Katamari Damacy (PS2) Review

Katamari Damacy (PS2)

There are certain games where someone will crack a joke or make a remark about how the developers of said game had to be on some kind of drugs to come up with the idea for that game. Katamari Damacy left me in a similar mentality and speechless upon seeing the opening cut scene. To be honest, I am quite surprised that this was localized outside of Japan, but I am thankful that someone decided to take a chance with it.

Originally when I was told of the “plot” of Katamari Damacy, my then-14 year old self thought it was stupid… I guess that just goes to show how idiotic teenagers can think. The plot of Katamari Damacy is that the King of All Cosmos has gone and destroyed all of the stars in the sky… OH NO! The King, who seems to constantly refer to himself as “We”, is so kind as to leave the job of fixing the universe to you, The Prince (or one of his cousins, if you choose to play as one of them). Well, how exactly are you going to fix the sky? By going to Earth and rolling up objects into big balls to turn into stars of course!

The gameplay of Katamari Damacy took me a little bit to grasp. Instead of using just using 1 button or 1 joystick to control things, it doubles the controls. To roll your Katamari you take use of BOTH analog sticks. Push both of them forward to roll forward, push back to roll backwards, push both left and push both right to roll to the sides. Pushing both joysticks down (R3) will cause you to do a 180 degree turn, and rapidly pushing opposite directions on each joystick will cause you to do a dash. This might not sound hard but things in this game can turn really fast really quick!

Not counting constellations or side missions, this game has 9 main levels. In each level, the King of All Cosmos demands that you reach a certain goal. Sometimes the requests are just "Reach X amount in size in X amount of time!" but then you can get some request like "Pick up ONLY 1 Bear!" You start the game rolling up small things... paper clips... erasers... birds... However, during the course of the game you can manage to get your Katamari big enough to pick up people, skyscrapers, and even entire land masses! Though, no matter what size you make your Katamari, the King will most likely always call your efforts "puny".

The graphics consist of 3D in a cartoon-esque style. As mentioned before, you spend all of the levels running around and rolling up as much as possible. During the load screens, a 2D drawing of the King’s head bounces around; sometimes mentioning odd things. At the end of each level, the King will either scold you for not completing the requirement (with some 2D animation of him looking scary in a lightning storm) or you and your Katamari will be pulled up on the ROYAL RAINBOW (a 2D animation of what looks like the King throwing up a rainbow and pulling you inside) where your Katamari will be judged accordingly.

Out of all of the series I have played, Katamari has to have one of the most memorable theme songs ever. Other than that, I don’t remember much of the rest of the soundtrack from the game. I remember it feeling appropriate to the game, and fitting as background music, but I honestly do not remember it beyond that. What I do remember are all the sounds in the levels… mostly of people screaming.

Overall, if you like weird things, then you will most likely enjoy this game. If you are looking for something completely random, then I also suggest this game. However, if you prefer your games being easy rather than hard and you get frustrated easily… Be warned: While the beginning of this game is easy, it does get hard by the end. It’s a bit annoying when you have to constantly redo a mission that is 15+ minutes because you barely missed the goal of the level.