Official Japanese Website

Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: Action / puzzle

Number of Players: 1 - 2

You've got to hand it to game companies for taking chances over the last few years. We've seen quite a few games that had the possibility of not scoring big with the gaming public at large, and to everyone's surprise, they manage to go over very well and become a sleeper hit. The list of games that fall into that category continues to grow, and Namco has what might be one of the strangest games conceptually to come along in quite a while that seems destined to become yet another sleeper hit: Katamari Damacy.

The general idea though is more or less quite familiar. You are a prince; just in the game though, so don't go getting any ideas that you're better than everyone else. To be more specific, you're the Prince of the Cosmos, but unfortunately your father has made a fatal mistake. The King has accidentally destroyed all the stars, and now he's given you the task of returning them. It's a big task, especially since you're quite small in stature, as you will find out when you arrive on Earth and discover that you're merely the but a few inches high. To return the night sky to normal, you are armed with a sphere; the katamari, that seems to be ideal of returning things back to normal.

The way the game works is that you need to roll the katamari, which more or less acts like glue. You can pick up anything with it, assuming of course that it isn't too big. The King will give you a goal that you will need to achieve as far as the size of the object goes, and of course, you have a time limit as well, so failure is not an option here. The controls are simple, but they take a little getting used to at first. You won't be using your D-pad like you might assume, but instead you will use the analog sticks. It definitely takes a few tries to fully understand the movements, but it's really very simple. For example, pushing both sticks forward will, of course, move you forward, whereas one forward and the other being pressed left or right will move you in that direction. On the other hand, pressing them quickly back and forth will give you a boost of speed. Also you  have the option to take pictures if you so desire and look at them later at your home planet.

You're only real enemy here is simply time, so being quick is important, and as mentioned, the katamari will pick up everything. You'll start out just in a house where you can pick up tacks, matchsticks, stamps, and so on. As you're ball gets bigger, you can pick up bigger items, and there really isn't much limit to it. You'll be able to grab sections of fences, household pets, and even people, and there's a good deal of joy to be had there. Three's nothing more satisfying than hearing them scream as you run over them with your katamari or seeing them flee in terror. Each stage also has a present hidden in it that will give our little prince an item that he can use, but for decorative purposes. Once the stage is complete, the King will evaluate your katamari before launching it into space, and if you're quick enough, you may even get the chance to see a shooting star. It's not always stars though that you'll be making, and you will have the chance to remake various constellations. To make Cancer you'll need to collect crabs, Gemini has you picking up twins, and Cygnus of course has swans.

One thing that players will notice is that for the most part, the ball will act differently depending on what you pick up. For example, let's say in the process of grabbing items you run over a pair of chopsticks. If you try and move in the direction that the chopsticks are on, your ball will move a bit more erratically. This will all be rectified however once you have enough items stuck to the katamari to balance everything out.

At the end of the stage it's time to go home, and there's a variety of things to do here as well. You can take a look at what items you've collected, and even how many of them you've managed to roll up. You will also be able to see where you've been as well as the names of people and animals you've collected. You'll also be alerted to any presents that you have found will helping the universe. All of this is tallied up into the percentage of the game you've completed, but don't worry if you haven't found everything. You can go back to other levels to find new items, presents, and make even larger stars to replace those already in the heavens. You also will find a Space Mushroom that has your cousins living on it. Going here will allow you to play in two-player mode, but this won't be to help restore the stars to their former glory and instead you will be placed in competition with one another and you will have three minutes to make the largest katamari that you can. All of the usual rules apply, meaning that you can run into them with enough force to knock pieces away.

At first glace, the game looks very rudimentary, but for this type of game, it works well. Think back for a moment to a game such as Tetris. The graphics aren't that impressive and are very simple, but it's a highly addictive game. The same is true here. Katamari Damacy is a game that I didn't really think much of but after I started playing it, before I had even realized it five hours had breezed by and I was left wondering just where my day went. No matter though, I just kept right on playing. The music for the game is interesting as well, comprised of J-Pop as well as some instrumental bits. I found that having the J-Pop left in actually adds quite a bit to the mood of the game, especially when you're running over signs, magazines, and household products that have Japanese characters written on them, and I do have to give Namco a big thumbs up for not changing things and adding some sort of horrid American pop.

Katamari Damacy is one of those games that belongs in a class all it's own. In some ways it's a puzzle game, but it's really not. Others might view it as being something like Money Ball, and while that is slightly true, it still is a game that defies being lumped in with other games. Instead, Katamari Damacy boils down to being addictive, very addictive as a matter of fact. Rolling a ball has never been so much fun, as anyone who decides to pick this game up is going to find out. Overlook the games odd appearance and concept and definitely give this one of try.

-mike-