Jul 22, 2009

[Games] We ♥ Katamari (PS2)

We ♥ KatamariThe Katamari Damacy series of games is wonderfully simple, amazingly addictive and quit the mind trip when you really get down to it. I mean come on, it's a game where your goal is to "roll up" various objects, animals and even people to create as large a Katamari ("clump" like a dung beetle ball) as possible in the time allotted. I doubt the makers of the game could have predicted what an international success the game would eventually become but definitely acted quickly to capitalize on that fame.

Personally, I fell in love with the game as soon as I got my hands on a copy. It may not sound like much but it's definitely the kind of game that you can only fully appreciate once you've tried it for yourself to see just how fun it can be.

We ♥ Katamari continues its odd habit of sort of breaking the fourth wall by talking to the player in the form of the Prince. In this game, the wild success of the first Katamari Damacy game has created fans of the series around the world and in this game the King of All Cosmos takes petitions from the fans as your missions. In essence the game remainsly largely the same except for a few key updates.

More game modes has certainly enhanced the overall gameplay. Apart from the classic challenge of making the largest Katamari possible within a limited time, there are now alternate challenges like meeting a certain Katamari size goal in a limited time, collecting items based on their potential weight or cash value in order to meet other objectives or even making the head of a snowman by rolling a snowball Katamari. Classic missions from the original game like catching the largest cow / bear only or making a Katamari of a particular size return and are challenged with odder missions like maintaining a fire Katamari until it's large enough to light the camp fire. The list goes on and on.

Plus the game has an improved 2-player engine, the option to play as the many, many royal cousins that can be found amidst the various stages and the ability for the player to equip two presents instead of just one.

Katamari wa Damacy album coverImage via Wikipedia

Like the first game, the music remains a vibrant part of the whole experience and the makers tried to diversify their offerings beyond the range defined in Katamari Damacy. There were still a lot of great tracks, run remixes of the main theme song but a number of other songs that I probably don't need all that much. I still feel the soundtrack of the first game was a lot more coherent, for lack of a better term, and felt more like a unified collection than this one.

The story aspect could be seen to be good or bad depending on how you look at it. The first game had us following the somewhat random story of some family living amidst the rolling Katamari but was done in a bizarre and eccentric manner. This time around the story aspect follows the life of the King of All Cosmos and how the original game to be which was nice to know but wasn't delivered in a manner that was as funny or irrational as the first game.

Overall, the game is still a fun addition to the franchise although definitely not quite the same as the original experience. In many ways the original title remains the much better game while this was nice but at times felt like it was trying too hard.

We ♥ Katamari gets 4 giant cowbears out of 5.






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2 comments:

  1. @dayana:
    Glad you're enjoying! Feel free to continue commenting in the future - I'd love to hear more from you!

    ReplyDelete