a ship's steering wheel as a weapon into a nest of giant spiders to destroy their giant explosive eggs?

Nowhere.

Does atmosphere and kookiness make up for the lackluster gameplay and camera? It's enough for now. Although I've gotten tired of it and put it down before, so we'll see how long it lasts. At least the missions have a bit more variety than the endless errands of Gothic 3 did. It's hard to give final judgment on a game like that. I had a lot of fun with it. It just got old. Does that mean it's fun or boring? It's both. But I rarely see reviews to that effect.