Malik
(10/4/04)
Katamari Damacy
(PS2)
Namco
I never heard of
this game, in any real capacity, until last week. That's when I
started to hear about this unknown game that was incredibly
addictive and incredibly insane. That perked my interest, since an
addictive game would ensure that I would get my money's worth out of
it, and being insane...well, I always love a game with little basis
in reality. Then, when I found the price of Katamari Damacy was only
$20, I knew I had to take the chance...was it worth it? Let's
see...
Plot
Ok, bear with me,
because this is about as crazy as a plot can be. Your father, the
King of the Cosmos had some wild night out last night and he can't
seem to remember too much of what happened. However, he does see
some of the lingering signs of having too much fun the previous
night when all of the stars and the moon have vanished from the sky.
This is definitely not a good thing, as it will worry the people of
Earth, so he sends for you, the Prince, his son. While the King is a
massive giant that stands thousands of feet high, you are a tiny and
insignificant speck next to him (you're about a centimeter
tall).
What he wants from
you, is to get a Katamari (which is a sort of ultra sticky ball that
picks up anything small enough, in comparison to itself, that it
touches). Then, you are to go to Earth and try to stick things to
your Katamari until it grows large enough to become a star. Thus,
you can be the good son he wants and fix the obvious problem your
father has created.
It's a pretty
simple story, but for a puzzle game of this magnitude of insanity,
that's more than enough. There is also, as you play, some cut scenes
involving a family that is going to watch the father figure of the
family go up in a rocket to the moon...if this also seems random,
just remember that the stars and the moon are missing, so it will
somehow tie in to the story of the Prince...? Insanity
ensues...
Game Play
This is the single
most ingenious game play engine I have ever seen. It is also about
the most insane of an engine that could ever be devised. The concept
is for you to run over objects with your Katamari, and thus cause
your Katamari to grow. When it grows enough off of small items, it
will be able to pick up larger objects. Since all of this is on
Earth, you will start with picking up thumb-tacks, matches, stamps,
soy sauce packets (this is a very Japanese game), etc. Eventually
you'll move up to being able to pick up muffin-like food items,
apples, strawberries, etc. Then, you'll move up to picking up melons,
boxes, small plants, etc. In the end, if you progress long enough,
you will start to pick up massive sky-scrappers, bridges, stadiums,
etc. However, in each stage, you will be given a certain size that
you must reach within a set time limit (the King has a short
attention span and will want to do something other than supervise
you after only 5-25 minutes).
The challenge,
however, comes in a form more destructive than a time limit. The
real challenge comes from large objects. If you smash you Katamari
into a large object, and at a high speed, some of your picked up
items can fall lose and you'll lose some of your Katamari's overall
mass. This is especially bad when it comes to life forms. When you
start, you'll be assaulted by snails and mice, which will tower over
you at the beginning. These creatures will usually like to attack
the strange and insane looking Katamari since it is smaller than
them. However, you will turn the tables with time...as you grow,
you'll soon out-size the mice, and thus (this is where the game
becomes more insane) be able to attach them to your Katamari. This
will, after you gain some mass, apply also to cats, birds, dogs,
bears, people, elephants, giraffes, sumo wrestlers, and even cars
and trucks and boats. You can even find a few giants that will only
add to the insanity...like an Ultraman looking guy who towers over
the sky-scrappers, a Godzilla looking monster, and even Nessy (Loch
Ness Monster, that is).
This game will
also require you to use some good logic in solving the issue of
making the Katamari grow. You will have to consider where to look
for items, how to avoid obstacles, how to move from one area to
another, and when you should revisit an old area to pick up the
large items you missed previously (when you were smaller).
What makes this
game even better, is that the controls are simple, and at the same
time, as insane as the rest of the game. The controls basically come
down to just the analogue sticks. For those who've driven a
construction vehicle, the same principles apply. If you move both
sticks forward, you move forward. Move them both back, and you'll go
in reverse. If you move one forward and the other backwards, then
you can pivot your direction. Also, if you move both sticks at the
same diagonal, you will slowly rotate that direction as you move
forward (or backward if the diagonal was back and a side). Also, you
can even strafe if both sticks are pressed in one side direction.
