Video Game Review: Okabu for PS3

Developer: HandCircus
Publisher: HandCircus
ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
Genre: Action-Puzzler
Platform: PlayStation®Network for the PlayStation 3

Guy to Guy tips:
The game can get a tad repetitive, however; the visuals, charm, story and music more than make up for it.

Guy Recommends:
Parappa The Rapper, Katamari Damaci, The Maw, Angry Birds, Crash Bandicoot

Okabu is an impossibly charming and candy-colored adventure from HandCircus, creators of Rolando, an award-winning iOS game that has a solid rating on the App Store. Sharing a strong visual sense, it would appear that Okabu is a worthy follow-up to Rolando, available on the Playstation Network for the PS3.

 Okabu tells the story of a world choking to death from the rampant industrialization of the Doza…

Okabu tells the story of a world choking to death from the rampant industrialization of the Doza, who have a troll-like resemblance, especially when compared to their peaceful and environmentally-conscious cousins, the Yorubo, who are adorable and colorful. When smog begins threatening the clouds above, two brothers, Kumulo and Nimbe, venture down to the planet and decide to take matters into their own flippers.

The Yorubo

The Doza

The game is obviously not very subtle when it comes to its message: pollution — bad, recycling and preservation of the planet — good. But at the same time, this kind of message is so important, especially to a young audience, which this game is geared towards. Recycling, renewable resources, nurturing the Earth — these are all important aspects and concepts found in Okabu.

I can understand the mature gamer who wants nothing more than to turn their brain off, pop the latest Call of Duty or Battlefield title into their console and spend the night on-line, in matchmaking, and taking the fight to other like-minded dudes. I do it. There’s nothing wrong with that. In the end, though, as someone who is so sick of seeing muted grays, browns and greens in their gaming experiences (I’m looking at you Gears of War 3 and Batman: Arkham City), Okabu is a much-needed shot in the arm of vibrancy and color that is sorely missing from gaming today.

That's Nimbe with Kat on his back. He was my favorite. Mostly because of his bandana that made it look like he had eggs on his head.

Kumulo and Nimbe are Cloud Whales. Oddly enough, when I was a kid, I had a dream that a large whale was flying around in the sky. What this means, I don’t know; but it was a Moby Dick-esque dream, only I was trying to get the flying whaling ships(!?) to stop trying to kill my flying whale friend. Suffice to say, Nimbe and Kumulo are cuter, and their powers are pretty interesting. Both can suck up small objects and water, as well as carry a character on his back. In my experience, I found that having Nimbe (my favorite of the two) soak up as much water as possible while Kumulo handled carrying acorns to fire at various objects in the game’s world, was the best strategy.

The game controls really well, a perfect combination of floaty, yet fluid.

The game controls are simple — a perfect combination of floaty, yet fluid. You feel that this is how Cloud Whales should move, were they real. You’re also incredibly fast, even when not using the “sprint” button mapped to the shoulders of the Playstation 3′s controller.

From what I could see in my time with the game, Kumulo and Nimbe couldn’t die; however, they could get knocked out of the sky by certain enemies firing homing missiles at them. The missiles are difficult to dodge, by the way, but make for some exciting moments during play. When hit with a missile, Nimbe (or Kumulo, depending on who I was playing as), would drop onto his back with a pained expression on his face. If I had someone on my back (Captain Monkfish with his plunger harpoon, most likely), the character would fall off and respawn under a pink-fruited tree. Nimbe would, after a few moments, float back up, right himself, and I would guide him back to get his lost passenger.

A Doza work camp. Dark stuff, indeed.

The characters that hitch a ride on either Kumulo or Nimbe’s back each have their own unique talents to bring to the table. As mentioned, Captain Monkfish uses a neat plunger/harboon gun used to grab explosive fruit from trees, move items, and carry creatures all around the map. Another character, Picolo, uses his musical talents to bewitch animals and use them to clear shrubbery or smash through enemies and obstacles (depending on the animal, in my playtime, it was either a chicken-like creature called a Chicklet or a bull).

The only problem I truly had with the game involved a bit of repetition…

The game’s world/map reminded me a lot of The Maw, in that it was fairly large and loaded with puzzles/creatures and neat things to see. When I say “fairly large,” I mean it. The levels seem to stretch on for a while, which is not a bad thing. The only problem I truly had with the game involved a bit of repetition; but again, forgivable in my opinion.

Nimbe and Kumulo always seem to have a body of water nearby, should they need water to solve a puzzle. Anything you would conceivably need is close by to the puzzles that are in need of solving, so a player should never feel stressed about going into a situation and worrying that they don’t have the tools for the job. There’s always an acorn tree nearby. There’s always an oil slick. Always a giant sponge tree.

When playing solo, you can switch between both Kumolo and Nimbe at the drop of a hat by hitting the triangle button. Both brothers play exactly the same, move at the same speeds, etc.

When playing solo, you can switch between both Kumolo and Nimbe at the drop of a hat…

The difference comes in what “ammo” you load the brothers with, and who is on their back. You will absolutely need to use both brothers during the game, so having a second player around helped a great deal. Unfortunately for this reviewer, I did not have a second controller, so my buddy Greg was around more for moral support and to crack jokes at some of the stranger implementations of the game (“Use your slave-whistle thing!” Greg shouted while trying to get the bull to charge an enemy Doza firing rockets at Kumulo).

I also found that I’m a bit of a sick bastard while playing this game. I feel very strongly about preserving the planet and healing the damage we’ve done to mother Earth thus far, so more often than not, I would find myself soaking up oil from a nearby pool, soaring through a small fire pit and drizzling a path of liquid, flaming death towards any Doza I came across. I would often say (in a slight Batman-y gruff) “That’s what you get,” much to my buddy’s pleasure.

Enough can’t be said about the music in this game.

Enough can’t be said about the music in this game. Herbie Nyathi, working for Resonate Music in the UK, have delivered such an amazing and memorable soundtrack that had me bobbing my head and attempting to sing along. Strong, African-inspired rhythms with some made-up words have combined to create a soundtrack that I would happily have on my iPod. It’s just that good. Nowadays, its difficult to find a game with a memorable soundtrack, with games like Plants VS. Zombies and Donkey Kong Country being perhaps the most memorable game soundtracks, in my opinion. Okabu can proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with those titles in terms of music.

Herbie Nyathi, at work making the amazing Okabu soundtrack.

The environment is obviously something we should all care about, and Okabu does a great job of instilling that concept in the player. For younger kids playing the game, they can pick up on the message as well, but they may be more interested in the cute characters and beautiful visuals. The story is simple, the action and puzzle mechanics are easy (albeit slightly repetitive), and the music — some of the best in recent memory — is superb.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars