Katamari Damacy is artistic and creative; a truly unique experience you won't get elsewhere.
Katamari Damacy opens up with one of the strangest-looking openings I've ever seen. This is accurate, because it's one of the weirdest and most unique games out there. You won't be able to find a game like the Katamari games. And this unique game is definitely a lot of fun.
Story - 8/10
The stars in the sky are gone! Oh noes! Whatever is going to be done? The King of All Cosmos chooses to send his bite-sized Prince to Earth with a ball with bumps on it called a Katamari. The Prince's job is to use this Katamari to roll up everything he can, as whatever the Katamari grabs it'll stick to it. When the King has decided you've done a good job rolling up what you need to, the Katamari is converted into a new star. These two have to restore the sky to normal, or else there'll be no stars.
Meanwhile on Earth, you're treated to small cutscenes featuring a family whose father is going to be going to space. They are all getting ready to see him off, and the boy keeps seeing the Prince rolling up a Katamari, but whenever he tells his mom of this, the Katamari and the Prince are gone.
The story isn't the most gripping, but on the King and Prince's end of things, it's light and fun. The King of All Cosmos is a hilarious character I doubt anyone playing will soon forget, who is as large as a small planet, and the silent and tiny Prince is a cute contrast to him. Every time the boy from the family on Earth saw the Katamari and alerted his mom, only for her to see nothing, got a little chuckle out of me. The game again doesn't have that involving of a plot, but it's fun and helps move the game along. The dialogue is also quite funny, and some of what the King says will possibly stick with you for a while.
Gameplay - 9/10
This is where the game truly shines the most. The game has 10 main levels or so, with a good number of side-missions. The object of the main levels, all titled "Make a Star #" (the number being whatever stage you're on), except the last level's title. These levels put the Prince in a certain part of the game's setting, and he must roll a Katamari up to a certain size before the time limit. When you accomplished that, you're given the freedom of rolling up as much or little as you want until the clock hits 0. These levels have an object that grows in scale as you progress. The first level you only need to make a 1-meter Katamari, but by the end of the game you'll be rolling up a 300-meter one.
One would think because of that scale, the game is long. Sadly, it's not that long. There are 10 levels to the main game, and the second-to-last one has only a 30-meter objective (I won't give away why the last level has such a large objective to reach). Each of these ten levels has a time limit as stated before, and so you can reach the end of the game before 4 hours have passed, maybe a little over that.
However, there's plenty of side-missions you can pursue. These will, rather than have you roll up a Katamari of a certain size, put you to the task of rolling up a Katamari with specific themes. The various side-missions have you rolling up your Katamari to make new constellations, such as Ursa Major, Pisces, and even the North Star. Depending on the mission, you need to do certain things. However, as long as you complete the objective it doesn't matter how well you do. One level will have you rolling up as many girls as possible, while another you need to roll up as much as you can without rolling up a certain animal, in order to grab the biggest of that animal that you can possibly roll up. These missions show creativity and are very interesting, and they can also be quite a challenge to do well in.
The game actually only has one setting. However, due to the growing scale of the game, you actually don't know you're in the same place until later, when you're rolling up such large parts that you realize you've been at the same place all along. You start the first level inside a home and by the last level you'll find yourself rolling up entire cities. This design decision to have your objectives grow in scale so it feels like you're going to new places without you actually going to completely new places might turn off a few players, but it's ingenius and it really helps ground you into the game's atmosphere.
Controlling the Katamari is a unique experience. You use both analog sticks to move forward. Tilting one back or to a side allows you to steer it. Pressing both sticks in (L3 and R3) causes the Prince to hop to the other side of your Katamari for a 180-degree turn. Moving the two analogs up and down oppositely (one up, the other down, then vice versa) allows one to charge up and roll forward at high speed. This control scheme works surprisingly well. It's very simple to pick up but also very complex to master. The Katamari can only pick up objects smaller than it, so you have to make it bigger by rolling up a lot of stuff to roll up larger objects. However, just what is rolled up in the main levels is entirely up to you, as there's more than plenty of different things you can grab.
