We Love Katamari Damacy
http://i28.tinypic.com/2hhq6id.jpg
Function is an aspect that most games seem to neglect nowadays, sure you can argue there's still playability within games but when I refer to functions as a priority, I mean is it something you can continue to go back to once you've completed it? Does the function still perform as effectively and as challenging as the first time you played it?
Sandbox aside, I feel there's very little of these games on the current market, something that offers a fresh opportunity every time you boot up your weapon of choice.
So this leads me to my retro... well circa '05 PS2 review, We Love Katamari - sequel to Katamari Damacy (which was sadly released in NTSC format only, so I can't get my grubby little paws on it!)
Long story short, Katamari Damacy roughly translates to 'Clump Spirit'... sounds a lot nicer in Japanese doesn't it?
You take on the role of the Prince, a teensy fluro-green clad protagonist. The Princes' diminutive stature is obscenely misleading as you'll soon find yourself pushing around a Damacy of extraordinary girth, enveloping humans and animals alike and all the way up to cars, planes, buildings and more.
http://i29.tinypic.com/2vbseoi.jpg
Seeing as the Prince remains silent throughout his adventures, you'll find that most of the games dialogue (I use the term loosely) is voiced through your father, King Of All The Cosmos. The King is an almost fearful and monolithic sentinel that watches over all the cosmos and Katamari alike. It's sort of hard to take him seriously once you start reading his dialogue though.
Katamari Damacy is a unique concept with familiar foundations, when I first sat down and poured myself into its world, I was at first nostalgically bemused by the similarity of scale to earlier Micro Machines racing games. Some of the worlds initially look like they were plucked straight out of the minituare Micro Machines environment and dumped into Katamari. This notion shrinks rapidly as your Damacy gains diameter with each... err, well... victim? Scratch that, let's call the victims - additions, to make it sound less intrinsically evil than it actually is.
The motivation of Katamari Damacy is that, since the first game, the world has become smitten with Katamari and you'll encounter a multitude of fans who need your help. Whether this 'help' be a cause such as rolling up paper cranes for a sick child in hospital, making (by 'making' I mean 'rolling up and stealing') friends in a zoo or rolling up enough continents to intercept a meteor headed straight for Earth, each level hosts its own wit and unique charm.
http://i27.tinypic.com/6edffq.jpgThe key to gameplay in Katamari Damacy is to get bigger.
As your Damacy grows in size, more and more objects become 'rollable'; for example - you may start out with a Damacy of say 15 Centimetres in diameter, you can roll up paperclips on a desk, erasers and pencils. Roll up enough of these items and you'll soon be able to take on larger 'additions' such as mice, sandals and cans of soda. This process continues until you reach the levels preset size goal or the timer runs out.
This gameplay formula is easy to understand and even easier to enjoy, it's no secret that any game which allows you to roll up a ball to the size of a skyscraper and then accordingly invites you to use that ball to roll up pirate ships, Stonehenge and eventually (I kid you not) Godzilla, is going to be 5 flavours of epic.
There's just so much awesome in this game. I sometimes need to take a moment, sit back and say to myself 'wow'.
Being a fundamentally Japanese game at heart, there's plenty of whacky humour and colourful characters to match their just as colourful dialogue. You'll notice that there's a really retro//offbeat kind of style to the game on whole, everything in the Katamari world has a purposely blocky, eboy [http://hello.eboy.com/eboy/] feel to it. One might say that Katamari gives off a faux Indie vibe while breathlessly managing to maintain a tight and well engineered sense of gameplay.http://i29.tinypic.com/2ce6iiq.jpg
The music Of Katamari is as brilliantly random as the gameplay itself, the soundtracks complement the air of Indie style and encourage visceral exploring of your surroundings. Tunes comprise of beat-boxing, upbeat pop-rock, j-rock, love ballads and some just plain cool tracks.
(The beatbox version of the main theme song has actually been stuck in my head for a couple of weeks now, not that I mind it being there.)
Sound effects are cheesy but purposely so, I find myself giggling at the sing-song meow of rolled-up cats and the random comments made by some humans that are rolled up, "AIIEEEeeeee... Oh..Ohhh kinda feels nice".
Ultimately, Katamari delivers a fantastic and entertaining meal on a paper plate, relative to a lot of games nowadays that serve up a pile of manure on a silver platter, Katamari is a welcome and well received joy to partake in.
There's enough challenge in Katamari to keep even the most keen gamers busy for a month and more, some levels I find that I go back to just to try and get another few metres of diameter on my high score.
If you do happen to have a PS2, I recommend picking up this game for around $20-$30 off eBay.
It's incredibly hard not to fall in love with a game that one minute sees you rolling past a room full of playful kittens and the next moment has you rolling up clouds and volcanoes whilst weaving through a plateau of Tyrannosaurus'.
