"Is it that it's fun, or that it lets you forget yourself?"

Today's review is a follow-up of yesterday's; I'll be covering the sequel to the insanity that is Katamari Damacy, an amazing title called We Love Katamari.

We really do heart Katamari.

We Love Katamari, like the original, was developed by Namco. It was released in 2005 in both Japan and America. It was also the first Katamari game to be released in PAL territories (most of Europe). This game is equally as insane as the first one, but better in almost every single way. The gameplay is infinitely superior, the graphics have been given a shot of awesome directly to the veins, and even the story is more entertaining. Let's dive in, rainbow first, and see why it's so much better.

Story: 10/10

The story in this game is even more bizarre than the first. This game takes place almost immediately after the conclusion of the first game. The King of All Cosmos has just finished fixing the heavens (which he destroyed during a drinking/drug binge) by throwing all of the katamaris that you have rolled up for him into the sky. He's ready to lay back and get some rest. However, he hears a voice calling out to him. It's a fan of the first game! Of course, for someone as vain as the King, there's no time to rest when there are fans to please. He quickly sends his son, the Prince, back down to Earth to talk to the fans and fulfill their katamari requests.

We Love Katamari is obviously very self-referential. The whole thing is set up around the idea of fans of the actual first game, Katamari Damacy, asking the King/Prince to roll up certain things or huge katamaris or roll under strange circumstances, all the while praising how awesome it is to roll. I really love this idea of breaking the 4th wall.

There's also a very cool side story that runs through the whole game. Every couple of levels, a cutscene plays explaining the King's origins; going from a little boy who wants nothing more than his father's approval to an angry rebellious teenager who moves out of his house (castle?) to the man that he is when we first met him in Katamari Damacy. This gives some great insight into why the King is who he is. No longer is he just an insane, fucked up, conceited, vain, weird-as-shit dude...he's an insane, fucked up, conceited, vain, weird-as-shit dude that we can all empathize with.

Graphics: 10/10

I gave the last Katamari game a pretty mediocre score for graphics. This game is why. They took the same idea for the first one but really put a lot more money and time into making it look absolutely beautiful. The environments are fully fleshed out, the katamari rolls seamlessly from 1 centimeter to 3000 meters, the colors are bright and vivid, and no detail that the PS2 can handle is spared. They really pushed this game hard graphically, and it just looks wonderful. I can't say enough how big the change is. I never noticed it at first, but after playing through both games at least twice, this one clearly had the budget and skill to fully take advantage of the PS2's hardware.

Compare this to the image from the previous review...a huge improvement.

From the image, you can see the difference in detail between this game and the one before it. The most amazing part is that this game only came out a year after its predecessor.

Gameplay: 10/10

This game takes the general idea from the last game and takes it 10 steps further. Instead of the Make a Star mode being the primary gameplay mode, you wander around on (a tiny portion of/version of) Earth, finding people who are shouting out for your help. Every single person has something different that they request of you. Some are like the original Make a Star mode where they want you to just build a certain sized katamari as fast as possible within the time limit. Some, though, are incredibly cool variations on the idea. One of my absolute favorites is a level where your katamari always has forward momentum, just like a racecar with the gas pedal held down. Another is a level that takes place entirely underwater. Another is one where you roll around in the dark, collecting only fireflies to make a katamari as bright as possible. There's one where you roll around a sumo, making him eat as much as possible to get him fat for the big fight. Another favorite of mine has you rolling up as many flowers as possible. Yet another great one sets you in a Hansel and Gretel-themed map, rolling up a house made of candy and then rolling up the children at the end. The diversity of the levels is mindblowing. Here's a video sample of a bunch of the different levels.



Most of these levels offer at least two modes, too. Usually, if it's a Make a Star-type level, you can do As Large As Possible or As Fast As Possible. Other levels have variations on the first mode, like in the sumo level, you have to reach larger sizes for each of three modes, rolling up a heavier sumo at the end each time. Another has you roll up things that are flammable to start a campfire, only the pile of wood you need to light is larger every time.

