We Love Katamari

"A wonderful example of insane uniqueness"

I headed into We Love Katamari with no prior experience of the Katamari series. Living in England meant I had to miss out on the original Katamari Damacy, and I've never been a PSP fan so I also have to miss out on the PAL version of Me & My Katamari. So naturally, when WLK was announced for a PAL release, I got extremely excited. My dream of rolling balls from a ping-pong ball size to the size of a skyscraper was finally going to come true. However, the reality of the Katamari concept was one that took me by surprise more so than I originally expected. After all, realistically, you ARE just rolling a ball. But I soon found out that rolling something up could become a very addictive past time.

You play the Prince, the son of the King of the Cosmo's who has decided to bow down to the people's requests and begin the task of turning Katamari's into stars, planets, and other space related objects. Why? Just because he loves the people and likes to keep them happy, nice chap he is. Of course, he won't have himself doing this task, oh no. He bequeaths the responsibility to you, the Prince. And so begins one of the craziest tales in video-gaming history you have ever experienced. On playing it through, I still had no idea what was going on by the end titles appeared. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing…

Game Play: 10

The game really is simply about rolling a ball around, and picking up objects that are smaller than you. I wish I could justify my 10 rating for the game play more, but that is it! And yet, such a menial sounding task was never so much more fun. No two games of WLK are ever the same. You're presented with a ‘Select Meadow' where you'll find various people who demand a Katamari of you. Some will simply expect a Katamari of a certain size, some will hope you can get one as big as possible, some will even have you looking to roll up ‘friends' and bears / cows. If you don't like one kind of level, there are enough variations on the theme of rolling around to keep you interested in the game.

You will try different ways of achieving a high score. Maybe one time you will want to concentrate in one area, hoping to pick up everything possible so you can guarantee yourself some build-up. Maybe you'll take the route of careening into everything that is unlucky enough to be in your path. Either way, the aim of any given level you choose is presented very clearly to you, and your time spent undertaking the mission is an unforgettable one. Because of the crazy nature of the game, you'll never stop to wonder why there are dinosaur's roaming around Niagara Falls, why the local citizens don't let a giant rolling ball of fire bother them, or why the people even demand Katamari's for stars / planets in the first place! It truly is a wonderful world to lose yourself in, and when the time limit starts ticking down its last 60 seconds, you will feel regret at not making more of the time you just spent rolling around.

Besides the main objectives regarding the ball, you also have the chance to roll up your cousins. On the surface of things, these are simply further characters who you can play as instead of The Prince, and they don't offer any other difference besides their aesthetics. However, collect all the cousins for a pleasant surprise! And they are not all you can go collecting either, as there are countless presents littered throughout the levels which contain accessories for you and your cousins to wear throughout the game. Pointless maybe, but who ever turned down a good old fashioned excuse to go searching through levels for pointless items?

The idea of rolling items has been used in Super Monkey Ball, Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg and even as far back as Marble Madness, but it has never felt as fun as it does in WLK. The control pad doesn't shake when you pick up an item, you receive a simple sound to show you have and yet it is such a fulfilling feeling when you witness the trail of destruction you leave in your wake. You never feel guilty when taking people away from the activity they were enjoying, or when you roll up a cute little kitty-cat. The game provides sheer, frantic, unabashed fun and you will find yourself rolling back for more as soon as the level finishes.

Graphics: 8

The game presents itself in a quirky fashion, with Lego style people going about their own crazy business. Seemingly random objects are scattered about the place ranging from cats to blue whales, from trophies to snowballs and yet they all fit in perfectly. The game looks insane, and it plays insane. It's because of this factor that the two pair off fantastically and create a wonderful barmy experience. The game could easily have been made to look like real-life but that would have made for a drab look. Instead, we have all the colours of the rainbow screaming out at you from every corner of this game. It never looks dull, even in the small levels such as the under-water and sweets based levels.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that as your Katamari grows bigger, your PS2 would begin to strain under the activity appearing on-screen, but WLK compensates for your increase in size by removing the smaller items of the game-world. So if you're looking to grab those tiny cousins from a level, you better get them soon-ish because they'll be gone after you begin increasing your ball-size. With ball-increase however, comes bigger items, and by the time you're rolling round the planet at sky-scraper size, everything just looks wonderful and as you'd imagine these cities, deserts, and arctic lands to look like, albeit in a cartoon fashion.

The draw-distance is a thing to behold, especially on the levels where you're rolling around the world setting, picking up pyramids, mountains, clouds, and whole continents in your rolling wake. Change into the Prince Look or Miracle Eye modes and you can really see just how well these worlds have been put together. Nothing ever looks like it's just about to pop-up from nowhere, but instead, it is as if you can see something in the distance and imagine you may be able to go there. The joy comes when those seemingly distant ‘background' mountains suddenly materialise as a part of the level.

Needless to say, WLK looks wonderful for the game it is. Considering the PS2's lifespan has been dominated by realism in its games, it's refreshing to find a game that stuck two fingers up to the trend and did things its own way. The pastel colours, the blocky and right-angle feel of the world, and the fantastic atmosphere it all combines into does immense justice to the Katamari series' reputation.

Sound: 9

The soundtrack to this game is ideal for it. It's simply mad. Japanese guys belt their hearts out with lyrics you don't understand but you can't help but grin at due to the delivery of them. The songs themselves are all quirky in their sound and despite the fact they do not emphasise the area you're in, they do contribute to the insanity of what is going on. The people in-game scream as they see your looming ball of ‘destruction' come into view. Animals make their respective noises, instruments do their things when you pick them up, planes, trains, automobiles, everything lets you know exactly what it is you've just picked up on your way to the stars.

There isn't a whole lot to say about the audio for the game really because being the kind of game it is, it doesn't even necessarily need a soundtrack. Sound effects alone would have done the game proud, but the songs help the frantic pace of it all along and help inject even more humour into the game. You'll never feel the need to ‘laa laa laa' more than you will playing this!

Lifespan: 7

Sadly, Katamari lacks in length what it does in other departments, but just because it doesn't have a hundred levels doesn't necessarily mean the game is over after the first run-through. As previously mentioned, you have all the cousins and presents to find. There are a wide variety of levels available, each with different and fun objectives within. You can save your best times and sizes too, so the desire to go back and beat a record is always there.

Because the game is so fun, you may even find yourself going back just for the sheer sake of wanting to roll things up, and cause wanton mayhem to the poor people within. I bought this game months ago and I still play it as much now as I did then. It's like a giant sandbox of possibilities that never lets up. You always find something new in it, and a new way to do things. It has plenty of unlockables, plenty of things to find and discover, and the sheer fun of doing all this means you won't ever want to let go and will begin to wonder how you could roll up life around you.

Overall: 9

We Love Katamari is one of the most amazingly fun games I have ever had the pleasure to throw myself into. I knew I was in for something special considering the cult following the game has, but nothing could prepare me for the experience I had with it. It's unlike anything you've ever played. Even if you've played Monkey Ball and Billy Hatcher, WLK is in a league of its own. If you love quirky fun games that don't necessarily have a point to them, you'd love this. If you like your games safe, pleasant and colourful, it's for you. If you like rolling things around whilst crushing cities, airports and children's bedroom contents in the process, then WLK is your last stop. Because uniqueness of this kind hasn't been seen since the days of... uniqueness of this kind hasn't been SEEN.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/05/06