KATAMARI DAMACY!

Na naa, na na na na na na naa, na na-na na-na-na!

Where have games like this been? (Ok, yes, Nintendo)

Ok, so you are this Prince. 5cm tall. A Little Prince. Your Dad is the King of All Cosmos. He got drunk, and smashed all the stars. Quite enjoyed it at the time too.
As Prince, you get to fix it all, by rolling things up... into... balls... of stuff... (stop laughing!) called 'Katamari'. OK, keep laughing, it is brilliant. Only the Japanese can do stuff like this and pull it off. Well, maybe His Yakiness Jeff Minter, but no-one else!

The sheer simplicity of this game conceals a romp through worlds wierder than most of my dreams, chasing swans and fish, avoiding bears and cows, and running over guys who sound suspiciously like Crazy Frog. Animated interludes keep you up to date with the Hoshino family, and their efforts to go and see their dad at work.

The metaphors for life are amazing - a tiny person rolling around a big ball of stuff that keeps growing.
Rolling up ratties goes 'Eeeeeeee!'. Rolling up cats goes "Mrowr!" Rolling up people goes "Yaaargh!", "What's happening?" "OH MY GOD!" or "Detention for you! Detention!"

Syn & Bear gave me this for Xmass (and the tip-off to mod my PS2) and I have played it a LOT since then. I also had a look at Ebay, and purchased the soundtrack to the game - a surreal blend of lounge, jazz and j-pop. Since Sony in All Their Wisdom haven't really seen fit to release KD in Australia (we might get the PSP and We ♥ Katamari release 'some time' in 2006) I exercised my RIGHTS as an Australian to purchase them overseas, so I have been sharing my rolling this weekend between 'Me and My Katamari' on the PSP and KD on the PS2.

The PSP version suffers a bit from the controls - it isn't quite as slick as the PS2 to roll around, but the sound and graphics really make up for that. It is amazing what the PSP can do - it should get even better when people have had more time to really wring out the hardware.

Today at work 'We ♥ Katamari' turned up, along with 'Shadows of the Collossos' from the makers of the artwork 'Ico'. (The later, I might add cost me AUS$30 brand new; it is due for release here in March for AUS$100! Talk about gouging!)

Now, to be fair, some people won't like it. Bear's brother got mighty disturbed by it, and fair enough. For those of us who have their heads wired in that weird way that makes you want to roll up clouds and giant octopi; then this game is for you!