Making things much easier, the control scheme hasn't changed at all in this game. Other things, like the cousin and present system, both make a return, but in a much more awesome way. There's now an ASSLOAD more presents that you can find hidden amongst the levels, and you can also wear two of them at a time (3 if you can manage to find the bikini). With cousins, instead of them only being usable in multiplayer mode, you can select amongst all that you've found to use as your character for any given level. There's also a lot more of them, and trust me, some look too hilarious for words.

The one on the top right is actually named Johnson, I shit you not.

Multiplayer mode has also gotten a HUGE overhaul. Instead of the crappy little versus-type mode from the previous game, there's now a cooperative roll mode for every level. It's a bit tricky to get the hang of: each player controls one side of the katamari rather than each getting their own (except in the snowman level). Usually, the game will give you more time to complete a level due to the difficulty in coordinating movements. It is pretty hard to get used to, but once you do get used to it, it's an absolute blast.

Sound: 10/10

I almost feel like giving this game's soundtrack a higher score than 10. The soundtrack is absolutely perfect. It takes the range of genres from the first game and widens it and increases the quality of the songs in those diverse genres. I won't even bother writing any more on the soundtrack, as it will do them much more justice to be heard rather than described.







Replay Value: 10/10

Holy shit, this game will make a completionist wet his pants. There's still a collection just like in Katamary Damacy, only there's a shitload more items to collect. There's trying to get a shooting star for every level (doing it in under a certain very quick time), there's collecting all of the cousins and presents, and there's finishing the extra levels that open once you finally do get all the cousins.

There's also the rose level. Holy shit...I don't know if this raises the replay value or lowers it, honestly. Basically, when you've done everything else you can possibly do, a rose shows up along with all of the other fans. It asks you to do it a favor...roll up 1,000,000 roses. This is an INSANELY LONG task to complete. Your katamari never gets larger in this level. You can pick up a single rose or a bouquet of 10 roses. The roses constantly replenish, but seriously, this is a several months-kind of task. Your progress saves every time you quit, so you can do something like get 1,000 roses a day, but wow...it's a helluva task. I've completed every aspect of this game several times, but I will never ever get all 1,000,000 roses.




All things considered, We Love Katamari is vastly superior to its predecessor in every way. Katamari Damacy was onto something amazing, and We Love Katamari fully realized the developers' lofty ideals. I've yet to play any of the newer games, so I can only hope they've continued this theme of getting better and better. However, the creator left the series after the second game, making me a little reticent to play on. Perhaps it's best to keep the memories we have rather than risk tarnishing them.

Normally, I wouldn't do this, but the quote from the King of All Cosmos that I used as my title strikes me as being so profound that I have to end with it. Think about this quote in relation to almost every game you've played, video or otherwise; even in relation to most other hobbies, I think there truly is some weight to this idea.

"Is it that it's fun, or that it lets you forget yourself?"

"Oh! I feel it! I feel the cosmos!"

Today's review will move into more modern realms and focus on a little game called Katamari Damacy.

Those cows are unaware of their impending doom.

Katamari Damacy is a game developed by Namco for the PS2, released in Japan in March of 2004 and USA in September of 2004. This game was developed for less than $1 million, pretty cheap by today's standards, but holy shit, did they hit the jackpot with this one. It's fun, unique, completely bizarre, insane beyond all reason, humorous, quirky, and charming to no end. This game is completely worth checking out. Let's look at this LSD-influenced creation a little more deeply.

Story: 8/10

The story in this one is just the beginning of how truly insane and unique it really is. It opens with the King of All Cosmos flying through space after an epic drinking (and presumably drug) binge, destroying every star and planet he flies by. The King of All Cosmos is an amazingly large humanoid who always insists on speaking about himself in the royal tense ("We are very displeased with you") and who is consistently disappointed with everything his son does.

A staple of the series is the King's tights, which are way too tight for comfort, both his and mine.

You play as the Prince, the king's incredibly tiny son. You're given the task of cleaning up the king's mess by going to Earth and rolling up a series of katamaris, gigantic sticky balls that pick up anything smaller than themselves. By rolling up a large enough katamari, the King will throw it into the sky, turning it into various stars and constellations, basically rebuilding the universe.

