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Review: We Love Katamari

Posted by Zonk on Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:58 PM
from the rollin-rollin-rollin dept.
PlayStation (Games)
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.
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Review: We Love Katamari 50 Comments More /

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  • Didn't the Japanese just get the first picture of a Giant one of these recently?
    • Kalamari != Katamari

      katmari is lump, mass, clod or cluster ... a Kalamari is not.

      But I can understand the low level humor about this ...

  • It's hardly short (Score:5, Informative)

    by kinglink (195330) on Friday September 30 2005, @01:01PM (#13686928)
    The first game was SHORT! basically 12 missions with 6 side missions all almost the same. 3 area that's it.

    This game is MUCH longer, remember first off you're paying 30 bucks, so don't expect a 50 buck game. But you have at least 6-10 areas for you to roll in, tons of new missions and most of them are quite lengthy Plus there's easily much more to find and do. I'd have to say it's a decent length.

    Overall though the review nails it. It's a "thank you for the support", basically "you wanted more here's more fun, we won't innovate too much so we don't ruin it, but we'll have as much fun as we did the first time" gotta say that's how I found it and that's all I wanted. Kudos to Namco. Keep the good games coming.
    • This game is MUCH longer, remember first off you're paying 30 bucks, so don't expect a 50 buck game. But you have at least 6-10 areas for you to roll in, tons of new missions and most of them are quite lengthy Plus there's easily much more to find and do. I'd have to say it's a decent length.

      Actually, the "missions" might be longer but they aren't nearly as difficult and I have only not made the goal twice (both times smashed on Sparksbombs). I blew through to the ending w/o much difficulty (yes there's mo
    • err...that may have been my enthusiasm.

      I tried to tone it down, but I *really* like this game. The co-op is so much fun my wife and I played through the whole thing in just a couple of days.

      It is longer than the original, but still quite short compared to most games today. The difference is, every minute of the game was worth playing.
      • The co-op is so much fun my wife and I played through the whole thing in just a couple of days.

        I have heard that it is difficult to control -- my wife is very interested in playing some parts of the game and I was wondering if it would be worthwhile to pick up a second controller to play co-op.

        How difficult is it?
        • It's...challenging to get the hang of it. Basically, by playing with two players you have one player providing momentum and the other person steering. That's essentially what it boils down to.

          Unfortunately, they took out the on-screen notice of which way the joysticks are moving which was included in the Japanese version of the game. I guess they felt us American folk wanted to be more combative?

          It does take some work to get the hang of it, but once you do it's a lot of fun.
      • no problem, I mean, it is short, I'm not saying you were wrong, but it's not THAT short, when some games today you can blow through in 5 hours, this game has taken at least a couple times (played through twice once in japanese and once in english ) And then there's finding the cousins which isn't automatic like the original which didn't help the original's play time. I still am stuck on the damm third stage of the fireball (yes there's a third stage, and it's near impossible in my book, 6 meters + firebal
    • The first game was SHORT! basically 12 missions with 6 side missions all almost the same. 3 area that's it.

      Uh, you missed a couple. The original game also had the side missions of finding all objects and all names. That could easily take at least a month to finish. Some of those are really hard to find, and a few can just barely be rolled up before the scale changes and they disappear. And then there's that damn bear with a rocket up his ass.

  • Not again... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Someone's really gotta get the king of the universe to start going to those AA meetings...

  • The game review formula (Score:5, Funny)

    by pHatidic (163975) on Friday September 30 2005, @01:08PM (#13687000) Homepage
    if ($game != NetHack)
      print("$game ain't bad, but it's no NetHack!");
    else
      print("$game gets a 10-10-10");
  • Silly Rabbit, Katamari is for Kids!!

  • Mmmm, Katamari (Score:3, Funny)

    by Limburgher (523006) on Friday September 30 2005, @01:12PM (#13687031) Homepage Journal
    I like it breaded and deep-fried. :)
  • Have I been living under rock? I have never heard of this game. Was this a huge game or something? I guess I may be behind the times a bit, because I still play Half Life/CS, Rise of Nations, etc.

  • Spoilers!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by ChocoBean (890202) on Friday September 30 2005, @01:16PM (#13687083)

    That was the KING's sick past?!

    You sir, have ruined my day!

    nah,,,,,not really I guess it's pretty disturbing whichever way you look at the extra story plot line. And anyway it's only in there because it pleases the fans in a sick way, like the rest of the game.

    About the under water level, it's way more fun than mere vertical challenge...Your katamari can be fished out of the water, losing valuable rolling time. And also you move slower than on land. Also, you literally speed cruise around a small island on the racing level, picking up your opponents who cheekily try to out-speed you.

    But I've got to say that one of the funnest (yes...) part of the game is how unabashedly violent and sick the idea of the game is. You roll up people, they scream, they flail around trying to dislodge themselves from the massive ball, they fail at that. You roll the ball, by how weighting in tonnes, and the people get crushed by even bigger objects you pick up. Finally, when you're done, your Dad BLASTS the whole thing into space where they become a "star", presumably cathing on fire in a nuclear fission type reaction.(how else does it glow from light years away?)

