Review: We Love Katamari

Katamari. Since the launch of the original title, it's been a hat, a cake, and now it's another game. Even then, saying it is another game is a stretch. For the most part the aptly titled We Love Katamari is a mission pack for the original game with an expanded multiplayer component. I don't really care, and anyone who has had the chance to play the original isn't likely to care either. The game is pure PS2 gold, just as much fun as the first foray into star-making. We Love Katamari is pure fan service from the man who doesn't even like games that much anyway. Read on for my impressions of the sequel to the original star-creation-through-rolling simulator.

• Title: We Love Katamari
• Developer: Namco
• Publisher: Namco
• System: PS2
• Reviewer: Zonk
• Score: 8/10

The original Katamari Damacy came out about a year ago, and the buzz surrounding the game was immediate and enthusiastic. The low budget look, excellent soundtrack, and inordinately fun gameplay was exactly what players tired of rehashed sequels and inane licensed games were looking for. The critical success of the title didn't turn into blockbuster sales figures, but the response was good enough to prompt Namco to go for a sequel. The developer of the original game, Keita Takahashi, stepped in to ensure that the new game would live up to the standards of the original. The resulting title is a love letter to fans of ball rolling and whacked out Kings of the Cosmos.

If you've played Katamari Damacy, you'll be quite adept at using the controls for We Love Katamari. There have been no real changes to the two thumbstick schema. Using the joysticks in concert, you push the Katamari and it gathers stuff. The more stuff you gather, the larger the Katamari gets. Missions are given to you by the King of All Cosmos, who usually tasks you with achieving a certain size of Katamari within a time limit. Added components to the gameplay are basically just new settings and mission objective types. For example, there are underwater levels now. Aside from some limited verticality, they're just missions with a lot of fish. The new objective types are slightly more interesting. One level lights your Katamari on fire, and requires you to keep it lit by continuously rolling up stuff. You pause too long, your Katamari goes out, and your dad shoots you with laser beam eyes. Tough love, indeed. Another level pits you against a second player in a race to assemble a snowman.

That integrated second player mission is part of the multiplayer emphasis in the second game. In addition to a few two player vs. missions, there is a head-to-head mode similar to the multiplayer mode in the first Katamari. It is better developed than in the first game, though, with a few different arenas of play available. The head-to-head mode emphasizes strategy as well, by requiring each player to gather more of a specific object that their opponent. The most enjoyable aspect of We Love Katamari's multiplayer is cooperative play. Two people working together can play every mission in the game. At least, working together is the idea. Moving the Katamari efficiently with two people operating requires a little getting used to, but with a duo working together you can really get the ball moving. It's also hilarious getting into a groove. "Go Backwards!" "I am going backwards!" "No, left backwards."

The fun factor of the game is still very high, even after a year spent playing the first title. There's an immense satisfaction in adding mass to your Katamari, and a sick pleasure in having your work transformed into a stellar object. The "purpose" of the game, if there can be said to be one, is to please fans of the original Katamari and assist the King of the Cosmos in refilling the rest of the sky. Completing missions is interspersed with extremely disconcerting cut-scenes about The King of the Cosmos' past. Starting with his youth, the cut-scenes give us background on exactly what makes the King tick. Because, of course, not knowing kept us up at nights. The fan service is literal and unabashed. The denizens of the mission select field cavort among the trees, giant birthday cakes, and oddly tapping birds. When you pass nearby they call out for attention, requesting that you see to their idiosyncratic whims. Various moments during the game will see you gathering up sweets for a sugar-rush seeker, cleaning up a kid's room for a lazy parent, and entertaining a class full of students by rolling up the contents of their school. Of course, I have to sit here wondering if they were all that entertained. After all, they ended up as part of a star.

The game has the same shaped-Lego look of the first title, with everything from penguins to people represented in the somehow appealing format. The game has its own beauty, but it will hardly stretch your PS2's capabilities. The enjoyment factor of the game's presentation lies in the variety and sheer amount of stuff that exists within the mission spaces. Every time your Katamari accrues mass and the game's scale shifts, you gain a new appreciation of the minimalist style. One vaguely frustrating change in the game is the addition of in-mission load times. The increased mission size has resulted in the need to load up additional materials in order to gain access to new parts of the map. An understandable but somewhat frustrating limitation.