Graphics: 6/10

My opinions on the graphics have changed a lot since first playing it. The very first time I saw it, I was just so blown away by how insane and fun the game was, I took it for granted that the graphics were amazing, too. It was only after playing the sequel (We Love Katamari) and then replaying the original that I realized that the graphics in the original were really not very great.

See? Not terrible...just a little...umm...'blocky'.

Don't get me wrong, they're not terrible by any means, especially for being done so cheaply, but they're just nowhere near as good as the graphics in the sequel that was also released on the PS2. It's a little blocky and largely devoid of any real detail.

Gameplay: 8/10

First things first, let me just say that this game is fucking FUN. Using the two analog sticks, you act like a snowball, rolling up everything smaller than you. The goal is to roll up to a set size (measured in centimeters and meters) before the allotted time runs out. The amount of time and size necessary increase as you move through the main mode, a series of 'Make a Star' levels. As you play, you also unlock bonus levels where you attempt to make a constellation by rolling up as many of a certain object as you can, like rolling up as many crabs as you can for Cancer, and as many pairs of objects as you can for Gemini. There are other bonus-type stages like rolling up the largest bear possible, but you can only roll up one bear, and a similar stage with cows. Certain Make a Star levels also allow you to unlock an endless mode for that level by rolling your katamari up to an excessively large size. To demonstrate the gameplay rather than just describing it, here's a video showing the entire intro and then the first level. Seriously, just watch how completely insane the intro is. How can you NOT want to play this game?



The controls work spectacularly well for being so simple. Holding both analog sticks forward, you go straight...tilting the right one forward and left one back will make you turn left and vice versa...holding both backward, you move slowly in reverse. Moving both back and forth quickly will give you a huge speed boost for a short time (very helpful when the time is running out and you're not quite to size yet). Hitting R3 and L3 at the same time makes you flip to the other side of your katamari quickly. L1 brings you to a first-person viewpoint, and R1 sends you high in the sky quickly so you can see your surroundings but not move.

This game's a blast for a completionist, too. There's a collection that's viewable from the main map that shows every type of item you've collected. It can be very difficult to collect 1 of every item, but also super rewarding. Also, hidden in every level is both a present and a Royal Cousin. The presents are all mostly useless, but aesthetically pleasing nonetheless. They're all wearable, and there's items like a wig, a guitar, a scarf, and a mini royal crown. The cousins are little dudes similar to the prince, but usually a lot stranger looking. The cousins can be used as playable characters in multiplayer mode.

Speaking of multiplayer mode, that's one of the reasons Katamari Damacy doesn't get a perfect score for gameplay. It's entertaining enough for a short period; you and another player roll around in a small arena, picking up items that constantly respawn, seeing who can get the largest. If you get big enough, you can roll up your opponent. This tends to get very boring very quickly, though.

The other reason Katamari Damacy doesn't get a perfect score is because it's just too damned short! The game really is amazingly fun for how simple it is, but you can finish the main story easily within 10 hours. The sequel really remedied this issue, but this one could have definitely had 10-15 more levels.

Sound: 10/10

This game has an absolutely amazing soundtrack. Most of it is Japanese or Engrish styled music, but you don't have to be a fan of Japanese lyricism to enjoy it. The genres range from jazz to swing to samba to J-pop to electronic and everything in between. Seriously, nothing I could possibly say will do justice to how amazing it actually is, so I'll just post a song or three here so you can check it out yourself.









I'm a huge fan in particular of the last two songs there. They tend to get stuck in my head for days at a time.

Replay Value: 10/10 


I guarantee you, if you give this game a try one time, you will play it many multiple times. It's so much fun to jump in and play through a level that you almost can't resist coming back to it. You'll find yourself trying to just make the largest katamari possible, rolling up every single object in a level. Present and cousin hunting, completing the collection, getting 100% on the constellations, making a perfect North Star...this game may be short, but there's an assload of bonus things to keep it fresh.



Go out, get this game whatever way you can, and play it. If you've already played it, replay through it. It's the start of a phenomenal series of games, and they only get better as they go along. It's quirky, it's weird, it's 110% Japanese insanity...and it's one of the best games you'll ever play.

Time to catch a ride out of here on the Royal Rainbow.

"AAAAAAAAAYUM!"