Absurd in concept and bizarre in practice, Katamari Damacy is a hoot to play.
User Rating: 9 | Katamari Damacy PS2
Describing Namco’s Katamari Damacy is akin to conveying the meaning of a Picasso painting: comprehensible in the most abstract way, yet utterly baffling in its simple profundity. But make no mistake: this unusual puzzle game is easily amongst the most enjoyable console titles of the year, albeit absurd in concept and bizarre in practice. While it may lack true depth, Damacy is a hoot to play, fun to watch, and at less than twenty clams, a must-buy for anyone that can appreciate the calming, eccentric gameplay and presentation. The King of All Cosmos has accidentally snuffed the stars from the sky. Now, it’s up to the Prince to restore order in the most obvious manner imaginable: by rolling a sticky ball called a katamari over everything in sight until it grows large enough to replace the missing celestial twinkles. The King himself seems relatively unconcerned with the entire ordeal, and his comments are alternately trippy and delirious as he eggs on the Prince to accumulate more and more objects. On earth, the inhabitants’ television viewing is interrupted by a brief newscast. “The stars have disappeared from the sky,” the anchor dryly announces, and the aloof, blocky (they resemble plastic Fisher Price action figures) earthlings continue about their daily lives. In the meanwhile, you will be moving the katamari-pushing prince about the earth, rolling around and picking everything up in sight. The beginning scale is rather small: your tiny prince will be on a tabletop picking up items like buttons and soy sauce packets until the katamari is large enough to pick up larger items. Controls are simple: in tank-like fashion, the analog sticks control the direction you face and roll, and while you can pull off a quick direction change, jump into the air for a quick survey, or give the katamari some temporary turbo speed, there are no special moves to perform. Most of your mission goals will be to simply increase the size of the katamari to a certain diameter within the allotted time period. At first, the size and time limit are rather small, but as you roll further out into the wild blue yonder, you will be accumulating all manner of objects, from umbrellas and trees to cows and people. Pretty much everything smaller than your clump is fair game, and the HUD will show you the size of each item relative to the katamari – and exactly what the item is. It will also describe the item in sometimes hilarious detail. For example, when you see a dung beetle, the description “Rolls cow dung and makes it bigger. We feel a little rivalry here” accompanies it. Other favorites include the descriptions for handcuffs and peaches, but few objects fail to amuse in one way or another.Should you bump into something too large to stick, you will ricochet, and some items will fall off. Living objects can also cause articles to dislodge, although you will get a warning if one is roaming close by. There is a surprising amount of strategy involved, since certain objects, like pencils and skyscrapers, can make the ball roll awkwardly, slowing you down when you need to use your time efficiently. There really isn’t too much more to the missions in terms of actual gameplay, although there are other goals along the way. For example, the King may wish you to collect a certain item along the way, and some “constellation” missions will require you to accumulate a certain number of specific items – such as crabs, for the Cancer constellation, or a specific single item – such as a large bear in the oddly challenging Ursa Major mission. You can replay any mission once cleared, and you can also visit the battle mushroom to play against various CPU opponents, or a human opponent, if you prefer. The multiplayer mode isn’t quite as amusing, since it takes place on a more abstract playing field, but it can still be a blast, since you can ram into your opponent to make items fall off, or even roll them up into your own katamari. As simple as it all sounds, and as short as the campaign actually is, the replay value is enormous here for any puzzle fan. Unlocking all of the mushroom opponents and cataloguing every object is not an easy goal in this simple little game, and just seeing it all over again is a reason to continue playing. Katamari Damacy is not difficult in the strictest sense, but some of the missions can be tough, if only because you need to use your time efficiently and avoid objects that will slow you down. A game with such an unusual concept should look and sound the part, and Katamari Damacy is dripping with bizarre flavor. The King himself is simply a static image, like a Colorform on your television, and he appears onscreen to warn and educate you. The sense of scale is the largest visual triumph here, since the kittens that seem enormous at the outset become tiny as you grow. Everything is presented in an odd cubist manner: even animals are just simple blocks that move about without actual limbs. You won’t see any of the technical expertise found in today’s visual powerhouses, but the graphics are completely compatible with the unusual gameplay, and in a world where people don’t question missing stars and a sticky ball usurps “playful punks,” they are completely appropriate given the context. The odd artistry helps make up for the jagged edges and sometimes washed-out coloring you may sometimes notice. Katamari Damacy’s biggest design triumph is its sonic presentation, and indeed, the soundtrack is possibly the best of any game this year. It features a repetitive but catchy theme orchestrated in all sorts of manner, and a variety of other electronic, rollicking songs. Of particular note are “Lonely Rolling Star” and “Que Sera Sera,” but again, there is no weak element to the fresh, loopy music – or indeed, the hysterical sound effects that accompany it. Roll over a cat, and it goes “Wow!” People scream, and children laugh and wiggle when they get stuck. While some of the other sound effects get a little tinny, the audio is the game’s highlight. At twenty bucks, this game is a steal, and the unadulterated joy and hallucinogenic aura you experience makes it a must-play for anyone with a Playstation 2. We highly recommend Katamari Damacy for its bizarre and kooky concept, its equally unusual presentation, and the easy, good-natured fun it provides. Royal Rainbow!
