ゲームを楽しもう!

katamari has always been a series that people are shocked to hear I haven't played. it looks and feels like the kind of thing I'd have at least tried given the kinds of games I usually gravitate towards. I love Japanese games and I play a ton of older and unconventional titles. this one just somehow always escaped my grasp. I think a part of it is the fact it never released in Europe, I actually had to buy an American import copy of the game. even its HD remaster never ended up getting a physical release here. it's just a game cursed to never release in my area. I did eventually cave though during last xmas and picked up a copy. a little while ago I ended up playing through it over a nice summer day with the fan blasting, a large glass of iced coffee and all in one sitting. that doesn't happen too often but this game is just that good. I was hooked from beginning to end and I loved every second of it. in a way it felt like the best possible way to play, an ideal setting.

the gameplay is simple but really unique. you roll a huge ball of stuff and pick things up to make it bigger, anything smaller than the ball gets picked up and anything larger you just bounce right off. you need to collect stuff to hit the goal and pick up larger and larger objects. it's simple but it controls really interestingly and it makes good use of both sticks in a unique way that I really liked. it feels like a super advanced form of tank controls and I've never really played a game that controls like it. it's satisfying to make it huge and pick up things that you bumped into before and there's a huge variety in items that all have cute models and even descriptions you can read about on the hub world. there's not much to it but the game is short and simple enough that it just works, it has that arcade style addictiveness with chasing those bigger and bigger and bigger sizes. you can collect presents that let you decorate the prince, find his cousins that you can play as in the multiplayer and there's even some side missions beyond the main campaign that ask you to pick up specific things like eggs or twins or that ask you to find the biggest bear in a level. they act more like puzzles and I think they're a fun little distraction and they get good use out of the levels for some really fun layouts. the bear one was especially funny, though that one was very difficult and i never managed to get one as big as i wanted.. it's also fun to see the sheer scale of the game. you start out in small rooms before moving to parts of a town or parks and by the endgame you end up rolling up entire islands. it's really impressive and I was shocked when I saw just how big the game could get. I really didn't think the ps2 would be able to handle the levels getting as big as they get in those final levels.

the game has a really beautiful look to it. the low poly items that litter levels are all so cute and there's so many of them. i love the cute little animals and the food items and i adore the keitai phone you can find in one of the earlier levels. there's even penguins here, any game with penguins gets bonus points from me there and then. the prince and all his cousins are adorable too, I love how they all look. the art direction is one of the biggest strong points, there's nothing else out there that looks like this with the levels and especially those cutscenes. there's really striking 2D cutscenes that look super unique and are animated in a really interesting way. it reminds me of some of the stuff from ranko tsukigime. just a very unique and colourful art style and the game tries its best to emulate that in 3D. it's so colourful and cute. there's good variety of places to see that all look great as well. the house has tons of little rooms with different layouts and items, you can go from the garden all the way up to the roof if you want. there's also a small Japanese shopping town with its own parks and allyways and hills, a beach with several small seaside towns and cities attached, the ocean, small parks and construction sites. there's a lot to see in the games short runtime and they all look really nice. they have so much movement and it's fun to just watch the world go by in them. the game even makes good use of the levels by re-populating them with different items in the side missions, so even when you go back to a familiar stage it still feels a little new and different.

the story is interesting too. the cutscenes have a really nice style to them and the writing is super charming. the VA is cheesy and funny and the games humour always sticks the landing. though there isn't a ton of writing overall, it's not a huge focus, but I think what's here is good. I like the commentary on togetherness and the abuse of power that can harm that, the game has a real appreciation for mundane every day life stuff and I think it's very wholesome in a way I like a lot. the king is also a super memorable character, he's really funny in a "wow this guy is a real jerk" kind of way. the game is nice and brisk too. levels go by in a breeze and they move on before they get stale. it's not super long. if you stick to just the main levels and avoid the side missions then you can easily finish it in 3 hours without a ton of difficulty and maybe 5 if you finish them all. it's not hard to finish he game in one sitting without failing a main mission, though those side missions can be very tough, especially the bear one and many of the time limits can cut it pretty close in those later missions. one final one in the park i had to redo a few times but i never had a bad time even doing this. there Is replayability though with high scores with the size of the katamari, cousins to find and those presents to find, plus a multiplayer mode too. you can easily get your time in with the game if you want to.

