GamesRadar's potentially annual Platinum Chalice awards 2006
It's been a stupidly big year for games. Why don't we reduce it to a single glib article?
Winner: Okami
Capcom | PlayStation 2
Why did you let Okami die? It's only one the best adventure games ever made, after all. It also ranks among the most lavish, lovingly crafted visual masterpieces gamers have ever seen. This entire fantasy world moves like a watercolor painting, from white wisps floating through air to the canvas-like sky that blankets dog-goddess Amaterasu's breathtaking countryside.
But Okami's beauty doesn't stop there. With a magic paintbrush, you can alter the very face of this paint-by-numbers world, creating new vegetation, scribbling in sunsets and all kinds of instantly rewarding visual treats. Imagine the design quality of a Zelda game meshed with an art style that's without equal, and you're starting to comprehend how utterly captivating Okami's world can be.
Honorable mention: Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
Square Enix | PlayStation 2
The best graphics in a PlayStation 2 RPG? Yep. A captivating fantasy world filled with detail and characters that put almost all other games to shame? Yep. Nobody bought it? Yep.
Winner:Okami
Capcom | PlayStation 2
Why did you let Okami die? It's only one the best adventure games ever made, after all. It also ranks among the most lavish, lovingly crafted visual masterpieces gamers have ever seen. This entire fantasy world moves like a watercolor painting, from white wisps floating through air to the canvas-like sky that blankets dog-goddess Amaterasu's breathtaking countryside.
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But Okami's beauty doesn't stop there. With a magic paintbrush, you can alter the very face of this paint-by-numbers world, creating new vegetation, scribbling in sunsets and all kinds of instantly rewarding visual treats. Imagine the design quality of a Zelda game meshed with an art style that's without equal, and you're starting to comprehend how utterly captivating Okami's world can be.
Honorable mention:Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
Square Enix | PlayStation 2
The best graphics in a PlayStation 2 RPG? Yep. A captivating fantasy world filled with detail and characters that put almost all other games to shame? Yep. Nobody bought it? Yep.