Review of Katamari Forever

I'm certain others will be more detailed on the history, but there was a storm regarding "Beautiful Katamari".That storm happened because it was released on the XBox 360, but not the PS3 even though up to that point, the entire Katamari franchise had only been released on Playstation systems (PS2/PSP).But thankfully the developers went forward with "Katamari Damacy Tribute", which would in the US be known as "Katamari Forever".So for fans of Katamari Damacy, the wait was over and we get to see the game in HD for the PS3.I'll try to explain the game without giving too much away.So be forewarned, there might be a minor spoiler there in terms of gameplay.

First, this is NOT like the XBox 360 version.The story fits in line with any other Katamari story.Short, basic and (sometimes) confusing.The king takes a knock to the head and it's up to you, with the help of "Roboking", to restore his memory.Among other things.The overall gameplay remains consistent with one major change.You can now (spoiler) jump!Hard to reach places are no longer an obstacle and on some levels you will really need to do this to get higher scores and to different areas, not to mention collect gifts and cousins.Otherwise you use the PS2 sticks the same as always.The other difference is that the Prince gets a bit tired from doing dashes and stays that way for a bit longer, which is a little annoying to be honest.

The "Tribute" part of the game comes because really, there's not a whole lot of new material here.Whether it be items or even levels, chances are if you've played the previous incarnations of the games you've already seen all of the levels available.Within the "King" are mostly levels from "We Love Katamari", including familiar levels with Hansel and Gretel and the campfire levels.The Roboking levels are a mix, but do contain a few innovative challenges, like watering a desert with the katamari.There are several new challenges and levels available that differ even from the 360 version while adding some of what's in the 360 version to it, like the 'Rich' level.

Overall, I think this was a pretty good game however I found it easier to put this one down after a little while.The graphics were beautiful and the gameplay was relatively smooth (although jumping definitely increases the ability to get stuck between things).Also, IMO, the music wasn't quite as strong as the other versions; in some ways, the tracks felt cheaper as they're mostly remixed versions of the great originals.Hopefully in the future you'll be able to pull those off of the store or something.ALSO, and this is A BIG knock - there is NO online game-play.Just leaderboards.So you can't connect with someone else playing the game for a co-op or battle like I believe you could on the 360 version.Having said all of this, if you're new to Katamari Damacy you won't feel like you've missed a ton of history.But if you've been there from the beginning, you might be a little under-whelmed.Overall I'd rate it a bit better than the 360 version as the controls on that one weren't quite as good, IMO.



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