The controls and camera of this game drove me nuts and really made the moment to moment gameplay annoying, Katamari's overall charm is so potent, and concept so original it makes up for the fact that its kind of repetitive and constantly fights the player from trying to relax.

The main problem is the time limits that feel strict and make the game stressful, but since they're so generous in the end, it never feels like you overcame a challenge. I never came close to failing a stage, and never really felt rewarded for going above and beyond.

The soundtrack varies from all time classics to some horribly annoying tunes. The title theme and lonely rolling star are great, but there are some seriously grating songs to have to listen on repeat for 20 minutes.

I liked my first time with Katamari, but I also came away annoyed that the controls suck so hard and the general antiquated feeling of everything. It really hasn't aged that well and got repetitive fast due to a lack of unique stages. I do know We Love Katamari is supposed to be way better, so i'll play the remake for that soon. I still do recommend this game on deep sale because it's really a unique, charming game that doesn't overstay its welcome, but it's not exactly a milestone for fun gameplay.

Actually pretty fun in small doses. Gameplay gets a bit stale if played for too long. Love its wacky humor. The King of the Cosmos is iconic. Too much dialogue is repeated, but it’s still funny. Satisfying once your katamari is huge, but a bit annoying when smaller given that you run into so much stuff and bounce off. Long loading times and no option to restart levels or retry them makes the game feel very dated. Really weird menu setup that doesn’t allow you to change the volume either unless you exit out of the level. Perfect game length for its simple gameplay. Love the shibuya kei (eclectic pop) soundtrack.

Sometimes the simplest things can be the best. You take a ball and can rollover things to make the ball bigger but they must me smaller than the ball. This grows the ball so you can pick up bigger things. I know that probably doesn’t sound great but it’s addicting and super fun. The story is the one of the strangest things in gaming. I would explain it but I don’t know how. There is star god”? I think, and some people and giant octupus and Godzilla and a lot of other random things. You roll around and collect stuff so the star god can bring the stars back.

I realize this review makes no sense and makes the game sound dumb as hell. But you also need to realize it’s really funny and worth a few hours of your time.

I'm finding it funny to go back to this game's store page on Steam, reading some user reviews and seeing that the average play time people invest in this is around 4 to 6 hours, whilst with me the situation was a bit more severe:
Here I am, writing this after 44 hours of playing Katamari Damacy, and only considering the game to be beaten after completing ALL of the stuff you can do. Once I started rolling up things, I just couldn't stop.

Every stage beaten as fast as I could, getting all shooting stars; every specific object collected in constellation levels, including the cursed giant bear and cow; all 1438 objects collected (and, of course, I read every single collection entry for those, since they are funny) and, finally, after a fair share of tries, a perfect 10m/10m diameter Katamari in the "Make the North Star" level.

Growing up without a PS2, Katamari Damacy was one of those games I had always fantasized myself getting to play, especially as a teenager, as I got more into weird and unique japanese games. What I ended up getting was really special, both fulfilling and surpassing my expectations.

The concept is, arguably, simple: roll up a very adherent ball to pick up stuff on the ground and make it bigger. And bigger. AND bigger.
In order to master it, though, one needs serious hand coordination skills, as you control the game with both of your controller's analog sticks, much like what you would do on a RC toy car controller.
The thing is: once you get the hang of it, you just can't seem to stop playing it. And I'm not really sure why. Why is rolling up a ball and making it bigger and bigger so satisfying?

It is. And it is funny not only to play it, but to look at it, and to listen to it.
Everything about this game screams originality and pure japanese quirkiness. To me, at least, it was impossible not to love every single character, every cutscene and every song in this game (I've been humming them for weeks!).

Katamari Damacy comes from a moment when game developers used to execute more of their wildest ideas, and it stands as one of the most interesting titles from the PS2 catalog for a very good reason.
Everything about it is not only unique, but it works flawlessly in every aspect of its execution. It also has an INSANE replayability factor, more so than most games I can think of, so even if the game is short and is lacking in more stage variety (even if it's there), you'll find yourself playing these stages over and over again. I, for example, just couldn't find peace of mind if I didn't master a stage by repeating it UNCOUNTABLE times before proceeding on to the next one.

It was also a bliss to play this remastered version. The game looks and plays the same, but in gorgeous 16:9 and HD resolution. There were some very small changes made here and there, but it is basically the same as it was in 2004, and I absolutely love that.

This is pure, unadultered fun, and definitely one of the best videogames I have ever played. My rating is not getting higher just because it can be a bit short, leaving you craving for more Katamari action... which, aparently, the sequel delivers beautifully.

And I'm dying trying not to grab it as fast as I can. I need focus and to be productive right now, and I know it will suck me in a very dangerous vortex if I start playing one of these again right after mastering the first one.

To sum it all up: just play it.

This game really is such a stand-out of the medium. So many games, especially these days, really want to be playable Hollywood movies. Which is fine and all, but it does make their video game-ness at least bit interchangable. Like, it's not hard to imagine God of War 2018 as if it were just a movie adaptation instead.

There is no Katamari in a world with no video games. Katamari proves the medium of video games as a form of artistic expression, not by having a touching story or having high-fidelity graphics, but instead purely by being something that can ONLY be done in the form of an interactive medium. Katamari IS video games.

ODDLY SATISFYING, is the best way to describe this game.

This game really opened up my eyes and showed me how creativity and gameplay is all you need really to make a good game.

The Katamari series is just pure fun that has been IMO insanely hard to find lately.

When the game told me to get the Katamari to 300m and then gave 25 minutes I was like: "No way, that's too much". At the end I doubled the requested amount and felt like what I've become, a world-destroying imposing force, and it was a total catharsis, if it weren't for the timer I would have ended up rolling everything, it was crazy.

Mechanically it starts simple, roll up things with the ball and make it grow, but when the game starts putting you in bigger enviroments with bigger and bigger objects, is when the game becomes interesting. You'll need to thoroughly choose your objects if you want to be as efficient as possible, and it is a blast when you pull it off the best way possible.

Haven't played any other Katamari game before, except Touch My Katamari for PSVita, so I can't compare, but this game alone surpassed all my expectations and was an absolute surprise. Totally recommended.

Katamari Damacy was one of my favorite games growing up, and this is basically a 1:1 remake of the original. This is good since the original game holds up so well, but it also means you gotta deal with the jank that comes with this being the first game in the series. Specifically, it's a lot easier for your Katamari to get stuck than in later entries.

The game is also locked to 30fps, which isn't too big of a deal, but I wish they let you play at a higher framerate.

Overall, it's a great game and the remake is fine, but I just wish they put a bit more effort into it than just upscaling the original.