Game Info
Game Name: Katamari Forever
Developer(s): Namco Bandai
Publisher(s): Namco Bandai
Platform(s): PS3
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Release Date(s): July 23, 2009 (Japan)/September 22, 2009 (US)
ESRB Rating: E
Rolling in the Deep…cosmos
The King of the Cosmos has amnesia while a robot king is terrorizing the land. It is up to the Prince and his cousins to wake his father and save the universe from the robot King. To do it, they must reach into the King’s memories and also roll up the world to save it.
Katamari Forever was called Katamari Tribute in Japan and contained a mix of new levels and older levels from other games. The game was the second in the series for the next generation game system following Me & My Katamari for the PSP in 2005.
I love Katamari (so the PS2 titled game wasn’t an ironic title). I had picked up Beautiful Katamari when it was released for the Xbox 360, but was a little disappointed by that outing. The game didn’t feel like it had been improved by controls or graphics, but it still had the Katamari fun that make the original games fun.
Plant watering…fun
This game did offer improvements to the original format while also literally bringing the old game back to life. In this version, the Prince can jump (with an awkward motion control, but also a keystroke which I learned later) and there are vacuum hearts that suck up everything grab-able in the vicinity. The use of these hearts become an important strategy since the hearts are needed to capture as much as possible and boost your Katamari to the correct size.
The online rolling has been taken away in this version, but there is still a versus-mode for offline play. I never liked the Xbox 360’s online rolling and it was often hard to find another player. Losing this option doesn’t ruin much, but with free online play with the PlayStation Network, it might have been nice to have the online play.
I still love the look and sound of Katamari Forever. The game is loaded with fun music and the sheer weirdness of the movies within the game. The style of the game also lends itself to lots of replay. The whole concept of the Katamari games is strange and just reading some of the descriptions of the objects absorbed in the Katamaris is fun.
The extremely obnoxious no-fun “Heat It Up” level
Despite the fun, I still hate “mission” assignments. I realize that the game needs to be broken up with some different gameplay, but missions like the bear-cow rolling and the get hot rolling still are extremely obnoxious. Give me a Katamari and just let me roll.
Katamari Forever is an improvement over Beautiful Katamari. If you have access to a PS3 and a Xbox 360 pick this game over Beautiful Katamari. The game is also worth a try if you’ve never played any of the Katamari games. It is still a fun roll.
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