Overall: 9 Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 6
Sound: 9
Concept: 10
Replay Value: 9
Namco struck gold with the 2004 release of
Katamari Damacy, a bizarre Japanese game warily localized for the U.S. and sold at a budget price. Its quirky style and addictive action shot it to the top of many "Best Of" lists, and the original soundtrack was a hit. The only complaint from fans is that they wanted more; Katamari Damacy was slightly short and many of the challenges were repetitive. Namco has risen to the challenge with We Love Katamari, a sequel that improves on the first game's winning formula without breaking the bank.
Katamari Damacy had the Prince of All Cosmos rolling up objects on Earth so that his father, the King of All Cosmos, could use the big balls of stuff to replace the stars he accidentally knocked out of the sky. We Love Katamari picks up afterward, with the King's Earthly fans requesting to see his incredible star-making powers again. This time though, people have specific requests, so the Prince will have to do more than just roll up a big Katamari.
If you haven't played the first game, We Love Katamari is easy to pick up. The controls are extremely simple; the analog sticks are the only things used for movement. Push them both in the same direction to move the Katamari (ball) in that direction, push only one stick to turn, or push the sticks in opposite directions to turn faster. As you get accustomed to the controls, it's possible to roll sideways, roll around curves, and even climb up steps. Small objects will stick to the Katamari when it rolls over them, making it grow larger and able to pick up yet larger objects. In each challenge, it's common to eventually pick up objects that were several times larger than the starting size of the Katamari itself.
A normal stage has a goal size and a time limit, and you have make the Katamari that size before the time runs out. What do you pick up? Thumbtacks, books, bicycles, people, buses, houses, everything! Most of Katamari Damacy was like this, but We Love Katamari takes the idea and, ahem,
rolls with it. The King takes requests like a wedding DJ, rolling around snowballs to make snowmen, cleaning up a kid's room, and rolling a hopeful sumo wrestler over enough food to make him a winner. Some levels don't have time limits, some don't have size goals, and some don't have either. The variety makes this a much more solid title than the previous one, keeping the interest level up through the many stages.
As far as graphics and audio go, We Love Katamari is an almost exact replica of its predecessor. That means that all of the objects in the world are stiff and have fairly low detail, as if everything were made of Lego blocks. This is compensated for by the sheer number of objects, all of which are interactive; houses and fences aren't just there as part of the environment, they can be picked up, rolled over, and bounced off of. This would be acceptable if some slowdown hadn't crept in, but in some places the PS2 seems overwhelmed with so many interactive objects on screen. The combination of stylized visuals and occasional errors will be a turn off for many gamers.
The original soundtrack of the first game won accolades and awards, and We Love Katamari improves in this respect. Some of the tunes reappear in remixed and re-realized versions, and there are tons of new tracks, all with that distinctive Katamari flavor. You even get to choose what background music you want, in case you particularly like or hate a song. Ambient sounds fill the environments, and certain things like people and animals make their own sounds when rolled up.
There are more additions to the formula than just new goals and music. The 2-player battle mode makes a return with new features, as well as a new co-op mode where both players simultaneously roll one Katamari. This makes We Love Katamari a great party game, as it's always fun to watch inebriated people yell at each other as they try to coordinate movements. There are also a couple of nice touches, like the ability to play as the Prince's cousins (though no advantages or disadvantages are gained) and a listing of picked up objects on the pause menu. Between requests we're even treated to short cutscenes about the King's tumultuous childhood.
The environments have been made a bit more detailed as well. In the first game, an underwater Katamari would simply disappear under the surface. Now there's an entire stage that's underwater, with altered physics to reflect the increased resistance. The game is less linear than before, too; at any point, you may have 3 or 4 requests available at a time, any one of which can be taken. The number of objects has increased dramatically as well.
Players searching for complaints will have to dig deep. The $20 bargain price of the first game did go up, but only to $30, still a deal. Like the previous game, We Love Katamari is a bit easy, especially for veteran gamers. Conversely, this makes it that much more accessible for the casual gamer, and I even handed the game to a 5-year old who picked up the controls in no time and had a blast rolling stuff up. Those who want more of a challenge can work toward "secret" goals of reaching certain sizes or finishing levels well in advance of the time limit.
We Love Katamari is exactly what a sequel should be: more of what players loved while addressing the complaints. Sure, when you boil it down it's just a game where you roll a big ball around, but it's so
fun. We Love Katamari has its own unique style -- when you see the rainbows and pink dancing pandas you'll see what that means -- and is a steal for hardcore and casual gamers alike at $30. At that price, why rent?
