Creative developers with wild, unprecedented ideas can redefine game genres, create new kinds of gameplay, introduce new ways to tell stories, and leave marks on the video game industry. That and We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie can’t help but constantly reference Katamari Damacy, so you may as well play the thing they’re referencing.The game industry wouldn’t be where it is today without unique games that shake it up. But there’s a purity to Katamari Damacy REROLL that puts it a nose ahead. We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie feels bigger, not only because of the extra challenges, but because some levels double-up and offer new challenges themselves. We would nudge you to the first game on balance, but it’s a tough call. If you’re a subset who want to play their first Katamari game, or want to play their first on the Xbox, then it’s the awkward decision between this and Katamari Damacy REROLL. It does just about enough to justify the Royal Reverie addendum. The only shining light among them is the ballerina level, which takes place in a new zoo arena, and has you avoiding ballerinas for as long as possible. The ‘don’t do something’ levels have never been our faves. One had us avoiding ghosts to complete a level, and we could do with never playing it again. They mostly reuse old arenas, and the rules are either throwaway or annoying. ![]() There are new challenges but we didn’t think they were up to snuff. But generally, this looks and sounds exactly as you remember, but without the trademark PS2 grain. There’s a fair amount of pop-in, especially on the larger-scope levels, as you are suddenly rolling onto something that wasn’t there before. Graphically, it’s exactly what we wanted: none of the shapes or characters have been changed, and it’s all about making things crisp as a bag of Walkers. Those players likely want to know what’s changed, and whether it’s for the better. ![]() But there’s something about the waggling arms as you roll over a child the boo-be-doo-be-doo music that we can recall in a heartbeat and the multitude of brothers and sisters, all with their single defining characteristics, that make the world of Katamari so original.Įstablished players of We Love Katamari know this all already. We’ve got a hot take that the Katamari games talk slightly too much: even though there’s a ‘skip dialogue’ button, it still feels like the King of the Cosmos wants to smother you in dialogue rather than tiny bits of sushi or loo rolls. The charm pushes you through all the control wonkiness anyway. There’s the final moments of the game, when you’re hoovering up planets, or hunting for brothers and sisters in every corner of each world. There’s the moment when you find a stack of small items, and you hang around at the base as they collapse onto you. Sucking up buildings that were basically the out-of-bounds area never gets old. There’s the moment where you suddenly outgrow a space that was hemming you in before. But persist and it delivers some of the most uniquely brilliant feelings in games. We couldn’t get our kids to stick to it, ironically. It plays like a PS1 era Resident Evil karting game. If we were being brutally honest, We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie, like other Katamari games, is a desperately awkward game to control. Because, just as it was then, We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie is unwieldy and idiosyncratic in its controls. Handing the pad over to our kids, however, brought back all the memories of trying to learn these moves. Waggle the sticks for a speed-up charge push in the sticks for a 180 reverse, Fox McCloud-style. We were straight back into it, remembering all the quirks. Rolling the katamari was like riding a bike. Presents and other sons and daughters of the Cosmos can be picked up, as they jiggle hilariously on your giant ball. ![]() And there are collectibles to collect, layering on the replay. Maybe you need to avoid picking up ballerinas, only pick up paper cranes, or try to achieve a certain heat so that you can burn an enemy. Perhaps you have to reach a certain size – or avoid reaching a certain size. You’re picking up shoes and cats, then leveling up to pick up people, before leveling up again and again to the point that you’re covered in the Taj Mahal, countries and planets.Īll of this is done to a time limit and a level-specific set of rules. After a while, the Katamari gets bigger, and those things you were avoiding are now fair game. Those things have to be smaller than the Katamari to adhere, so you’re avoiding the big things in the level and sticking to the small. Very simply, you push around a ball – the Katamari of the title – and things stick to it.
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