20 Best PlayStation Games Of The 2000s

9. Okami (2006)

This one is of the PS2’s best kept secrets. It’s not a game remembered among many gamers, as it suffered from poor sales and was unveiled just prior to the PS3 release. But, it was critically acclaimed and garnered so much praise that it was later ported over to the Wii.

The player controls the sun goddess and white wolf Amaterasu, armed with her celestial brush, as she fights off the evil forces of Yami in the land of Nippon (Japan). The game borrows heavily from the Zelda series, as its gameplay involves an assortment of puzzle, action and platforming.

The standout feature is the art direction, where everything is made to look like a Japanese ink drawing and cel-shaded water colors are animated beautifully. Players can pull up a canvas and draw on the screen using the celestial brush via the analog stick on the Dual Shock Controller. The brush can be used to fight enemies by crossing them out, create bridges by drawing lines between two opposite points and calling on gusts of winds by drawing loops. This lends to the game being a marvel to behold, as the player uses art to influence the world around Amaterasu.