this game combines levels from the prior katamari console titles (so just damacy, we <3, and beautiful) into a single game with various bits and bobbles to flesh out the experience. it's very lopsided in favor of we <3 levels, but this isn't a huge downside as this is the current only official way to play most of these levels in HD. speaking of which: this is one of the rare 1080p ps3 games and it looks phenomenal, even with the hand-drawn filter over everything (which honestly is sort of cute). this is a great thing until you begin encountering dreadful framerates which really spoil the experience in some instances. if this kind of thing came out now it would have a lower-res performance mode, which I would honestly much prefer for this arcade-y style of game.

the framing for all of this is that the king of the cosmos got bonked on the head and is now in a coma/deep sleep/amnesia? kind of thing. the cousins band together to create a robotic version of the king that goes nuts on startup and knocks all of the stars out of the sky. thus the game is split into two interleaved campaigns: one where you help the roboking put new stars in the sky (make a star levels) and one where you roll around inside of the king's head to help wake him up and revive his memories (most of the gimmick levels reside here). roboking himself is surprisingly remorseful and existential, which is a very katamari kind of writing that works well to differentiate him from the pompous and negligent real king. the story spares him no quarter either, which i found amusing in a very bittersweet way. on the flipside, the king campaign is pretty much what you would expect save for all of the levels being in black and white (objects picked up will regain their colors, along with all other objects identical to them). this isn't a nuisance for the most part outside of the downright infuriating heat-the-katamari-up level that I can only assume is from beautiful.

I didn't delve much into the post-game but as far as I'm aware there are now up to four modes to play each level in. forever mode is the standard gameplay, which is identical to the older games save for an added jumping mechanic. this mainly replaces rolling up walls from previous games, and is useful depending on the context (often uncontrollable otherwise). thankfully this is mapped to the triggers, as trying to perform it by shaking the dualshock is virtually impossible. I also feel like the handling is a bit different, as larger katamaris often feel downright unresponsive, but ymmv. there's also a new mechanic involving the roboking's broken heart, which will magnetize your katamari and pick up everything within your size close to you automatically. drive mode speeds up the katamari considerably while removing your fine movement controls and decreasing the timer. classic mode restores you to old-school katamari controls (no jump or broken hearts), and eternal mode is the same as in prior games where you have no time limit on picking things up.

I don't know if I feel like going for a platinum on this one so I may leave it here for now, or maybe choose to finish out the drive and classic requests at some point. the package itself is very solid just in terms of its completeness, even if I'm more mixed on the new additions. worth having just to have a massive katamari game to chew on.

What can I say about this game? It's bliss. Katamari is my favorite franchise ever, trumping Metal Gear Solid even due to the love this game instilled in me. It is my zen game when I want to relax and it keeps me grounded when I feel like I'm going to lose my mind.

The Katamari series is quirky and fun. The writing is very entertaining and extremely fun, with it being uniquely Japanese though the localization does succeed and making it understandable and charming to us over here.

The gameplay is the same as the other titles. You roll things up to make stars, sometimes with gimmicks attached. That's why it's so fun though! The simply act of learning the fastest route to hit the size you need is so much fun, and the visual style really aids in the strange gameplay.

Katamari Forever is not the best game in the series. It has slowdown issues and some other oddness that prevents it from being the best. it's also a glorified 'best of' album for the series as a whole. But, I can't deny, it is the game I keep coming back to because it has everything I love and then some.

Much more relevant if you don't have a way to play Damacy and/or We <3 Katamari. It's fine, good, Katamari is just good at a base level, but it's hard to get excited when it's (mostly) an HD compilation of We <3 Katamari levels with some Damacy and Beautiful thrown in. Would very much suggest playing them individually if you can.

Emulated this on RPCS3. The pre-rendered videos play at a weird stutter-y frame rate and walking around the menu areas is a bit stutter-y too, but the levels are perfect.

Really really good despite Keita Takahashi no longer being involved with the series at this point. Robo-King is hilarious, he could give Marvin from Hitchiker's guide a run for his money in depression. The variety of levels is huge (though most of them are recycled from old games, Beautiful Katamari was exclusive to Xbox 360 so anyone that only had a PS3 would have been experiencing those levels for the first time here) and the new, bright graphical style works well. Was a pretty good finale for the Katamari series on consoles, but I do hope to see a new one one day, with or without Takahashi.

The heart powerups are a nice wrinkle in the gameplay (and make for a neat instakill trap on certain levels) and while I thought jumping was really stupid at the beginning of the game, it ended up being more useful in one game than dashing did in all 4 of the games I've played. It can make for good shortcuts when used properly and serves as a good safeguard if pinned.

All but 3 of the game's levels are recycled, which is pretty lame. At the end of the day though, it's a Katamari game with simple, satisfying gameplay. The levels are still fun, and the game can be an avenue for people to enjoy the whole series up to that point if they didn't have any of the previous games. I also really respect how they a lot of the franchise's harder levels. I had a lot more trouble in this game than KD, WLK, and BK combined. Given that isn't saying a whole lot, but the effort is still there.

If anything, this game works as a celebration of the Katamari Damacy series. The game's a showcase of many of Katamari's greatest and most interesting levels. The art style is also sublime. A lack of new content is kind of a shame and it's as such my least favorite so far, but the game's still amazing.

9/10 - A great game with a disappointing lack of new content.

Also, they brought back the campfire level, which is absolutely amazing.

If its the only game in the series you are able to play, then its fine. You will get a gist as to why people enjoy those games.
If you are familiar with games it lifts stages from tho...
I dont think there is much meaning to "best hits collection" for the series that didnt meaningfully iterate its gameplay systems, as to make appealing proposal to revisit old stages with new gameplay systems.
Another perspective it would appeal with is to see those old stages reinterpreted with a new visual style, and for me this new style wasnt appealing. I felt like like image became busy, everything kinda blending together. Not that you can see how those new levels look with this new style, cuz they done in black and white. Remember Firefly stage from We Love Katamari? Now its black and white, kinda sums up a lot about this game for me.
Overall visual style just felt less unique than what PS2 games went for, when stylisation of menus is taken in considaration I would argue that Forever tries to style the game after all those other things, instead of taking advantage of Katamari's own unique elements.
Its obvious Katamari being very simple concept that was stretched to become a franchise with many entries lies at the root of all those issues.
How do you even make a new Katamari game?
How to make visuals NEW and NEXT GEN? Certainly not by introducing pop in of objects and framerate drops.
How do you aproach storytelling?

I dont want to blame the team for this game, they did what they could with creating like 7th game in the series that shouldnt have been a series to begin with.
I dont want to argue that original director Keita Takahashi is somehow the only person who allowed to direct Katamari, nor that his opinion of "No sequels" should be absolute.
But as it stands this game reflects its own story:
King went to sleep (Takahashi) and a robot was created to do his work and it did so poorly despite the good intentions.
Or is it perhabs exactly intention of this game?