I'm really glad this became a backwards compatible title recently so I finally get to play it after all these years. I remember feeling really betrayed when I was 8 years old and found out that my favorite game series had jumped over to Xbox, leaving me and my PlayStation in the dust. It was bad enough I didn't get a PSP to play Me & My Katamari so this was just putting salt in my wounds at this point. So after 15 years of waiting, how good is this game? Pretty good, I guess.
I think the most fair game to compare this one to is Katamari Forever, the apology I received for skipping the PlayStation 3 with this game. Katamari Forever is mostly a greatest hits package, a bundle of some of the more interesting game modes and levels from the previous games with updated mechanics and graphics. While this isn't Katamari Damacy 5 like most people were hoping it would be, it does have a lot of interesting levels due to the previous games having such tight and interesting level design.
Beautiful Katamari doesn't really have this going for it, as the amount of achievements and game modes dedicated to Xbox Live functionalities kinda hint that this game's priorities are not focused on refinement or evolution of gameplay but rather goofing off with other players. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, I do think that the levels and objectives are often pretty uninspired and do not relate well to the haphazard "story" this game sets forth. Besides making Uranus, which is one of the better levels probably in the whole series, every other objective is pretty one-note in comparison save for the hot katamari which is one of my least favorite levels.
Playing this game also made me realize the amount of quality of life changes that Katamari Forever made with its presentation, which was undoubtedly the focus of this native 1080p game. Many of the objectives in Katamari Forever that have you collect as many of X as is listed gives you an exact number, price, weight, or even just size as you would have to beat the objective. Beautiful Katamari does not do this very often at all, with only 2 of its about 12 requests even having a number of what you are collecting on screen. This makes playing for points incredibly frustrating since I have no idea how I am doing until the end when I finish. Beautiful Katamari also does not give a whole lot of time to finish any objective and, while I didn't fail a single level, it felt like it was almost discouraging exploration and relaxation which many of the other games did much better. The music is also a bit weird for the series, as it doesn't seem to stick to any consistent style with the remixes of old songs being just awful. While it does combine with the visuals well, the music just wasn't as stand out as it should've been.
Seems like I didn't miss out on much as a kid considering the best levels were on Katamari Forever anyway with much better visuals, music, and controls. I think Beautiful Katamari could've been astonishing if it tried to do anything at all with its aesthetic instead of just push forward a new entry but this time featuring Xbox Live. Not a bad game cuz hey, its Katamari, but I definitely wont be coming back to this one as much as the others, probably only to finish the DLC when I have a few bucks to spare. Better than probably only Me & My Katamari due to the advantage of having two analog stick functionality.
I think the most fair game to compare this one to is Katamari Forever, the apology I received for skipping the PlayStation 3 with this game. Katamari Forever is mostly a greatest hits package, a bundle of some of the more interesting game modes and levels from the previous games with updated mechanics and graphics. While this isn't Katamari Damacy 5 like most people were hoping it would be, it does have a lot of interesting levels due to the previous games having such tight and interesting level design.
Beautiful Katamari doesn't really have this going for it, as the amount of achievements and game modes dedicated to Xbox Live functionalities kinda hint that this game's priorities are not focused on refinement or evolution of gameplay but rather goofing off with other players. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, I do think that the levels and objectives are often pretty uninspired and do not relate well to the haphazard "story" this game sets forth. Besides making Uranus, which is one of the better levels probably in the whole series, every other objective is pretty one-note in comparison save for the hot katamari which is one of my least favorite levels.
Playing this game also made me realize the amount of quality of life changes that Katamari Forever made with its presentation, which was undoubtedly the focus of this native 1080p game. Many of the objectives in Katamari Forever that have you collect as many of X as is listed gives you an exact number, price, weight, or even just size as you would have to beat the objective. Beautiful Katamari does not do this very often at all, with only 2 of its about 12 requests even having a number of what you are collecting on screen. This makes playing for points incredibly frustrating since I have no idea how I am doing until the end when I finish. Beautiful Katamari also does not give a whole lot of time to finish any objective and, while I didn't fail a single level, it felt like it was almost discouraging exploration and relaxation which many of the other games did much better. The music is also a bit weird for the series, as it doesn't seem to stick to any consistent style with the remixes of old songs being just awful. While it does combine with the visuals well, the music just wasn't as stand out as it should've been.
Seems like I didn't miss out on much as a kid considering the best levels were on Katamari Forever anyway with much better visuals, music, and controls. I think Beautiful Katamari could've been astonishing if it tried to do anything at all with its aesthetic instead of just push forward a new entry but this time featuring Xbox Live. Not a bad game cuz hey, its Katamari, but I definitely wont be coming back to this one as much as the others, probably only to finish the DLC when I have a few bucks to spare. Better than probably only Me & My Katamari due to the advantage of having two analog stick functionality.