Okabu is a game where you control two Cloud Whales that are trying to stop air pollution by any means necessary. On their trip down to the surface from “cloud god place” the air pollution gets to them and they sink down to the ground. One there they meet a cute and lovable group of terrorists bent on keeping the world free of any unholy machinery. Together your band of demi-gods and eco-zealots go on a rampage against the Doza, whose only quantifiable offense was launching a bomb or two off by accident.
When I first loaded Okabu up I thought “Hey this has a cool art style and some nice music, it must be fun.” I was gravely mistaken. Okabu it by far one of the most anti-fun games that I have ever played. There are basic mechanics for the Coulds which are pick up liquid and spray or rain liquid which to me could be the basis of a great game, but after some time you realize it is almost used exclusively to grow plants, start fires, and wake people up. Growing plants become pointless after a time because all it does is help you got one of four types of arbitrary collectables. I actually tried within the first few levels to get all the collectables and I was rewarded with a global points sheet at the end of the level. After a time I just forgot about the collection aspect of the game and tried to focus on the puzzles, which were no better.
I have never felt like the designers were holding my hand with a death grip as in this game. The “Puzzles” in this game a simple to the max but still you are given waypoints and directions for each step. An example: I was told to make some plants grow in a field that had the unholy Doza in it and every time I did one part of the “Puzzle” control was taken away from me and I was shown the next step. I can not tell if this is because they thought kids would be playing this game but it was an extremely annoying design choice that added an unskipable five minutes or so to some of the levels. There was absolutely no challenge to any of the puzzles as I knew exactly what had to be done the second I saw it. I got the same enjoyment from the gameplay as I did when I cleaned my room as a child.
One level had me cleaning up a town that had some demon chickens in it and some insufficient lighting. This process took almost twenty minutes and was so arduous that I started playing another game on my iPod while it was going on. Everything was about a short walk for the people of this village but they had me move things from on place to another and basically become their servant. This is not a game it is a “moving stuff around” simulator. I was rewarded with my servitude by having the ability to spin around in circle for two seconds before the game took over again to tell me about beards, and then to do that five more times. It became so repetitive and lack luster that I was hit with one glitch and decided I had been burdened enough in this game. After moving things around for about ten minutes one of the NPCs decided he would not plant nature C4 and I was stuck.
I highly suggest that you avoid Okabu at all costs. It lacks any intelligent design and forces you to be bored as it attempts to please you with a wonky art style and mediocre music. The story is presented as a sort of saving the planet scenario but I am pretty sure that blowing up a dam makes you a terrorist, even if it was the most mundane process ever. For all the patience required I suggest that you just go do some actual save the earth activities. Or better yet, spent the 15$ on a pair of really nice tweezers and pull out all of your nose hairs one by one, I guarantee a more entertaining experience.