Sound plays an important role in every game, and the brain-crushingly entertaining soundtrack from the first game has a successful successor in We Love Katamari. Catchy tunes with jazz, J-Pop, techno, and swing backgrounds round out the audio environment you roll around in. The main theme has several incarnations on the soundtrack, and all of the songs are enjoyable ear candy. The catchiness level of the first game has been toned down in favour of some more worked out pieces, but the experience is still thoroughly Katamari.

Fan service and catchy tunes. Fun and innovative gameplay. A game guaranteed to keep your raver buddy amused for hours on end. There are so many pleasant things you can credit We Love Katamari with. My only two big complaints are that it's basically the same game as the original, and it's very, very short. The game is well worth playing, but a bit more expansion of the concept would have been appreciated. As it's so similar to the first title, it shares the problem that once you've mastered the controls it is not very hard to work your way through the game in a frustratingly short amount of time. Nothing is perfect, though, and I'll take my fun where I can get it. If you've played Katamari Damacy and enjoyed it, there is no way you won't like We Love Katamari. If you haven't, it's well worth taking a look just so you can get a taste of what all the fuss is about.

Comments

The Objective of the Game

[Black Art]

I liked the objective of the game.

To finish you have to destroy the entire solar system by rolling it up in your katamari.

Such destructive pleasures...

Re:This game would ROCK on the Nintendo Revolution

[MankyD]

You don't need a Nintendo Revolution controller.

But that doesn't mean a motion sensing control couldn't improve it (or at least provide a new and interesting way to play the game.)

Better Katamari Cake

[generic-man]

I saw a spectacularly-detailed Katamari cake, complete with sculpted Prince recently on the LiveJournal Katamari Damacy group. The amount of fan art/cosplay/crafts for Katamari Damacy is amazing.

Will it ever come out for the Gamecube?

[fak3r]

For all that this game is, it just 'fits' the Gamecube perfectly. It's def a game I would play as much as the kids, and I appreciate that more titles for the Gamecube fall in this category. Nintendo has the right idea, and I hope they stick with it for the Revolution; just make great games and let Sony and MS deal with the realisticly violent games. Oh, and let's get another Mario game, Sunshine wasn't it (though Kart and Golf are a blast!)

Best PS2 Series!!!

[pakkman781]

Excellent Review!!! The Katamari Games are my favorite series on the PS2. I've long been a Pac-man fan, and Katamari is the first game to truly give the same level of entertainment(and whadda you know, it's another Namco title). I give this game a 10/10, because the negatives given in the review don't really bother me. It may seem like just an expansion, but I wouldn't have it any other way, the gameplay was perfect in the first, why change it? And although it may be short, it has great replay value, because each mission has at least two methods of completion. Not only that, the game never really gets boring, at least not for me, no matter how much you play it.

My only real complaint, is this sequel costs $30, whereas the first was $20. To anyone wanting to try the games, I suggest you get the cheaper Katamari Damacy first, and see if you like it, before you get this sequel.

Dupe-ish

[astyanax]

Wasn't overly interested when /. linked to another site's review of this game several months ago, does this game (or any game) merit two review articles in as many months?

it will be alright

[supercane]

This game is a bit of a repeat, but what's not to love in a repeat. The two player mode what makes the game fun. The first Katamari was nice, simple race to collect as much as possible, where the second has this goal orientation when you compete. the playing of each level in dual mode can be hard if the players are not in sync mentally. It seems strange that the two players could play and see you builds the bigger solar system. Another down side is to play the mere three levels of competitive Katamari one has to complete the game. Where you Katamari. It would be nice if out of the box you could play any level in competition mode. All in all it is a good game, We love Katamari is exactly what its title says... If you love it, get it!

Short?

[drwiii]

No way!

Most people are making the mistake of not replaying the levels they cleared. Some of them have up to 5 missions in them.

So, no, you have not beat the entire game by doing the absolute minimum necessary to roll up the sun.