Due to a much-needed break in my workload this weekend, I was able to play a lot of games. After DotA, I played another Warcraft III mod, Tower Defense. I also spent six or eight hours playing Okami.

Tower Defense is a game where you build towers to shoot down wave after wave of monsters. These monsters progress in strength, grow in numbers, and therefore become increasingly more difficult to defeat. When you begin the game, you are given virtually no help – no tutorial, no time to read the descriptions, and little warning before the first wave arrives. You can only let 100 monsters through the gate at the end, which only seems like a good number until one monster from the second or third wave counts for more than one monster. As the game gets harder, you can let fewer monsters through.

Due to the difficult nature of the Tower Defense from the speed, strength, and sheer number of monsters, I had little patience for it. The sounds effects, such as a sing-song “Job’s Done” in the voice of a pea-brained construction worker, get increasingly annoying due to the frenzied pace at which you have to execute such commands. You are also given very few resources in the beginning and receive more mostly by surviving waves, so it becomes very hard to get catch up if you ever fall behind.

I simply hate feeling rushed and played this game only a handful of times before giving up. I found the tasks repetitive and frenzied, making for a game that quickly became frustrating and only seemed like something you’d play for hours just to say you had beaten a really hard game. I am not that type of player, which may explain why I happily moved on to Okami later that day.

I have already raved about the first hour of Okami and how engaging it was for me. I purchased the strategy guide so I wouldn’t miss out on important points or get lost. Without the stress of wasting time running on a wild goose chase for an item or task, I was able to relax into the game. The music is often very relaxing, and the natural environments provide a serene isolation. Even if you are accompanied by your tiny friend Issun, he provides no annoying commentary, just a helping hand to push the story and you, as the player, in the right direction. I never found myself feeling alone. I just felt peaceful, even in the fights. I often choose to fight with paintbrush strokes, which is a nice break from the button-mashing common in most games. Instead, you become the artist, unleashing the most powerful attacks through artistry. I have always found art to be relaxing, and maybe that is another reason why I find Okami to be a nice break from my life.

As much as I enjoy Okami, I never played for more than two or three hours at a time. I wondered if it was just me or the nature of the game. While I knew that Tower Defense would not entertain me for even one session of Okami, I grew tired of Okami for one of the biggest reasons why I tired of Tower Defense: repetition. Tower Defense seemed to provide little in the way of variation for gameplay throughout all the waves, but even Okami can feel trivial after a few hours. Running around to get something as trivial as a fishing pole for someone can take a while, and, even if you can accomplish some greater goal in the process, it can be tiring. I recently fell off a cliff and had to take the long way back up, drawing vines over and over. I also tend to get tired of drawing lily pads in the water so the wolf doesn’t drown (why she can’t breathe while doggie paddling is beyond me). Even so, I am sad to leave the world of Okami and find it addictive again after a short break. Perhaps I just find it easier to break up the monotony of gameplay with the monotony of my real life. I feel a little more grounded, and, if anything, it keeps the console from overheating.