DigitalBattle.com

It’s been a while Katamari took Japan by storm, and subsequently created a gaming sub-culture all over the world, persistently rolling katamaris everywhere. Katamari is now out for the first time on the PlayStation 3, with new visuals (full 1080p support), and a remixed soundtrack of the original, Katamari Forever gives fans what they’ve been waiting for. However, it doesn’t go beyond that, there’s no revolution here, or even an evolution for that matter, sans the technical update.

In case you haven’t heard about katamari before, your object is to “roll katamaris”, meaning roll huge balls of stuff lying on the streets, cars, benches, trees, people — everything, really, which constantly grows your katamari. Once again, as the “Prince”, you’ll need to complete different missions — in Katamari Forever, you’re doing missions in two “campaigns”, one for the King and one for the RoboKing, in all, there are 34 levels.

However, the objectives and gameplay are the same, and very little has been added since the release of the original Katamari Damacy, some five years ago. That’s not to say that the gameplay suffers, by all means, katamari enthusiasts will certainly be satisfied, rolling katamaris is just as fun as it’s always been. But with five years and half a dozen games with little (or no) innovation, it’s becoming a hard sell. There are not new gameplay mechanics, no new modes — it seems like the developer isn’t keen on taking any chances, even on improving aspects of the game that work somewhat well.

New in Katamari Forever is the ability to select different graphics “filters”, where you can play the game with a cell-shaded look, a pencil style look, or a wood-grain look. However, you can still use the good ‘ol Katamari look that’s well known, and that always seems to fit better than the others. While the visuals have been improved, much of the core mechanics of the game remain the same, like the camera, which has actually plagued the series since the original game was released. The Sixaxis motion controls also seem to be poorly implemented, however, you can always use the fixed buttons instead.

Unlike the previous version, Katamari Forever does not include online multiplayer, only offline, split-screen mode. It’s a shame, since it would have added greatly to a game that already feels a bit too shallow. Technically, the art style of the game is as cool as it always was, however, the new, high-def visuals do suffer from occasional frame rate issues and graphical glitches.

The Good:
Still lots of fun
Great art style
Great sense of humor

The Bad:
No real innovation
Graphical glitches
Camera issues
No online multiplayer

Overall score: 6/10