We Love Katamari

"Roll, roll, roll the ball, roll it down the street..."

Okay, I'll admit that I've never heard of Katamari Damacy, let alone this second instalment. But after playing We Love Damacy at a friend's place, I am addicted. There is no guns, no cops, just you and your ball.

Graphics

Don't expect the graphics to be 3D, it's actually quite the opposite. It's 2D. The main map where you talk to people and take on quests is fully 2D. The map in which you play your game is 3D, but it is blocky 3D at that. It has a cartoon-ish feel to it. It is a colour world, though. It is flashy, and will appeal to children as much as adults who act like children (someone like me :)

Control

The control is basically a co-ordination between the left and right analogue sticks. Pushing both forward will go forward, back for backward, pushing both left will strife left; and strife right when both sticks move to the right. To turn, move one stick down and the other one up. It gets a little used to, but once you start playing, you will get the hang of it quite easily.

Game Play

The story has it that you are a prince, and your job is to take up quest from people and roll up a Katamari to create a planet on the sky. At the end of the quest, the king will judge your result and make your Katamari into a planet, or if you have the unfortunate rare moments where you failed, you can try again. You cannot die in this game, you just try again.

The aim of the game is to roll a Katamari around the map and pick up as many objects as possible along the way. There are different modes that each quest could take. You could be required to pick up certain number things, roll up Katamari big enough to meet the minimum radius within a set time, roll up things as fast as possible and so on. Despite the difference in quest, the aim is one and only. You need to run around the map and roll up the Katamari.

Depends on your quest, you could start out as a tiny Katamari and must roll up to a certain radius before you can venture out into the wild. There are things on the map that you might not be able to pick up when you started. As you Katamari becomes bigger and bigger, you can roll up more and bigger things. For example, at the start of a quest, you might only be able to roll your Katamari around the house, picking up tiny things like match sticks, pins, batteries, etc. As your Katamari gets bigger, you can roll up magnets, toy cars, books, etc. As it get even bigger, you can roll up people, anime, car. Eventually, you will be able to pick up trucks, buses, buildings, landmarks, even islands.

It's actually quite repetitive when you come to thing about it. All you ever do is rolling things up. But rolling things up is fun. The bigger it is, the more satisfaction you get. It's like being more powerful all the time. You might only be able to pick up pins and matchsticks from the start, but you will feel being indestructible as you roll up fences, animals, people, trucks, buildings. It is an addictive game, even when all you ever do is pushing this sticky ball around the place.

Music

BGM is basically just songs. Some good, some not so good. But you get used to it. I like most of them. As this is the Japanese version that I play, it's JPOP that I listen to. Some of them has very catchy tunes, and nearly all of them is karaoke material. Don't sweat over them too much. If you don't like the music, you can pick another one before you start the quest. Unfortunately, there is no preview, so you don't know how the tune goes before your mission starts. It sort of grows on you after a while.

Fun Factor

It really depends on your taste. Some might find it boring after the initial hype of "oh look! I can roll up a car!" To others, it's an interesting ongoing of rolling and rolling and rolling. I personally quite enjoy it. There is a sense of evilness as I roll towards the helpless towns folks into my giant sticky ball.

Replay Value

Again, it's a personal thing. You might like to beat your old score, get a better time, roll a bigger Katamari, etc. On the other hand, you might think that once is enough. I am personally in the latter camp. But if you fancy yourself beating your best, replay value might be fairly high for you.

Overall

Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy is a game like no others. Granted, it could be repetitive, but what's a better way to destroy a city or dish out your frustration at people than rolling them up into a giant planet, then sent them all into the sun?

Score (out of 10)

Graphics: 6
Game play: 8
Music: 8
Replay value: 7

Overall: 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/15/05