Still working away at several games at once, but I managed to finish the plot of this one the other day. That’s by no means the end of the game, of course, and I will still enjoy playing it for a while.

This one is unusual though, in that I’m not the only one in our household playing it often. Most of our games are primarily for me, except for the Lego games which we all enjoy. In this case, I bought this game with a few others using my tax return money. I was interested, as Katamari obviously is well known for innovative gameplay, and I hadn’t played a proper entry as yet. This particular game won me over, as it was touted as a sort of best-of of the series, containing many past stages and remixes. The Japanese name is even Katamari Damacy Tribute. Anyway, I expected to enjoy it, but what I didn’t expect was for my sister-in-law to enjoy it as much or even more.

The hugely wacky presentation was a factor, but I think it’s mostly the simple but deep gameplay that makes it addictive. It’s also so unusual among games, and just very satisfying. This game in particular just grabs you though right from the start. After the obligatory Playstation updates & installs (I don’t mind this as much as others seem to), the opening cutscene is just mind-blowing. Equal parts baffling and fabulous, full of bright colours, ducks, dancing pandas, it’s distinctly Japanese.

This theme carries through the game. While the text itself has been translated (except in one egregious example near the end), much of the aesthetic, environments, objects, signs and packets are all so Japanese. It helps that we are familiar with the culture, I feel that might be a roadblock for some people. But I find it very evocative, especially since I am such a fan of Studio Ghibli and pre-Ghibli Miyazaki and Takahata films. It makes me feel somewhat nostalgiac for a culture I am on the fringes of, but is so engrained in my chosen medium and so must know about. Some games bleed Japanese much more strongly than others, and once you’ve played Okami you start to recognise mythological and cultural references in many other games. But this one is very strongly flavoured, and I’ve had a lot of fun just reading descriptions of all the items I’ve rolled up, much like in Pikmin 2.

Anyway, it’s been fun playing this game but also fun watching. The last few years I lived at home I gradually dropped off being a PC gamer and toook to just watching my brother play games, and that was hugely fun. Gaming together is better than gaming alone, most of all on a large screen. So now my sister-in-law and I take turns, and we can give each other advice and get a better understanding of the game, but mostly it’s good because it’s something we can share. Finding common ground is a basic human joy, and it makes me glad I picked this game.

I said before I hadn’t played any main Katamari games. My first experiences in the genre were a few cheap knockoffs, but I knew they were copying and I had so much fun that I knew I had to play the real thing. So I bought the first Katamari game on iOS, I Love Katamari. This is before the second one came out. It was fun, but I had big problems with the controls which made it very hard. It also was a bit glitchy, the menus were poor and there were few levels. So a bit disappointing overall but the basic concept and presentation were good enough to warrant me forking over for an even more genuine experience a few years later. Don’t regret it at all, the console game is so much more polished and smooth and fun. Many more levels and modes keep it varied too, and more characters and costumes. Great music too, but it can get annoying when you have to repeat levels several times.

So a big feature of this game is apparently the graphical filters you can apply, but I haven’t figured out how to unlock them. This, coupled with the extremely condescending remarks of the King and Robo-King when you finish a level, make me feel that I’m always just scraping by, but hey I get to play the next level so screw you, King! I was stuck on the first proper level for a while, but I think that test honed my skills enough to get me through most of the game. The most troubling levels are of course the gimmicky ones, like rolling up flammable things to make a flaming Katamari or the “first bear or cow ends the level”. But like I said there’s lots of variety so if you get stuck there’s plenty of others to do.

Since I did the research, I have to finish this review with a general look at the extent of the series as a whole. Each new installment adds new cousins so they build on each other in a way. The first two games on the PS2 started the whole thing, and they weren’t intended for international consumption until people got interested and pressured Namco. I don’t think exporting them changed the series itself though, as I have indicated it’s Japanese to the core. The original creator, Keita Takahashi, has not been involved in the series since these two, but the caretakers at Namco have done a good job as far as I can tell keeping the formula but also putting some twists on it. There was the PSP one, then the next console one which after some confusion turned out to be 360 exclusive. They made up for that by making this a separate game, and now the Vita has a new one at launch. In between these 6 main titles, there have been a few Japan-only mobile phone games. But don’t worry, we’ve received most of them in one form or another. Katamari Damacy-kun was included as a minigame in the PSP version (actually, this came first, they spun it off into a mobile game). Katamari Damacy Mobile, for a strange Japanese cell phone with motion controls, was ported with improvements (especially in music) to iOS (and Android and Win Phone 7) as I Love Katamari. This has been followed up with the iOS-exclusive Katamari Amore, which adds a virtual thumbstick for more accurate control. Another mobile game, Rolling with Katamari, has been released in English. It’s an isometric take on the series, but don’t ask me how to get it, cell phone game distribution is weird. Speaking of which, in 2010 a Japanese cell phone service came out with two Namco-Hudson collaborations, Pacman X Bomberman and Takahashi Meijin X Katamari Damacy. This would take too long to explain. Suffice to say it’s a crappy cell phone game where a fat dude rolls bananas (from what I gather from two screenshots). The Japanese DSi store got a tetris-style puzzle game with a Katamari skin. There has also been an official 2D flash game, and the obligatory Korean MMO version. There’s some nice Youtube videos of this, but don’t expect to ever play it.

And that’s the Katamari series. It has a very distinct and unique character, which along with the gameplay is the strongest characteristic of the series and the reason it has become so well-known. I don’t know how the games sell, but I think it at least has widespread recognition, if only on the Internet. I certainly knew about it without playing it, and now that I have, I love it. I’m happy with just the PS3 version, there’s certainly enough replay value for ages.

Having said that, there is a footnote worth mentioning. I mentioned Keita Takahashi not being involved since the second game. He’s apparently quite the eccentric guy, but Namco kept him around for his good ideas. He’s since left to work on indie games and designing playgrounds, but before he did he made one more game for them, Noby Noby Boy. It shares much of the strange atmosphere and strongly playful design of the Katamari series, with very different gameplay. I picked it up and it’s simple, crazy fun. Probably not as deep as Katamari but worth checking out. There’s also an iOS version that’s also different but contributes to the community goals of the main game.

Anyway, that’s it. Keep rolling! Do your best!