Definitely a must buy, I own the ps2 version so I won't be getting it on the Wii.

For me, it's fresh art-style and much more emotive characters make it better than Twilight Princess (the game it's most often compared to).

I can't really comment on the Wii controls as I haven't played them myself, but the brush stroke system is pretty neat and different.

 The karmic transformers change your appearance (not permanently).  You essentially get an equipable god-mode accessory, 10x damage, invulnerability, etc.  Extremely pointless in that you have to beat the game first to get it, and the game's not difficult in the first place.

@ FightingGameGuy:

This is kinda a sticky situation I'm in. I gave an opinion of what I think doesn't work in the game. I'm not out to overly defend it, it was an opinion. I really wanted to love the game, wanted it on PS2 (avoided PS2 due to mem card problems), I eagerly pre-ordered it and talked others into doing the same.

Now I feel a tad let down. It's not the great game that people had made it out to be. At least not for me. Maybe as I progress a bit further I might be able to look past it's flaws.

The graphics look very beautiful color wise but no matter what they still make my eyes hurt from staring at them. Whatever effect they were going for could have been used in special circumstances but not throughout the game. I think poor judgment was used when it was decided to use this effect through the game. An option to turn the blurriness off would have gone a long way in my books. Keep it on for whomever wants it, option to turn it off for the rest. I have played Viewtiful Joe and Wind Waker, neither of these games have any blurring effect. Windwaker is still one of my favorite games graphically.

The shake attack should have been shot down by ANY quality assurance testers Ready at Dawn used. This is completely unacceptable. Someones head should have rolled on that decision alone.

The story is silly, it's not better then Zelda's, it's just lengthier. Zelda's story is always short and to the point. This is long and at points was uncomfortable to watch due to it's silliness. Wolf dies, wolf gets resurrected from statue which was an image of original wolf but no explanation of how a replica could become the original wolf (who died). Maybe this flies in Japan as normal. In the west it's not, this is one of many reasons why I find the story to be bad. I'll take short and to the point any day over silly bug going through some ladies dress and seeing a super close up shot of blurry drawn boobs storyline.

Thanks for taking the time to explain some things to me about Okami. I just really wanted to like this game. There was a lot of controversy as to what was the better game back in 2006, this lead me to believe that this game was going to be as good if not better then Twilight Princess. As it stands, Twilight Princess is miles beyond Okami in every way (for me). I'm only near the beginning of the game so I'm going to keep playing and will hopefully be able to change my opinion the further I progress.

As it stands, I can't recommend it to anyone. The faults outweigh the good. Hopefully I can come back at some point and tell everyone I was wrong.

I don't know what to say other than I feel almost completely opposite to you on all of these issues.  I don't think its blurry at all, I love the story and think its easily better than any recent zelda, etc...I will say I agree the shake attack could have been mapped to a button but as it is I don't think its nearly the problem you seem to. 

I don't want to dismiss your concerns but I do think its fair to point out that you are in the minority here and that statistically speaking all great games are going to have some people who just don't get it/don't like it.  Tastes are funny like that and as much as it is fair to say neither of us is right or wrong in our opinion I honestly think you are in the minority and in that regard I would hate for someone in the majority to miss out on the game because of your impressions. 

I'm usually not very vocal about not liking something. I didn't say I was giving up on the game. I'm just not impressed by what I've seen and done so far. Maybe I'm playing it on too big of an HDTV CRT screen. I'm not sure what the issue is with the graphics looking so soft. It's like I said, my other Wii games look great. I'm not a graphics whore by any means (hence why I'm skipping PS3 and 360 for now). I've always been a big supporter for the Wii. I'm just let down by what should have been my favorite game of the year.

I love these types of games! Sadly my first impression of this particular game has not gone over as well as I wanted.

The poor attack command is unforgivable, no matter what anyone here says. It should have been fixed or axed!

Here's a picture I took...  it's even blurrier then that in person...

Well, I can't comment on that image really, but it does look slightly worse than the game does in my smaller CRT. Have you tried switching it through CRT/LCD in the options? CRT seems to be made artificially blurrier (why blur naturally blurred CRT? Oh well)

@Darknight,

Well I'm not questioning your motives or anything, I don't doubt that you aren't enjoying it as much as you hoped to. But I still think that your reception of the game is the exception rather than the rule. I especially disagree with how harsh you are on the attack. Like I said they could have mapped it to a button, and it would alleviate the problems for those who don't like it. At 10 hours in though, I think I likely would've used the motion control anyways. Honestly neither method is perfect in my eyes.

I will say your picture does make the game look blurry and if its worse than that in person then I think there is something wrong with the settings.

I like to think he got my ancient egyptian joke reference. But probably not... ah well.  Someone did get that joke... right?

 You're taking this too personal. Storyline isn't a big deal in a videogame.  Gameplay is what matters.  If you love the gameplay then the story is non consequential.  So I can look the other way when there are story issues.

My TV is super sharp.  If you placed an LCD beside my TV you'd not be happy at all with it's color or sharpness etc. of the LCD.  I've flicked the option from LCD to CRT and back to LCD and noticed no change in what I saw on my screen.  It really is blurrier than what you see due to this shimmiery effect that a single shot can't pick up.

I currently have the Wii set to 480P and I tested out both the widescreen and non widescreen option for the game.  Both look too blurry for my eyes.  It hurts my eyes to look at the screen.  I haven't tried the 480i option yet but why should I have to resort to playing in 480i?

There are no other options in the game to fix this problem.  The issue is not with the TV as other games look fantastic on it.   

As for the Wiimote flick for the attack.  I never said I hated flicking the Wiimote to attack.  I loved it in Zelda Twilight Princess (because it worked).  In Okami it requires you to stop moving, go in close on an enemy and then shake.  That's not exactly very intuitive. I call it a deal breaker because it is.  It should not have shipped this way.  It was a simple thing to fix and they spent more time blurrying my screen up then they took to fix their attack method.  This is the gameplay, the meat of the GAME.  If the gameplay is busted then the game can't be recommended as the part I call fun (in a game) is not fun in this particular game (due again to the detection issue).

The original poster asked if this game is recommended.  I am mearly giving my opinion which should not be disregarded.  I gave factual problems I have with the game itself.  These issues are not small by any means.  If someone else out there has a TV similar to mine they will have the same problem with the very blurry picture quality. 

If you want me to snap a comparison picture of Smash Brothers, Metroid Prime 3 or Zelda Twilight Princess etc. from my gameslist to show you how clear those games are on my TV I will be glad to do so.