I really want to like this game more than I did. I think for the purposes of this review, breaking the game into categories is particularly useful.
Art Direction: 4.5
Sound Design: 5
Concept: 4.5
Atmosphere: 5
Gameplay: 1
Rolling everything up is extremely satisfying, but the controls are as awful as ever (seriously, who thought tank controls were a good idea?), and there are a lot of other small issues with the gameplay, like the sensitivity toward collisions being ridiculous, inconsistent minimum diameters needed to roll some objects, and certain spots causing collision glitches that cause your katamari to shrink a lot. Still, a very good game worth playing, especially to understand its place in the canon of gaming. Hopefully the game will eventually get the remake it deserves that helps to alleviate these issues.
Art Direction: 4.5
Sound Design: 5
Concept: 4.5
Atmosphere: 5
Gameplay: 1
Rolling everything up is extremely satisfying, but the controls are as awful as ever (seriously, who thought tank controls were a good idea?), and there are a lot of other small issues with the gameplay, like the sensitivity toward collisions being ridiculous, inconsistent minimum diameters needed to roll some objects, and certain spots causing collision glitches that cause your katamari to shrink a lot. Still, a very good game worth playing, especially to understand its place in the canon of gaming. Hopefully the game will eventually get the remake it deserves that helps to alleviate these issues.