The only thing holding me back from giving the gameplay a 10 here is because there are instances your Katamari is large enough to get wedged in tight places but small enough it cannot pick up the things it's wedged between. This can get a bit frustrating when the clock is running down and you get stuck frequently while searching for things to roll up. However, it only happens rarely, mostly in later levels, and with a bit of dexterity it's not hard to get out of these tight spots. Otherwise, this game plays perfectly smooth.
Graphics - 9/10
The graphics don't display much detail, however, the simplicity yet beauty of the design in Katamari Damacy is very well done. The game is very colorful and everything within the game graphically matches the unique experience you're getting. The graphics aren't exactly top of the line, but they're simplicity and cleanness can pull you into the world easily and make you want to explore it all the more. The story's cutscenes have a more artistic flare, and they line up perfectly with the in-game graphics. The game is almost like an interative painting, and you're the artist tinkering with it.
It's a shame some more games on the market forsake simple and clean graphics in favor of high detail. Some games lose memorability because their high-powered graphics are also easily forgettable, but the opposite is the case with Katamari Damacy. The graphics, because of their simplicity, are very easy to remember. On top of that, the game loads smoothly, despite its increasingly large scale.
One would think with such a large area with so many objects, the game would lag terribly, or there'd be an unfair amount of glitches or bugs. Thankfully, that's not the case. You can roll around happily knowing the game will not slow down, nor will some sort of glitch occur when you roll around. The only thing that may occasionally is when your Katamari has picked up a lot of items and it very large, it also becomes a bit trickier to pick up smaller objects. But a vast majority of the time it works perfect.
Sound - 9/10
The soundtrack of the game is quite diverse culturally. You'll find yourself listening to varying music from Japanese-originating to 50-60's American-inspired songs. The music is as diverse and creative as the rest of the game is. From the cute Japanese pop "Lonely Rolling Star" to the simply catchy but outlandish "Katamari on the Rocks", the game's theme song which doubles as the final level's music. A few of the tracks are a bit forgettable, but they're all pleasant to listen to and many can be quite catchy.
The sound effects are quite novel but a few can get a bit irritating, which is sad because the game's beautiful soundtrack can be overshadowed by these sound effects. A sound effect plays every time your Katamari picks up something. It's a cute sound effect, but it can grow tiring for some players after hearing it so frequently. The sound effect for crashing into something feels completely out of place for the soundtrack this game has in store for you, and it's often overpowering. Most sound effects though are fun and fit well with the game's atmosphere and don't detract from the experience.
If you aren't interested in Katamari Damacy, at least try listening to the soundtrack; it's creative and varied enough to listen to on its own merit. While mostly all the music has vocals, which could be a turn-off for some, they're all so high-quality that you will probably be singing along anyway.
Replay Value - 8/10
Fun Factor - 10/10
Katamari Damacy flies by quickly, with the main 10 levels being finished in under 4 hours. The side missions can take an extra couple hours, so if you play everything once you can get about 6-8 hours out of it. However, you can go back and try to improve your record and there's also unlockable goodies to give the Prince should you find them. The game may seem short, but it's so easy to go back to you may end up playing it far longer than it took you to "beat" it. The game is just a lot of fun to play.
Overall - 9.1
Katamari Damacy is a game you shouldn't overlook. If you own a PS2, you ought to try it at least once. It's very deserving of being in any PS2 owner's library, and it's very friendly for someone of any age to pick up and play. For that, it's an artistic vision. The beautiful yet simple art design, the catchy and varied soundtrack, and of course the unforgettable gameplay that no other game has really done, it all adds up to an awesome game. I only really wish it was longer and controlled just a bit better, and maybe had a bit more to the story, but any complaint I have about this game is completely dwarved by how fun it is. I can't stress this enough: experience Katamari Damacy in some way (play it, hear the soundtrack, even just watch someone play it). It's a video game experience not like anything else.