Touch My Katamari Review
Touch My Katamari is a fun return to form that ends long before it has a chance to wear out its welcome.
The Good
- Quirky humor
- Collectible goodies
- Expansive environments.
The Bad
- Not enough stages.
There was a time when the King of the Cosmos was a colorful personality, larger than life. Perhaps his fame had something to do with a jaunt in the sky that temporarily left Earth with no stars, or maybe people just loved his absurd overreliance on the royal "we." Whatever the case, the peculiarly clothed king was anything but forgettable. According to Touch My Katamari's story, game enthusiasts have changed in the years that have passed since Katamari Damacy arrived on the PlayStation 2. Many of them no longer look at the series or its monarch as anything particularly special. In a horrifying twist, one father can't even decide for his son whether the enormous monarch is more amazing than the boy's school principal.
Touch My Katamari begins with the horrified king eavesdropping on that fateful conversation. Depressed by the realization that people no longer adore him, the king decides to stage a comeback. He turns to his son for assistance. As a miniature prince in a green jumpsuit, you roll a sticky ball around the world. You gather tiny objects, animals, people, and eventually buildings as your katamari grows to a suitable size and then is turned into a sparkling star by your eccentric but powerful father. That's the only way the proper order of the universe can be restored.
The lighthearted plot is a return to form for a franchise that definitely needed it. The main story strand is joined by a secondary thread that tells the tale of a slacker named Goro who has a test coming up but can't seem to pull himself away from the lure of otaku. Goro's adventures unfold in exaggerated cutscenes that feature a surprising amount of action, given their subject matter. Meanwhile, the king's trials consist of humorous conversations that you have with him and his subjects between stages. You'll likely find yourself looking forward to each new scene before you get back to rolling a ball around to collect more junk.
Touch My Katamari contains only 12 environments, each with only one default assignment. Eight levels direct you to gather rubbish indiscriminately. Objectives in the other four stages provide twists on the standard mandate. In one case, for instance, you need to collect as much food as possible without exceeding a calorie count (easier said than done, since guessing at potential fat intake is difficult unless you stick to collecting only fruits and vegetables). In another scenario, you can play until you roll over either a bear or a cow, with the goal being to collect the largest possible specimen of either species. The alternative objectives make things interesting, but the limited number of unique stages hurts. Skilled players can probably work through the game in three or four hours, and then they're left with nothing to do but unlock content.
Fortunately, there are plenty of reasons to keep playing even after you beat every stage and see the closing credits. Each stage contains several hidden objects known as curios, and a missing royal cousin is lurking somewhere in each environment. The more trinkets and characters you find, the greater your rewards if you manage to complete the stage. The King of the Cosmos rates you on a 1-to-100 scale, and one of his lackeys awards you candy based on your performance. That candy serves as currency that you can then spend in the various shops.
46 comments
HUGE KATAMARI FAN. Too bad I won't pay the VITA price tag. I want to touch the katamari! :cry:
The Katamari games are unlike anything else -- they're "very Japanese", and that absolutely includes the intentionally funny title. I don't know how the difficulty here stacks up against the previous versions, but skill is definitely required to get the best scores.
Something tells me the developers didn't think through that title all the way...or maybe they did.
gettin this at launch maybe the reason they dont have very many stages is cause they're gonna bring more in the form of DLC
The PSP version got an 8.0 so this score for the Vita is justifiable.............. .............. ................................ o_o
I think the comments are better than the game. :o '''next sequel : lick my katamari '' '''suck my katamari''' ''I'll be touching my Katamari soon when i get the Vita'' ''The sequel should address most of these issues, so I'll wait for "Put Your Lips Around My Katamari" to come out.'' :lol: Great job, guys.
And the winner is @Haasdude I just got a Vita and I've never played any of the Katamari games, so I'm tempted to give this a go. We'll see how other sites review the game, maybe it'll be worth checking out.
Another prime example of how Japanese don't get the US parental mindset.... what parent of a 10 year old will buy a game for their child titled, "Touch my *anything*?" ... let alone a word they've never heard of... in a parents mind Katamari can mean a bunch of things, none of them clean. Just dumb... supremely dumb. oh, and the game is depressing... it's a twofer. thanks Japan.
The caption of the first image on the second page reads: "Your katamari has been weighed on the scale and found wanting." :(
The sequel should address most of these issues, so I'll wait for "Put Your Lips Around My Katamari" to come out.
Why on earth would they release 4 extra levels for free on the day of release? Surely they should have put it in the game to make the game longer for reviewers?
Not entirely sure why they have 4 levels as free DLC right off the bat instead of putting them in the game to bolster review scores, but at least there will be more content as time goes on, which is good for a portable.
"...If you know what I mean." Every time I read "Touch my katamari", that phrase pops into my head!
There is just too many games I want for this machine at the moment. I'll need to get this game when I see a price drop.
You almost feel like too many games are being launched with the Vita? Like if this came out sometime after the launch when the number of games dries up, I think I would be more interested in it. But when the system is $250, memory cards $30-100, and games $30-50, I think it's just Uncharted and Hot Shots for me.
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Game Emblems
The Good
The Bad
The King of All Cosmos and the Prince returns, but their visit is extremely short.
Touch My Katamari continues the crazy style, but only has about a dozen levels.
Touch My Katamari
Not Following
- Publisher(s): Namco Bandai Games America
- Developer(s): Bandai Namco Games
- Genre: Action
- Release:
- ESRB: E10+
Touch My Katamari Navigation
