Katamari Forever Review: Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’

Written by 2.o | October 29, 2009

Katamari Forever

At this point, the “Katamari” formula is tried and true. However, not every console has had the honor of having The Prince and his royal ball rolling grace it with their presence. The PS3 stuck out like a sore thumb after having lost the game’s last console release, “Beautiful Katamari,” to the Xbox 360, and getting “Noby Noby Boy” instead. Well, Sony scored the Prince again with the release of “Katamari Forever,” and even though it looks like the Prince is rolling up a familiar tree for this release, he’s got a few new tricks up his sleeve for anyone who’s down to roll a katamari, whether they’re longtime fans, or completely new to the series.

Any game with the word “Katamari” in the title is bound to be a great game, and “Forever” follows suit, as expected. The thing about this particular release though, is that, if you’re a fan of the series, you’ve probably already played most of the game. It’s basically a collection of classic levels, from different games, put together on one disc, with some added original and additional content sprinkled in for variety. While it somehow manages to work its way perfectly into the game’s usually nonsensical story, some players who may be hoping for something new with this release may feel like they’ve already bought and paid for most of this content, and end up a little upset.

Katamari Forever

The story is a classic “Katamari” tale, except this time, the King of the Cosmos has nothing to do with destroying it – in fact, he isn’t even conscious for most of this game. At the very beginning of the story, The King gets clocked by a meteor from outer space, and ends up in some kind of weird coma. In order to keep harmony in the universe, The Prince constructs a replica of his father, The Roboking, to take his place while Pop is infirmed. Somehow, The Roboking manages to destroy the Cosmos, and, again it is up to The Prince to clean up the mess. And, at the same time, help his father collect his memories (that’s where the classic levels come in), and wake up. Mixed in are some side stories involving giant robots, and The Queen, and it all makes for an entirely insane “plot” that probably won’t make sense to 99% of the people that play the game anyway – after all the “Katamari” games biggest selling point is the unique gameplay.

Fortunately, the gameplay stays in tact, and is actually a bit more fine-tuned than the previous release. You still roll with the analog sticks, and navigate around collecting as much junk to make your katamari bigger to create planets. However, there’s two big changes in this game, the first of which is the ability to jump. Yes, The Prince can now leap to out of reach places, instead of having to build a big enough ball to make his way up there. While the developers could have taken this added mechanic and exploited it a bit more, by making levels where platforming is key, or even adding secret parts of the levels hidden above the ground, they don’t really take advantage of it. The other biggest, and possibly the most important change for “Katamari Forever” is the return to even analog sticks. The last three releases (“Beautiful,” “Me & My” and the iPhone version) have all had different, and unbalanced controller setups, creating for some potential confusion while playing. However, “Katamari Forever” is a return to form, and fans will be happy to know it feels just as good as the original.

Katamari Forever

The was one small addition to the game that I thought was long overdue, but it finally made its appearance – power-ups. As you roll around each level, you’ll occasionally see a pillar of purple light, which indicates that a power-up is waiting for you, the best of which acts like a vacuum and sucks up all the nearby items, increasing your katamari instantly. It’s kind of surprising how long its taken to get something like that added in, but their inclusion could rub the traditionalists the wrong way.

In addition to the new jump, power-ups, and the old dual analog, there isn’t really a whole lot new here. In terms of unlockables, you can still roll up presents, and a whole bunch of your cousins, but there’s little else in each world that will give you incentive to explore. You can unlock new filters for each level after you beat them, and they basically skin the entire look of the level to look like a comic, wood, classic, in addition to the new default one which looks amazing in 1080P. One especially nice little touch in “Forever” was that they included some of the ending mini-games from the previous releases, so you can replay the endings from “Beautiful” and “We Love” all over again.

“Katamari Forever” did something for me that I never thought any game could do; it helped me understand “Madden” fans. Every year they buy essentially the same game, with a few tweaks, and an upgrade here or there, and usually a fresh coat of paint, and then they play it until the next one comes out. That’s basically what this version of “Katamari” is – they could even rename it “Katamari 10” and I don’t think anyone would question it. But, now I get it, because the game is exactly what I wanted it to be, more of the same. No one does rolling puzzle games quite like The Prince, and that’s how it should stay.

Katamari Forever

Even though it may feel like a journey that you’ve taken before, “Katamari Forever” is still a trip worth taking – whether it’s down memory lane, or a path less taken. If you already know the franchise, and haven’t had enough of it yet, you should absolutely pick it up because it’s the same gameplay, funny cutscenes and catchy (but now remixed) music that you’ve grown to love. If you’ve never played any of the previous ones then this is a must have for you as well. However, that’s not to say this game is for everybody. If you’re looking for something entirely new, then you may want to stay away from this game, and hold out for a full fledged follow up.

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