Chris loses his Damacy virginity.
By Ahchay

For those of us too lazy, scared or unwilling to invalidate the warranty on our Playstations, this will be the first opportunity to see what all the fuss is about. Katamari Damacy is the little game that took on, and took over, the world – a daft Japanese game of the sort that we didn’t think they made any more.

Clearly you’re missing out if you’ve never played it.

I’ve never played Katamari Damacy before, so I turned to some of my fellow rodents to fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge.

“I’m confused and a little frightened. What the hell is it all about.”

At which point, The Duke chimes in… “It’s simple Chris - roll about and pick up stuff. Oh and listen to some funky music and the King blokey”

“Right. Obvious really. Don’t really know why I didn’t notice that. So, there's this island see? And, for reasons which I can't fathom, a mouse. I've found what appears to be the tutorial room but no actual levels yet. I'm sure it's obvious...”

“Ah. I get it... Talk to the animals and you get different levels. There’s some plot about the king making all the animals homeless apparently. Oh Christ, is the bit where you launch at the King's groin really necessary?”

“It’s always necessary” – this, helpful interlude, from Russ. Help like that I don’t need…

Anyway, so having figured out how to actually get into the game proper, we’re off. Roll the big ball thing around picking up inconsequential shit and, yes, listen to the funky music. All present and correct and, I’m sure, pretty much instantly familiar to anyone with any knowledge of the previous games. Get big enough to satisfy the king’s arbitary limits and he builds a new island and you’re off to the next beast. Rinse and repeat about 20 times and you’re done.

And that’s pretty much it.

Katamari Damacy fans are going to hate me for this – but by the very last level (where you get to roll up the entire island group that constitutes the world and, if you can manage it, the King and Queen themselves) I was completely bored with the game, to the extent that I never want to play or see it again.

What’s not to like?

Why? It’s not the fault of the gameplay mechanic, which is ace. Nor is it the graphical style, or even the music. The controls too work flawlessly. No, it’s the repetition.

Maybe I was just expecting more from it after reading all the love that has been directed at the original. But it’s the reptition see?

This game's biggest, perhaps only, noticable fault is the repetition - there are, basically, eight levels. At the smallest size you get a choice of three locations, which is great, but once you move up to street level you are rolling around exactly the same set of areas (one for each size of katamari, each one split into distinct small and large halves) again and again and again and again and again. The same streets, the same things to pick up, the same objectives, the same everything. It never gets tired of repeating itself, despite the occasional season change mixing things up ever-so-slightly. But that’s not nearly enough, and it becomes boring long before the midway point of the game. By the very last level (where you have to slog through every size of Katamari in the game) you’re operating on auto-pilot for the vast majority of the 40 minutes or so that it takes to play through it.

More fun doing it yourself perhaps.

This could have been, should have been, great.

It isn’t.

February 2006

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