Katamari’s concept is so elemental and fun that any game that uses it is bound to provide a good time, to me at least. This was no different but it seems held back by the limitations of the platform. The controls aren’t perfect and there’s not a whole heap of variety, but it maintains the core mechanics and delivers a charming package.

I’ve previously played just the PS3′s Katamari Forever, which has lots of content and many wild types of levels. Unfortunately its default puts an irritating visual filter over gameplay. That’s not a problem here, but you have other issues due to the PSP hardware. For one, you don’t get two thumbsticks for movement. In the Japanese and PAL versions you apparently don’t even get one, using the D-pad and the face buttons as a second D-pad, which is awkward at best. I was fortunate enough to pick up the American release which enables you to use the PSP’s thumbstick in place of the D-pad. It helps, but then you lose symmetry…

Compared to Forever, there’s also a lot more same-y levels. Sure each one asks you to prioritise certain types of objects, but I didn’t feel motivated to change my strategy around that, or even able to work it into my play most of the time. A lot of them are also in the same environments and the same methods work each time. The 5 optional special levels change it up nicely, but I wish there were more of them. You also have more loading times and breaks during gameplay, but that might be unfair for comparison since Forever seems to be the first game in the series to iron that out, on a much more powerful machine.

Basically I think playing Forever earlier has ruined me for the older games. It’s too bad because this is otherwise pretty solid. It’s as charming as any Katamari game can be; the conceit this time is not the King ruining the cosmos but just one group of islands. Animals then turn up to request different kinds of katamaris to replace them. Running around the home base island is fun, as each animal you help starts populating it. The music is a very strong set, with quirky hits from the first game (whose soundtrack I have partaken in many times) and others I hadn’t heard.

Hang on. Do I need to explain Katamari? You can absorb things smaller than you to get bigger, with the scale going from the tabletop to continental. You roll a ball around with a complicated control scheme; moving around is your only real action. The world is a delightfully Japanese low-poly wonderland set to an eclectic mix of tunes. It’s all capped off by a sense of wackiness that is a real joy to experience. These components are the Katamari formula that this game shares, and why I loved it. It’s just a shame the content seems lacking, at least after playing Forever (not to mention the multiplayer mode I couldn’t access on my e-1000).