Katamari Forever
Roll a sticky ball over cute and colourful common-place objects to create an even bigger sticky ball that eventually glues itself to planets. Brilliant!
If you’ve never heard of Katamari (which means ‘Clump’), best do a quick search on Yahoo! then head back here. The cult-classic game from Namco Bandai games has been evolving since 2004 on PlayStation 2. Beautiful Katamari is the most recent to have been released, and is available for Xbox 360 costing peanuts.
Observers usually reach the conclusion that the gameplay is intriguing but pointless. Give somebody an hour to figure out what’s going on and this usually produces a convert. The most basic requirement is to use the twin analogue sticks to direct your sticky ball, changing directions as though driving a tank. (Actually it’s the Prince of the Cosmos who’s doing all the pushing, but let’s just back away from that for now). Working against a time limit you roll the biggest ball possible. This could be the size of a planet in Beautiful Katamari, but in Katamari Forever you’re aiming for the sun.
As usual it starts small, however, from bunches of bananas and schools of fish; then small furry pets, then people; very soon trees and buildings, then cruise liners and small islands. With the clock running down and less than a minute to mop things up, you’re searching for mountains and more… anything to grow a galactic ball.
Okay now we need to address the business of the characters involved; starting with the King of All Cosmos, who traditionally gives orders to the Prince of the Cosmos. He’s still around, wait until you see him (oh boy), and the Prince is joined by more cousins whose ball-shoving abilities could affect performance in the field but our preview code doesn’t allow us to play as the more interesting ones.
It seems that the old King’s role is restricted to the types of object he most desires for the ball, as well as a certain size. For more interesting variations on the Katamari theme, we’re now looking to Robo King of All Cosmos (jeez) for guidance – he’s even nuttier than the original King of All Cosmos, and has invented a water-spraying ball along with the new pièce de résistance, a ball that can grow as big as a sun.
Somewhere along the line, the Prince of the Cosmos learned a new trick too: the Prince Hop. This is done by jerking the PS3 controller upwards, which causes the ball to bounce slightly. At preview stage we’re not massively impressed by this feature, but cool with it as a non-essential aspect of the traditional game. However when a Prince Hop is required to clear one of Robo King’s new levels it starts to become frustrating. It’s not an instant skill put it that way.
Robo King’s spin on things is generally cool though, especially the garden watering idea. When you’re not shouting, “Jump! Jump you fool!” at the telly, the process of bringing life to a barren land is quite relaxing… as far as it can be when you’re against the clock, and the water needs replenishing. There are lots of flowers, some cute animals, and of course entrancing music for which Katamari is also famous.
The new royal weirdness also enhances gameplay in the original King’s straight-laced worlds: if you find an item called Robo King’s Heart you’ll pick up items much quicker, or if you find the Robo King’s Broken Heart this acts as a suction device, attracting the largest possible objects within range for a second or so. These new items – and there could be more, we just haven’t found them yet – add to the reward of exploring. There are still 50 cousins to find, plus cute accessories to dress them up.
Katamari Forever, indeed, we’re inclined to think. And with a couple of multiplayer modes added – versus or co-op – to keep the game alive, we could be looking at a PlayStation 3 Hall of Fame candidate in Katamari Forever arrives on 18 September.