the big thing here about the game for me was its music. the game feels very focused on its music, like in a way that it feels built around it. there are tons of standout tracks here, most of the OST is solid so I'll really just be listing off a large % of the OST but it's such an iconic and varied OST that it's worth listening to every track, you're bound to find a few tracks you like a lot. you've probably heard at least a few of them via other people using the tracks in other things. "katamari on the rocks" is the most well known of the OST and easily the one that feels the most emblematic of the game and its energy. it's like if ":)" was a song. it's perfect, though it's not my favourite song on the OST. "overture" is fantastic. "moon and prince" is brilliant and catchy. "fugue 77777" uses the moonbase alpha voices and that's really funny. "lonely rolling star" has the best track intro and is probably my second favourite track overall, it's just so catchy. "katamari mambo" is up there too, fantastic song, it feels so 90's anime. "red rose with gin and tonic" is really nice. "que sera sera" is another favourite, it makes me feel so emotional. when I played the game at first and it came on mid stage I wanted to cry, it's my third favourite easily. "taste of an angel" is one of the more experimental sounding tracks but I like it a lot, I feel the same about the much chiller "katamari stars". "roll me in" is my favourite track in the game, it's so sweet and catchy and it always just makes me happy to hear it. the instrumentation and vocals are just so nice. the credits song "Ball of love" is another favourite, i was in tears during the whole song and it's a perfect track to end the game with. ths soundtrack is a huge collaborative project and there's too many people to name but generally it seems to be credited to have been overseen by one Yū Miyake. he's worked on tons of games over the years like tekken 3, 4, tag and most of the series since, ridge racer 5, 6 unbound and the psp titles, taiko: drum master, super monkey ball banana splits and most of the katamari series. pretty great resume i have to say.

the game has had several ports over the years. the original PS2 is the version that i played and it's a pretty wonderful time. there's also a PS3 classics version that seems solid enough and a full remake with "katamari damacy reroll" which ads different graphics, controls carried over from the sequel and some little extras, though no real new content to speak of. it's available on all current gen systems and seems like a fine version all things considered, though i do prefer the look of the ps2 version and i wanted to experience those original controls. none of these versions will run you very much though, i paid £20 and that's about what it goes for with the remaster too, though this remaster is available for region free systems, unlike the original. so if you're in Europe and don't have a region free way of playing ps2 games this may be the way to go. it's also had tons of sequels, "we love katamari" on the ps2 was the last game the creative lead was involved with and seems to be equally as beloved. there's "me and my katamari" for psp, "beautiful katamari" for 360, "katamari forever" for ps3 and an especially cool looking vita game with "touch my katamari" all to play as well, plus a plethora of phone titles and even a newer game in the series released this gen with "once upon a katamari". they all seem pretty fun and I'm excited to get around to them.

the series was started as a creative project primarily credited to one "keita takahashi" who seems like a wonderful person all things considered. he gives the energy of someone who cares about art and the good in humanity above all else and his projects seem to reflect that. he was also involved in games like noby noby boy, wattam and to a T. i've only played wattam of these and did generally really enjoy it, though i found parts of it a little difficult to connect to. the others i do intend to try some day though, i especially hear wonderful things about to a T and if it ever gets a physical release i'll be there day one. the team at namco credited to it are just credited as Namco, so it's hard to say what internal team worked on it, sadly. they did a fantastic job either way. it's an easy game to recommend overall. despite its sequels it's still a one of a kind art project and it's something that i think is really accessible and easy to fall in love with. the music alone is enough to warrant a playthrough and i urge you to at least check that out, i just wish i had of tried the game out earlier myself. i really loved this and i think most people reading this will to, so please try to check it out if you can, there's plenty of places and opportunities to do so.