We Love Katamari
Yes, we do
Tags: We Love Katamari Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Jake McNeill on Sep 22nd, 2005
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| We Love Katamari (title page) | 2 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Puzzle | No | ||
 |
A game like Katamari Damacy must be a hard act to follow. For those that never played it, the entire point of the game was to roll a ball called a Katamari to collect random junk to make a bigger ball. The game was ridiculously silly and weird (made even moreso by the insane ramblings of the great King of All Cosmos), extremely Japanesey, and for those that gave it a try, extremely endearing and loads of fun.
Widely hailed as one of the most unique videogames of this generation, to make another just like it would lose much of what made the first so special. In addition, as a sequel, it can’t very well be a surprise success like the first one was (a surprise not just to gamers and retailers, but to Namco themselves as well). You can’t toy with or try to improve the graphics, because the bizarre minimalist style was one of the original’s endearing traits. So too for the soundtrack, which was bizarre and eclectic.
 |
On the other hand, change too little and people start complaining that the game is just Katamari 1.5, and what was enthusiasm before begins to dull down to “been there, done that”. Even Lara Croft was unique and original once.
So, knowing that “bigger, better, prettier” would risk losing the franchise’s magic, and leaving it like it was would stagnate, Namco did the only thing they could: they took a sharp turn into left field and went for even more random, wacky and weird. And wouldn’t you know it, it works pretty damn good.
 |
We Love Katamari’s story, as it were, is like breaking a fourth wall inside another fourth wall. After retelling the story of the first game (in short, the crazy King of All Cosmos got plastered, destroyed all the stars in the sky, and made his son, the Prince, replace them by rolling up stuff on Earth to make new ones), it goes on to tell how the game became really popular, so much so that the King, now inundated with requests from fans, has sent the Prince back to make the people’s wishes come true.
It is through this premise that the game gets much of its variety, with wishes placing the prince in some traditional levels with the standard goal, and other levels that are either bizarre or feature unusual goals. One level measures your success not by the size of your Katamari, but by the collective cash value of the items you rolled up. Another has you rolling a flaming ball that will extinguish if it doesn’t roll up anything for twenty or thirty seconds. There’s one where your Katamari is on a racetrack going super-fast and unable to stop, and another where you collect fireflies to bring light to help a student study.
 |
These bizarre and wacky situations keep the game fresh and new, even though the basic mechanics are still the same. You’re still just rolling things up the same as before, and not even the controls have changed. Well… hmm, neither did the camera either, unfortunately, which still sometimes is too close to the Katamari to see what’s going on.
That’s not to say that the wacky levels are all that’s new. One of the big new additions to the game is the inclusion of a 2-player co-op mode, which has two players rolling one single Katamari. Much like the rest of the additions, this new mode is very fun and inventive, assuming you can cooperate well with the other player. It also requires you to constantly communicate with each other while playing, something unique in and of itself, even in the realm of co-op videogames.
 |
Graphically, this game looks much the same as the first, although there have been subtle improvements. While the game still impresses with its size and sense of scale, this time around the levels are full of movement, with dozens, perhaps hundreds of objects and creatures moving at any given time. Other than that, there’s not much more to say that wasn’t said for the first game: blocky graphics that are technically unimpressive but stylistically memorable, just as before.
The sound and music follows suit as well, not being too different than the first game in style, which is to say wildly eclectic, totally unexpected and completely excellent. The new tunes here are fantastic, ranging from slow, melodic themes and jazzy stuff to acapella and Tom Jones-esque spins on the Katamari Damacy theme. Very good overall, although not quite as great as the first game’s soundtrack. Alas, there’s no “Lonely Rolling Star” I can point to here, although “Everlasting Love” and “Sunbaked Havanna” come damn close (the latter being a medley of all of the themes of the original game as sung by dogs, cats and the rest of animal kingdom – absolutely inspired).
 |
And as for the presentation, the game is still full of rainbows and mushrooms and colorful creatures, and you even get to see the backstory of The King of All Cosmos as he grows up, has a spat with his dad, meets the Queen of All Cosmos… All told without words. In the meantime, the King is as zany as ever, and just as lovingly abusive to the Prince as ever (when you fail to meet a goal, you even control the Prince as he flees laser beams shot out of the King’s eyes).
Yes, we love Katamari, and what we have here is a great sequel that’s sure to roll up your heart. If you never played the first game… well, you need to. And if you did, you’ll find that this game seeks neither to reinvent the Katamari, nor leave it still to collect dust. Rather, it rolls off even farther into the realm of insanity, and there is nary a more fitting place for a Katamari to be.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ New, wacky levels! + New, wacky co-op multiplayer! + New, wacky soundtrack! + Same old wacky gameplay |
9.1 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Soundtrack not quite as good as the first game's - Graphics still technically unimpressive - Camera issues from the first game not fixed - By default, not as original as the first game |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| We love katamari. And we're sure you'll love it too. | |
[ Post the first comment | View related posts ]
Tags: We Love Katamari
Posted by Jake McNeill on Sep 22nd, 2005 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
