Go! Go! Katamari!

In case Katamari Damacy wasn't addictive enough, Namco has now created a way for you to play the game anytime, anywhere!

by Wootini

Hi. My name is Chris, and I'm a Katamari addict.

Hi, Chris.

 See, I couldn't get enough of the original Katamari Damacy for the PS2, and when the sequel, We <heart> Katamari was released, it was just as fun and addictive, if not quite as thrillingly original as... well, the original.

Now we have the latest in the series, Me & My Katamari, for the PSP. And as with Animal Crossing, taking a game this addictive and giving you the option to play it whenever the mood strikes is probably not the best idea. Especially with something like Katamari Damacy, where sometimes you just feel like rolling up entire cities, crushing the citizens beneath your brightly colored sticky ball of doom.

For those who are unfamiliar with the series, you are the little Prince who must do the bidding of his father, the King Of The Cosmos, who once again, has destroyed things that you must put right. Here, it's rolling up crap to create islands for animals to live on. It's all very surreal and very Japanese. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I don't think it's supposed to. You roll your little ball around the areas, starting with the tinyest paper clips and pins, ultimately growing in size so that by the end of the game, you're ripping up entire chunks of the planet.

The wide PSP screen gives you a nicer view, but of course you can't see as far ahead of yourself. And seeing as how the graphic style of the games is so simple, the PSP version looks just like its PS2 compatriates. And it has the same wacky Japanese pop music playing in the background as you roll around. The sense of fun is still this game's greatest strength.

 Of course, the fact that the PSP version is so much like the PS2 games is actually somewhat of a drawback. The first sequel didn't really add too much to the gameplay, and Me & My Katamari adds even less. It's just a portable version of what amounts to the same game, pretty much. So I mean, if you loved the other games, totally pick this up, because it's more of the same. It's just hard to watch them try to make a series out of such an original game. The very concept of having more than one makes it less than original, right?

The game also falters in that it suffers from the bane of every PSP game's existence: Loading. Instead of just pulling the camera back and expanding the gameplay area, Me & My Katamari has to pause to load up the new area. It doesn't take long, but someone should've told Namco that having the game comment on how annoying loading screens are doesn't automatically make them not. I'm just saying. Also, there are only a handful of areas, and you roll through them again and again, with slight variations in the weather and items to pick up. It's not so bad in the beginning, but towards the end, when you're playing multiple stages that have you moving on to bigger and better things, it gets repetitive. One of the best aspects of the original game was how you would start with the paper clips and seamlessly find yourself rolling up skyscrapers without realizing that the camera had pulled back so far.

 The repetition is a minor inconvenience, but what really hurts the game are the controls. Since the PSP has no dual analog sticks, the game's unique control scheme has been mapped to the face buttons. So you're using both thumbs to steer your katamari with buttons instead of sticks. It takes a little getting used to, but in the end, it's a workable solution. The only problem is that eventually your thumbs start to hurt, and after a little while, your whole hand cramps up. So you're really only going to play in short doses. Which is fine, because it's a portable, and that's what portables do.

I know it sounds like I'm ragging on this game, but I still had fun with it. It's a surprisingly well-done translation of the PS2 title without making a literal remake, and since it is Katamari Damacy, it's awful fun. It's Japanese, it's weird, and it's in the palm of your hand. It's not perfect, but it's a good time. Then again, maybe I'm just biased. (Still, I'd like the developers to abandon the Katamari concept and try to come up with something equally awesome and just as original for their next project!)