Beautiful Katamari

"Katamari Rolls to the 360!"

Katamari is back, and this time it is on the 360! This is my first review so bear with me.

Story 4/10
There is not a lot to write about here... Basically, the King of All Cosmos is playing tennis and accidentally rips a black hole in the sky. Unlike the previous games there are almost no other cutscenes which makes the story very lacking.


Gameplay 8/10
The gameplay remains almost the same as the first three. You get a ball called a katamari and you must roll up smaller objects to get larger. Once you get bigger you can then roll up even larger objects. It is kind of like rolling a snowball in a way.

In this game you can get amazingly big. In the last stage you start at about a meter and you grow to over 1,000,000 kilometers! Amazing!

The controls seem to be improved from the earlier titles. The item placement in this game is great. There are always enough things to pick up. Rolling seems smoother and the size to pick things up feels a little better. Another plus is that the draw distance is greatly improved over the last ones. Because of this you can see items farther away than you usually could. And finally, the game does not load in the middle of the stage when you are large enough to go into the next area. Instead the King just lets you know when you can.

There are some flaws of course. One of the biggest flaws is the loading time. It takes an extremely long time to start a stage, so have something to do for a little bit before starting a stage. Another one is the lack of variety. Almost every stage is just get as large as you can while trying to pick up a certain kind of item. There are two stages that are different. Those are collect as many wheels as you can and get to 10,000 degrees Celsius.


Graphics 7/10
I am actually happy that the graphics are almost the same as the PS2 games. They look blocky and quirky and that's just the way I want them! There is a slight polygon increase which is only slightly noticeable.

A major problem, however, is that the framerate is very jumpy. In the first stage you will notice how smooth it looks, but that won't last long. Once you get to the bigger stages everything might get choppy.


Sound 8/10
The game boasts a whole new soundtrack! Oddly enough though, the main theme does not have any nah-nahs which is something that has never happened before. The songs all sound very similar with a slight lack of genre variety unlike the previous games. It is still good, but I listen to the previous games' songs over these using the custom playlists.

The sound effects are great and it seems like there is a sound for everything! They go from the blips of rolling things up to cars honking if you hit them and people screaming when you pick them up. One of the best parts is listening to all of the sounds of the environments.


Length 6/10
This is where the game falls short. It is only about 8 to 12 hours long, even if you do almost everything. There simply isn't enough content for the price. There will be Downloadable Content (or DLC) stages eventually, but those cost even more money.


Replayability 10/10
This is the greatest aspect of the Katamari series. The gameplay is very addicting so you will always want to go back for more! There are over 50 cousins and over 50 presents that you can roll up in the stages! Cousins are extra playable characters and presents are accessories for them. This alone will make you want to play stages again!

Besides those is the collection. As you roll up new items they are added to your collection along with a description. This will have you hunting down items for a long time!


Overall 8/10 (not an average)

Pros
Improved gameplay
Quirky
New soundtrack
Tons of new items/presents/cousins
Amazing replayability
Huge environments
Grow to over 1,000,000 kilometers

Cons
Framerate issues
The game is short
Not a lot of variety in the game

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/12/07

Game Release: Beautiful Katamari (US, 10/16/07)