Game Review: We Love Katamari

Game: We Love Katamari
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 20th September 2005

Listen along to the game soundtrack as you read! (recommended more than ever)

Every once in a while, a game comes along which reminds players what they love about video games. For me, this is definitely one of those games. The Katamari series began with Katamari Damacy, which was released in Japan, Korea and North America and designed around the 4 key points of novelty, ease of understanding, enjoyment and humour. The game featured The Prince of the Cosmos as its main character, attempting to repair damage to the night sky (caused by the King of the Cosmos while drunk) by rolling up enough everyday items with his katamari (a small adhesive ball) into stars and placing them back into the sky.

As the second game in the Katamari series, We Love Katamari continues the story as fans of the original game populate the 'select meadow' where they shout their requests of the King until players choose to hear them and take on their 'mission'. Although they all involve rolling up items with a katamari, the missions are nicely varied and focus on different aspects of the game such as rolling up to a certain size within a time limit, estimating the size of your katamari without the size guide on the HUD, and helping fans out by completing objectives.

Depending on the mission, players will start with their katamari at a specified size, somewhere within the mission location (ranging from houses to schools to the universe). Once the objectives have been explained, it's possible to collect any item that's slightly smaller than your katamari's current size. As things are added to the cluster, its size grows and is shown in the top left. Most stages feature a good variety of items scattered around, although some are based around collecting a number of the same item.

The analog sticks are used to control the katamari; if they're both pressed in the same direction, then the katamari will move in that direction, turning is achieved by holding the sticks in different directions, and there are also special moves like dashing, or hopping over the katamari which require alternating and pushing in the sticks respectively. While this does take a little getting used to, there's a tutorial stage which can be replayed as needed, and I found myself to be fairly competent after only a short while.

After the completion of every 2-3 missions, a cutscene is shown and more mission options open up. The story that the cutscenes tell fits well with the humour and style of the game, despite not being hugely related to the missions which players are carrying out. Once the game is complete, all cutscenes can be accessed from a 'movie viewer' option, as well as the opening from Katamari Damacy, included only in PAL versions due to its lack of release in Europe.

Throughout the mission locations are scattered 'cousins' of the Prince, who come in a variety of colours and shapes, and can be found and collected by rolling them into the katamari. Once found, players can use any cousin they wish to play missions with, and even change the appearance of each cousin with 'presents' that are also found in missions. This gives the game some replayability as it's difficult to find all of the cousins/presents on the first playthrough.

Graphically the game has a cutesy cartoon style which fits well with the general aesthetic and enables players to easily tell what they're rolling into the Katamari most of the time. The game's soundtrack is one of its strongest points, as several genres are covered excellently in an entertaining way that fits effortlessly behind the game. While there's no voice acting for the text on screen, this is perhaps a wise decision due to the absurdity and humour of the game.

Overall while We Love Katamari was one of the most expensive games I've ever bought due to its rarity (although this isn't saying too much, since I get 99% of my games used), for me it was completely worth it. Though the game is short and only based on one core mechanic, the amount of fun and sheer absurdity that Namco managed to cram into the game, coupled with the soundtrack, visuals and replayability more than made up for that. It's not a game for everyone, but those that do enjoy it should absolutely love it.

Rating: 92/100
Grade: A