It's always been a bit of a shame that this was the first Katamari game we got in Europe. We didn't even know if we loved Katamari when we bought it. There's few gaming sequels as heavily predicated on the player's familiarity with the original game. It's practically a fan disc.
The game's setting regards everyone loving Katamari Damacy and The King of All Cosmos gaining a huge ego about it. The levels are sillier, and frequently, more gimmicky than those in the original game. There's a couple daft new renditions of Katamari on the Rocks, with a wild acapella arrangement and one sung by animals, but I really just wanted the original back then.
All this time later, after playing the NTSC/J original, practically every sequel, and the REROLL remaster, We Love Katamari makes perfect sense. We do love Katamari. We're ready for it now.
I don't think it's quite as good as Katamari Damacy, despite the quality of life tweaks and a more varied set of levels. I think it's a bit more hit or miss. There's some levels that are a bit of a struggle to have much fun with. There's a couple that are basically just dumb jokes (the Cow/Bear-themed level doesn't make as much sense to English-speaking players as the Uma/Kuma one would have made to the Japanese audience), and they break up the flow amusingly, but they're a bit of a pill if they're a substantial portion of the Katamari content you have access to. The soundtrack sometimes approaches the heights of Katamari Damacy's, but they feel like b-sides to the original's world-blazing chart toppers.
Likely the best thing about We Love Katamari is how much fun they've had setting up little scenarios with the animals, vegetables and minerals scattered around the levels. A pirouetting ballerina leading a parade of swans. Armed policemen who immediately start firing at you when you approach. Elephants spinning around on top of giant mushrooms. We Love Katamari is very funny.
Keita Takahashi was making a lot of noise about the similarities between Wattam and Death Stranding's themes when they were both coming out, but really, most of his games seem to be about that. Appreciating all aspects of the world and connecting them together. From paper airplanes and towers of AA batteries to oil tankers and a legally-distinct Ghidorah. It's lovely. I'm glad there's Katamari.
(Disclaimer, edited in months after initial publication: I have been privately and considerately called out on the uma/kuma thing. "Uma" is Japanese for "horse", and not cow ("ushi"). I often have Japanese horses on my mind, and jumped to a false conclusion that I had cracked the code, though I later realised my mistake. I didn't want to edit it out of the review, as I think there's value in the assumption that things that don't make sense to you might just be a joke that went over your head, but I don't want to spread ignorance either. Please continue to respect Mr Takahashi whilst you deal with the conflict of not understanding what he was doing with that level)
The game's setting regards everyone loving Katamari Damacy and The King of All Cosmos gaining a huge ego about it. The levels are sillier, and frequently, more gimmicky than those in the original game. There's a couple daft new renditions of Katamari on the Rocks, with a wild acapella arrangement and one sung by animals, but I really just wanted the original back then.
All this time later, after playing the NTSC/J original, practically every sequel, and the REROLL remaster, We Love Katamari makes perfect sense. We do love Katamari. We're ready for it now.
I don't think it's quite as good as Katamari Damacy, despite the quality of life tweaks and a more varied set of levels. I think it's a bit more hit or miss. There's some levels that are a bit of a struggle to have much fun with. There's a couple that are basically just dumb jokes (the Cow/Bear-themed level doesn't make as much sense to English-speaking players as the Uma/Kuma one would have made to the Japanese audience), and they break up the flow amusingly, but they're a bit of a pill if they're a substantial portion of the Katamari content you have access to. The soundtrack sometimes approaches the heights of Katamari Damacy's, but they feel like b-sides to the original's world-blazing chart toppers.
Likely the best thing about We Love Katamari is how much fun they've had setting up little scenarios with the animals, vegetables and minerals scattered around the levels. A pirouetting ballerina leading a parade of swans. Armed policemen who immediately start firing at you when you approach. Elephants spinning around on top of giant mushrooms. We Love Katamari is very funny.
Keita Takahashi was making a lot of noise about the similarities between Wattam and Death Stranding's themes when they were both coming out, but really, most of his games seem to be about that. Appreciating all aspects of the world and connecting them together. From paper airplanes and towers of AA batteries to oil tankers and a legally-distinct Ghidorah. It's lovely. I'm glad there's Katamari.
(Disclaimer, edited in months after initial publication: I have been privately and considerately called out on the uma/kuma thing. "Uma" is Japanese for "horse", and not cow ("ushi"). I often have Japanese horses on my mind, and jumped to a false conclusion that I had cracked the code, though I later realised my mistake. I didn't want to edit it out of the review, as I think there's value in the assumption that things that don't make sense to you might just be a joke that went over your head, but I don't want to spread ignorance either. Please continue to respect Mr Takahashi whilst you deal with the conflict of not understanding what he was doing with that level)