You also get a couple of bonus abilities that don't play out too
much in 1-player but can help in 2-player (I'll get to that in a
minute). The most important one is the ability to charge up your
ball and then shoot it forward quickly by alternating up and down
with one stick while doing the opposite direction on the other stick
until your ball is charged.
Ok, I did mention
it, so let get into it. 2-Player mode. In this mode, you and an
opponent, on a split screen, are both control Katamaris and need
collect the small objects that lie around. You are given a 3-minute
time limit to collect as much junk as possible. The one catch is
that you must get more stuff than your opponent. This starts off
pretty simple, as a scavenger hunt to find the best areas with the
right sized objects. However, near the last minute, most items will
have been picked up and you will have to go on the offensive (or the
defensive if you're the bigger player at this point)...namely, you
will use that ball charge ability I mentioned. If you hit your opponent
with this move, you will cause some of their items to fall off and
you can pick them up. However, if you are winning by a decent amount
and you want to be defensive, you can have a special ability for
that too; you can pick up the other player into your Katamari. While
they will not permanently become part of your mass of junk, they
will be stuck until they manage to break free (using the same
movement as a charge attack), thus letting you gather more junk
while they are immobilized.
So, to put it
simple and clear; Katamari Damacy not only has a brilliantly insane
game play mechanism, but the controls (while they take a little time
to become used to) are simple and easy, and the overall concept is
nothing short of ingenious (and insane).
Visuals
The visuals are
both simple and simply perfect for this game. Most objects have a
Japanese style of animation to them that is on the simple side.
However, while many would feel that this is not the right style of
"eye-candy", it is the perfect style for this type of
game. Objects tend to have limited details, along the lines of how
an anime would be drawn. However, while the objects may be limited
in visuals, they are clear enough to be recognizable as what they
are meant to be. Many animals and plants look like they are a cross
between wooden carvings and manga drawings.
Considering how
the concept of this game is to gather a bunch of things, including
living objects, and then shoot them into space to become new stars,
I think the simplified visuals are nothing short of perfect for this
title. If the visuals were photo-realistic, that would have made
this game far too disturbing as you run down an old lady or a little
kid riding her bike. Realism in visuals are only a good thing when
it wont turn a light-hearted and fun game into a disturbing and
violent episode.
Audio
I'll start with
the sounds. The sounds are simply amazing and insane. As you run
over an object, it will typically have it's own sound effect. For
example, if you run over a child, it may start to laugh, if you hit
a bird it may squawk, a mouse will squeak, a car will honk, a
sky-scrapper will be filled with the screams of the people in it, a
cow will moo, etc. The sounds only help to add to the fact that you
are sucking up a city into a giant ball. You'll even hear the sounds
of an egg hatch in the Katamari, from time to time, and you'll tell
from the chirping if it was a general bird egg, a swan egg, a
chicken egg, or what. Simply insane and simply amazing.
The music, on the
other hand, adds to the insanity in a different way altogether.
There is no way for someone like me to describe this music besides
saying that it's very silly and very Japanese. The only explanation
I can give is for people to check out the
Japanese web site for Katamari Damacy. This should explain far
better than I ever could. All I can say is that the music is insane
enough to always keep the player in the mood for the insanity of the
visuals and the game play and the plot. I can also say that the
music is genius.
Conclusion
There is little to
say about this game beyond saying that the creator of this concept
is either completely insane and needs to be institutionalized, or
that the creator of KD is nothing short of a true genius...or
both. This game, from the standpoint of the average overly
critical critic, could be seen as shallow in game play, short,
confusing, with too simple of visuals, way to silly of music, and
therefore complete and total crap. However, if you open
yourself to the possibilities that simplistic qualities, when used
correctly, can be used to make a purely unique and 100% enjoyable
experience. So, I opened my mind to the possibilities, and all
I can do is give Katamari Damacy a 10/10.
This is an example of perfection. The designers knew enough to
keep things at the right level of simplicity and yet to make things
complex enough to allow a lot of depth for return players. I
can't add anything more...this game can truly leave one speechless.
Malik
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