Attack of the Gamer

Namco has done it again with another addictive release of Katamari Damacy. Third in the Katamari lineup yet the first release of Katamari for the PSP, Me and My Katamari is a welcome addition to the lineup. If you are looking for a completely new game however, you may be disappointed with this revision, nothing really new here except for the fact that this is a portable version of Katamari Damacy. So only fans of the series may end up keeping this game in their collection.

The King of All Cosmos and the Royal Family decide to take some time off from their celestial construction and travel to Earth for a tropical summer vacation on their own sunny island. Unfortunately, the King creates a tsunami that strikes and devestates nearby Paradise Commonwealth Island. It is now your job undo what has been done.

If you have never picked up and played Katamari Damacy and you have a PSP, now is the time you should pick up this title and have an enjoyable time rolling around a ball picking up everything of equal size that you touch. The concept is pretty great, you start out as this little green character and you have to create, in this case, islands for creatures. You create these islands by rolling a Katamari around different worlds picking up everything that the Katamari comes into contact with.

The graphics are the same as the other 2 games in the series. The graphics were never really innovative to begin with, really basic, however, good graphics doesn’t make a game. The game play does. The PSP console holds up pretty well, and can render a lot of the graphics on screen at once, although some parts get choppy especially when your Katamari is getting to be a decent size. A lot of objects and levels in the game are reused so get used to seeing a lot of them.

I have always been a fan of the music for Katamari Damacy. Which again is recycled in this revision of the game. Only this time, they used the better songs from each of the previous games. There are some songs that you can unlock through finishing the game and whatnot. Favorites such as Katamari on the Rock, Que Sera Sera, and unlockable songs such as Blue Orb Song, and King of Kings Song.

Gameplay is much like that of the previous Katamari titles. You use the D-pad and the four face buttons to imitate the analog controls. If you are playing the American release you can use the thumb nub to control the Katamari, whereas if you are playing with the Japanese release the thumb nub controls the camera. The [L] and [R] buttons are used for tight turns, or to rotate the prince around the Katamari. It takes time but you will be able to learn the controls for this game, even though the learning curve is a little steep.

Some people have come across the problem of developing sore thumbs from playing too much Me and My Katamari. However if I recall correctly most games have provided “sore thumb syndrome” and we have been coping with it for years. Suck it up princess

Playing Me and My Katamari wirelessly is fun if you have 3 other friends who each own a copy, as only AD-HOC mode is support, and unfortunately there is no game sharing. This game would have been really great with Infrastructure support. Aside from this each player competes to make the largest Katamari while trying to sabotage the other players.

If your an avid fan of the Katamari Damacy series there should be no question about its replayability. If your just the average gamer, you may find that Me and My Katamari is fairly easy to beat and becomes repetitive after a while. All is well its still worth picking up even if you wait and get it used, or rent it from a game rental service or something along those lines.

My only main problem is the controls. I realize the game was originally designed to be used with the Dualshock controller, but the controls for Me and My Katamari are really weird. They take some time to get used to. It took me a while to get the hang of it, and I still don’t have “Katamari” control like I did on one of the PS/2 revisions.

Pros:

- Katamari Damacy for PSP
- Quick gameplay, that can be fun for hours
- Good Music
- Lots of Unlockables

Cons:

- Controls are a little akward
- Graphics and levels are recycled over and over
- No Infrastructure Support
- No Gamesharing

Scores:

Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Gameplay: 6
Net play: 9
Replayability: 7
Total: 8