I love you Katamari Damacy
Oh you crazy Cosplay Kids!
http://i28.tinypic.com/2hhq6id.jpg
Function is an aspect that most games seem to neglect nowadays, sure you can argue there's still playability within games but when I refer to functions as a priority, I mean is it something you can continue to go back to once you've completed it? Does the function still perform as effectively and as challenging as the first time you played it?
Sandbox aside, I feel there's very little of these games on the current market, something that offers a fresh opportunity every time you boot up your weapon of choice.
So this leads me to my retro... well circa '05 PS2 review, We Love Katamari - sequel to Katamari Damacy (which was sadly released in NTSC format only, so I can't get my grubby little paws on it!)
Long story short, Katamari Damacy roughly translates to 'Clump Spirit'... sounds a lot nicer in Japanese doesn't it?
You take on the role of the Prince, a teensy fluro-green clad protagonist. The Princes' diminutive stature is obscenely misleading as you'll soon find yourself pushing around a Damacy of extraordinary girth, enveloping humans and animals alike and all the way up to cars, planes, buildings and more.
http://i29.tinypic.com/2vbseoi.jpg
Seeing as the Prince remains silent throughout his adventures, you'll find that most of the games dialogue (I use the term loosely) is voiced through your father, King Of All The Cosmos. The King is an almost fearful and monolithic sentinel that watches over all the cosmos and Katamari alike. It's sort of hard to take him seriously once you start reading his dialogue though.
Katamari Damacy is a unique concept with familiar foundations, when I first sat down and poured myself into its world, I was at first nostalgically bemused by the similarity of scale to earlier Micro Machines racing games. Some of the worlds initially look like they were plucked straight out of the minituare Micro Machines environment and dumped into Katamari. This notion shrinks rapidly as your Damacy gains diameter with each... err, well... victim? Scratch that, let's call the victims - additions, to make it sound less intrinsically evil than it actually is.
The motivation of Katamari Damacy is that, since the first game, the world has become smitten with Katamari and you'll encounter a multitude of fans who need your help. Whether this 'help' be a cause such as rolling up paper cranes for a sick child in hospital, making (by 'making' I mean 'rolling up and stealing') friends in a zoo or rolling up enough continents to intercept a meteor headed straight for Earth, each level hosts its own wit and unique charm.
http://i27.tinypic.com/6edffq.jpgThe key to gameplay in Katamari Damacy is to get bigger.
As your Damacy grows in size, more and more objects become 'rollable'; for example - you may start out with a Damacy of say 15 Centimetres in diameter, you can roll up paperclips on a desk, erasers and pencils. Roll up enough of these items and you'll soon be able to take on larger 'additions' such as mice, sandals and cans of soda. This process continues until you reach the levels preset size goal or the timer runs out.
This gameplay formula is easy to understand and even easier to enjoy, it's no secret that any game which allows you to roll up a ball to the size of a skyscraper and then accordingly invites you to use that ball to roll up pirate ships, Stonehenge and eventually (I kid you not) Godzilla, is going to be 5 flavours of epic.
There's just so much awesome in this game. I sometimes need to take a moment, sit back and say to myself 'wow'.
Being a fundamentally Japanese game at heart, there's plenty of whacky humour and colourful characters to match their just as colourful dialogue. You'll notice that there's a really retro//offbeat kind of style to the game on whole, everything in the Katamari world has a purposely blocky, eboy [http://hello.eboy.com/eboy/] feel to it. One might say that Katamari gives off a faux Indie vibe while breathlessly managing to maintain a tight and well engineered sense of gameplay.http://i29.tinypic.com/2ce6iiq.jpg
The music Of Katamari is as brilliantly random as the gameplay itself, the soundtracks complement the air of Indie style and encourage visceral exploring of your surroundings. Tunes comprise of beat-boxing, upbeat pop-rock, j-rock, love ballads and some just plain cool tracks.
(The beatbox version of the main theme song has actually been stuck in my head for a couple of weeks now, not that I mind it being there.)
Sound effects are cheesy but purposely so, I find myself giggling at the sing-song meow of rolled-up cats and the random comments made by some humans that are rolled up, "AIIEEEeeeee... Oh..Ohhh kinda feels nice".
Ultimately, Katamari delivers a fantastic and entertaining meal on a paper plate, relative to a lot of games nowadays that serve up a pile of manure on a silver platter, Katamari is a welcome and well received joy to partake in.
There's enough challenge in Katamari to keep even the most keen gamers busy for a month and more, some levels I find that I go back to just to try and get another few metres of diameter on my high score.
If you do happen to have a PS2, I recommend picking up this game for around $20-$30 off eBay.
It's incredibly hard not to fall in love with a game that one minute sees you rolling past a room full of playful kittens and the next moment has you rolling up clouds and volcanoes whilst weaving through a plateau of Tyrannosaurus'.
I love you Katamari Damacy
Oh you crazy Cosplay Kids!