    Best. Game. Ever.


    Will Spore have Katamari elements in it?

    • Finally, when you're done, your Dad BLASTS the whole thing into space where they become a "star", presumably cathing on fire in a nuclear fission type reaction.(how else does it glow from light years away?)
      cough. fusion. cough.
    • But I've got to say that one of the funnest (yes...) part of the game is how unabashedly violent and sick the idea of the game is. You roll up people, they scream, they flail around trying to dislodge themselves from the massive ball, they fail at that.
      What's truly bizarre to me about it all is that the whole purpose of the second game is that people are lining up to beg you to do this to them. Obviously this game is a thinly-veiled vehicle for BSDM fetishists...

  • The Objective of the Game (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Black Art (3335) on Friday September 30 2005, @01:16PM (#13687084)
    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...
  • The first Katamari had unlockable infinite levels... so you could putter around the world rolling up junk without a time limit staring you in the face. I can't find any mention of unlockable infinite levels in K2 and that makes me very very sad. Anybody have any info on this?
    • The Snowman level is infinite, as is the solar system level.
      However, the Eternal levels do not exist as they once did, sadly. You do, however, have more levels that have no time limit.

    • There are no "infinite" levels per se . . . however, there is a "very-close-to-infinite" level that pops up after you've finished every other stage, including the bonus stage that appears after finishing the game and the bonus stage that appears after collecting all the cousins. It is, unfortunately, not a very interesting level (you're closed into a small area, you can only collect one type of object, and you don't grow in size), but you never run out of stuff to collect, so if nothing else it's a good ti

    • On the other hand, with practice, in both KD1 and 2, with practice you don't need the Eternal levels. It's very possible, in both games, to almost empty the world of matter within time, and once you know the layout it's not even hard.

      Both these situations are especially evident in each game's "big" level, Make the Moon in the original and the Bird+Elephant level in KD2 (aka We Love Katamari). Both seem a bit difficult and barely completeable in time on first play, but now.... I can easily clean out the e
      • So the only levels with no time limit are a pair of smallish ones with limited objects. Lame.

        I loved the eternal levels because you could roll up items you needed for catalog completion. I also thought it was fun just to dap around and see the bizarre sights and snap photos. Seems like an easy thing to include; I'm annoyed that they took that feature out for the sequel.

  • Just for the record. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Iriel (810009) on Friday September 30 2005, @01:51PM (#13687454) Homepage
    It should probably be noted that the creator of Katamari Damacy didn't want to do a sequel under any circumstances. However, Namco told him that they were considering doing a holiday version of it that basically had a christmas skin on everything. After hearing this, the creator stepped in, not so much to make a great sequel, but simply keep it from sucking less than it would have otherwise.

  • Better Katamari Cake (Score:5, Interesting)

    by generic-man (33649) on Friday September 30 2005, @01:53PM (#13687486) Homepage Journal
    I saw a spectacularly-detailed Katamari cake, complete with sculpted Prince [flickr.com] recently on the LiveJournal Katamari Damacy group [livejournal.com]. The amount of fan art/cosplay/crafts for Katamari Damacy is amazing.
  • 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, becaus
  • 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
  • Except...well...I don't want to be a grammar police, but seeing misused words usually makes me puke. It should be

    "to gather more of a specific object than their opponent"

  • WARNING: Prolonged use may result in sleepless nights, the inability to shut up about Katamari, and the loss of friendships.

    I love this game way too much. :(

  • Short? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by drwiii (434) on Friday September 30 2005, @05:02PM (#13689284)
    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.

    • This game made me want to stick my member into a blender :(

      Sticking YOUR member into a blender. Now that could provide for some fun gaming.
      • If you only played for 20 minutes, you likely didn't get the sheer joy of playing a level from a scale of a few inches up to the point of picking up entire island chains and major weather systems.

        It took me just a bit to get into it, but after an hour and a half or so, I was completely hooked.
        • It took me just a bit to get into it, but after an hour and a half or so, I was completely hooked.
          And that was basically one of the biggest problems in the game, the pacing. The first few levels were difficult, when you're at a small size. But once you reach a certain size (most people say 6m), most of the levels become trivial and it's just a matter of "where do you want to roll today?" Had it not been for a friend looking over my shouldering coaching me towards some of the better routes, I might not hav
    • Thank you for the link. It was actually kind of diverting for a few minutes. With a few more levels of scale and perhaps some obstacles other than pickup-able objects, I could see that as a nice "coffee break game." You know, the kind you play when your head is hurting from trying to process code and you just need to de-rez.
    • I'd love a copy for my Gamecube. I understand there is a DS version coming, but I don't have one of those either. Oh well-- if it doesn't ever make the jump, I'll do what I did with the dreamcast and ReZ and buy it and a PS2 (and maybe an eyetoy) when things are good and cheap.

      It really does seem like a good fit for Nintendo, though.
    • I doubt it, the key to its controls is the PS2's symetric dual analog sticks. trying to use the puny c stick would get irritating

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