- Title: Beautiful Katamari
- Platform:Xbox 360
- Publisher: Namco Bandai
- Developer: Namco Bandai
- ESRB Rating: “E” for Everyone
- Genre: Garbage Ball Rolling
- Pros: Looks nice and sharp; rolling up from a tiny 50cm ball up to 100,000km ball is awesome; $40 pricetag
- Cons: Nothing here is as good as the original game; new objectives kind of suck the fun out of it
Features
In the Katamari games, you play as the tiny Prince of All Cosmos who has to clean up the messes his clumsy father, the King of All Cosmos, makes. This usually involves rolling up gigantic balls of garbage which are then turned into new planets and stars by the King. Does that sound goofy and funny and completely wonderful? It sure did several years ago when Katamari Damacy showed up on the PS2. These days, however, the whole concept is old hat and not nearly as interesting.
In addition to the single-player mode, there are some multiplayer games as well. You can play an offline co-op game where you and a friend control the same Katamari and have to work together. Competitive modes can be played both on and offline and have you competing with other players to roll up the most of a specific type of item. This mode is pretty limited, though, and not too fun in the long term.
Gameplay
Beautiful Katamari throws up a few roadblocks, however. Not every level lets you just roll things up indefinitely, and most have a set time limit or a set number of specific items you are supposed to collect. This isn’t a bad thing, but some of the requirements are somewhat unreasonable, and having to retry the same level over and over again just sucks the fun out of it. It also has to be noted, and sorry to beat a dead horse here, but all of this is literally the exact same stuff we have been doing since the first game. It just isn’t as fun as it used to be.
Graphics and Sound
Graphically, Beautiful Katamari is certainly the sharpest looking game in the series, but isn’t pushing the Xbox 360 hardware at all. That isn’t a complaint, though, since the games have always had a very simple and distinct art style. It is very colorful and fun looking. When you are very small there are some camera issues when you get close to objects that can result in you getting stuck for a bit while you work your way out. Also, when you have a very large Katamari, the framerate can slow down to a crawl when you are right on the cusp of switching to the next size/scale. Once it moves up a notch, the framerate is smooth again, but darn if it isn’t slow for the 20-30 second prior.The sound is also pretty good overall. Each type of item you roll up makes a unique sound, and it can be pretty funny to roll up cats and dogs and kids and cars and more. The music is fairly good and is a mix of J-pop, jazz, and more. The soundtrack isn’t as good as the one in the first game, but it is pretty catchy on its own.
Bottom Line
