Official Website

Platform: PlayStation 2

Genre: Puzzle

Number of Players: 1 - 2

Who loves Katamari? Everyone of course, and last year Namco released something that would become a phenomenon, Katamari Damacy. The game with the strange name was a long shot at best, and needless to say the game brought in droves of fans, won awards, and had the world in love with Katamari. Well, the little prince with the big sticky balls is back and ready to roll up the world again in the sequel, We Love Katamari.

The Prince and his father, the King of the Cosmos, saved the world from a rather bland night sky when the King inadvertently destroyed all of the stars. The King hasn't made the same mistake, but the incident has caused him to skyrocket to popularity. Now everyone loves Katamari, and they are fascinated with the King. Each of these people has a request, and they want to see Katamari for themselves. Your goal is simple; you just need to grant them, though it usually takes some convincing on the Kings part, and you're ultimate goal is to build enough planets and stellar constellations to roll up the sun itself.

If you didn't play the original Katamari Damacy, I have to fist wonder just what's wrong with you? From my experience, everyone who even played a single level was immediately hooked on the game. For the uninformed, you're probably wondering just what type of game this is. Katamari is a puzzle game, and quite an odd one at that. As the young Prince, you will be given a rather large ball, the Katamari, and by using both of the analog sticks, you will move it around to pick up things, but the objects need to be smaller than you are and as you begin to collect more and more, your katamari will grow in size, allowing you to grab even bigger things. What can you pick up? Everything; from the smallest ant to islands, but it's going to depend on how big you get your katamari.

The gameplay is very much the same as the original game, though you can opt to take a little refresher course in the beginning if you've forgotten or if you've never played the game before. As in the original Katamari, you will find that most of the stages consist of you needing to get your katamari to a size, as decreed by the King, before time runs out. As you progress further however, you will find other stages, such as the time trials. Here, you must get your katamari to the appropriate size as quickly as possible.

Having the same old Katamari would be a little boring though, wouldn't it? Okay, so it wouldn't, but there are some new types of stages included. If you ever wondered what it would be like to get your balls wet, wonder no more. We Love Katamari features an underwater stage, complete with fishing hooks to hoist you up and make things more of a challenge. You also won't always find that you're using the katamari to collect objects, and there are stages features a flaming ball that you must keep alight before finally setting a campfire ablaze, or my favorite, adding some weight onto a sumo wrestler. Apparently my sumo was cannibalistic as people were readily absorbed into expanding mass.

Some of the stages in We Love Katamari also contain some hidden items. Keep your eyes open and your balls ready to grab some presents. These will give the Prince new things to wear, and although it doesn't enhance the way that he performs, it does make him look a little better. There is also a camera that will allow you to take pictures. Also, the Prince has numerous cousins that can be found in stages. By getting them, you can change to a different character if you'd like or you can have a friend select one in two-player mode. Yes, for the first time Katamari features the option to have not one, but two balls on the screen at the same time. In co-op mode, you will have tow players rolling one katamari, brining a whole new meaning to the word "cooperation," but if this isn't you thing, you can put your balls against one another. The two player VS mode will pit players against one another, and the King himself will tell you what item he wants you to collect. The player who has the most wins, an the ball battles can get furious in this mode, especially since you can smash into your opponent and knock off collected items.

Aside from the addictive gameplay, one of the things that attracted a number of people to Katamari was the soundtrack. Instead of rewriting the songs or adding new ones, Namco simply left in the Japanese soundtrack which features Japanese lyrics. We Love Katamari is more of the same, filled with catchy songs that come from all genres of music, including some reworked and remixed versions of songs from the original game. The only bad thing about this is that there aren't any versions of the original soundtrack available domestically, so if you really, really love Katamari, you're going to have to import it, but it's well worth the money (trust me, and we will have a review of it soon.)

The game visually looks identical to the original. The items in the stages are designed rather rudimentary, but as the case was before, it really works quite well. One change however is with the King. In the first game, quite a few people commented about the King and a certain body part staring you squarely in the face. I suppose that it was this that intimidated very to do as he commanded, but now he's lounging a bit more with no revealing shots. If you want to know more about the King though, you're in luck. The cut scenes in the game will tell the story of how a young Prince met a beautiful woman, became king, and eventually the couple had a young Prince of their own; you.

Do We Love Katamari? Yes, we most certainly do, and we all hope that you do as well. How much do I love Katamari? Well, I actually did manage to finish the game the day I received it for review, but that's what you get after hours of playing the game without rest. If you loved the first game, you are going to love We Love Katamari, and if you've never played it, I'd advise not just grabbing this one, but the original Katamari Damacy as well. Going balls deep has never been so much fun nor so addictive.
 

-mike-