We Love Katamari Review

Katamari Damacy will probably be totally alien to the majority of PAL gamers. Regarded by many ‘knowledgeable’ gamers as a shining light in an industry becoming rather stale, the PAL release of the sequel was much anticipated by those who hadn’t had a chance to experience the series before. When it comes down to it though, does rolling a sticky ball around, picking up items as you go, really make for a great video game? Or, just like the King of all Cosmos, does the game love itself a little too much?

Despite almost blanket praise from the video game press, We Love Katamari (and its prequel) certainly isn’t a game for everyone. The premise of a tiny guy (the prince) rolling a katamari (a pointy ball that can pick up items it rolls over) around won’t exactly thrill the majority of gamers, and the rather insane story will leave most people wondering just what the hell is going on. The people of Earth loved the first game so much that they now adore the King and they use his vain nature to make him instruct the prince to roll things up for them. Mainstream, this is not.

Those coming to the series expecting the controls to match the rather colourful and simplistic visuals are in for quite a shock. Controlling the prince couldn’t be trickier, requiring the use of both analogue sticks and a fair bit of coordination. This won’t be a problem to veterans, but anyone thinking this will be an experience similar to Super Monkey Ball will have a hard time getting to grips with things. Over time it’s clear why it had to be a little complicated, but the initial learning curve will be enough to put off many.

For the most part your goal in each level is to roll up a katamari of a certain size within a set time limit. To start with you’ll be maxing out at under a metre, but the game really comes to life towards the end, where 2m katamaris become 5m tall, which then become 10m tall, and before long are 500m + tall. The game handles this incredibly well, with set sizes causing the level to pause momentarily while everything is adjusted to account for the new size of your Katamari. Starting a level with a katamari barely big enough to roll up batteries, and ending the level big enough to pick up sea monsters, should be enough to put a smile on even the biggest cynic’s face. The scale of things becomes truly immense, and such a change to occurring within the same level is very impressive.

There’s not much that can be done to spice up a game where you roll a giant ball over things, but a few levels do ask more of the player. On occasion you’ll need to roll up a number of specific objects to please a particular Katamari Damacy fan or carry out a number of other obscure rolling related tasks, but the basics remain the same for the game’s duration. There’s little in the way of a story, with sections between levels detailing the King’s willingness to do whatever his adoring fans want, and the odd insane cutscene that confuses more than it explains. If you can be bothered to read through all the text, there’s the odd funny moment, but after a while the pre and post rolling sections become rather dull.

If the gameplay itself will divide opinion, the presentation could be the final nail in the coffin for those sitting on the fence. The soundtrack will be the biggest offender, or the greatest part of the game, depending on how you see things. It’s hard to explain just what it’s like, but it’s incredibly annoying, yet strangely catchy at the same time. I defy anyone to not catch themselves humming a tune from the game if any considerable amount of time has been spent in its rather bizarre world. The visuals are equally bizarre, with everything being blocky and rather simple. There’s no sense of sanity either, with everything from giant flying supermen, to pirate ships, to giant octopi.

Once you’ve finally got used to things, it’s all over, with the end credits coming well under the six-hour mark. The game’s level select screen (a suitably barmy meadow full of fans) remains open for replaying completed stages, tackling the odd level that you didn’t see first time through, rolling through alternative versions of old levels, collecting all your cousins and finding all the presents from fans. These extras are nice, but most people will see the end credits as the end of their time with the game. Two players can also play cooperatively in a rather tricky new game mode or play in a split-screen versus mode that also featured in the original game, but the whole package feels like more of an expansion pack than a full blown sequel. The inclusion of the original game for PAL gamers would have made for a far more impressive package.

We Love Katamari is not the game it’s hyped up to be and will probably disappoint those coming to it on the back of unanimous praise, but there are enough moments of brilliance to make it a game very much worth experiencing. Everyone should try and see the awesome zoo level, the inspired Hansel and Gretel themed level, and feel the joy that rolling up national monuments brings. Obsessive fans, like those featured in the game, will lap up what is essentially more of the same, but newcomers should prepare for a game that will almost certainly not be what they are expecting. At a rather too expensive £39.99, you also wonder if EA and Namco have missed a trick, with what would almost certainly have been a big seller at a budget price.