Rolling with Katamari
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| Rolling with Katamari

During the recent bout of freak weather experienced by us Brits - whereby our usual cold and wet winter turned briefly into a cold and snowy one - I went outside into the garden with my better half to make the obligatory snowman.

I soon realised that the most fun part of the whole experience (other than pelting said partner with solid clumps of snow) was rolling up the giant ball that would make up the body. As I huffed and puffed the icy ball grew bigger and bigger, becoming harder to control, and a trail of green grass was left in its wake as a satisfying record of my progress.

Katamari Damacy, released on the PS2 in 2004, used this same principle to make one of the most joyously addictive games of recent years. Since then, pocket gamers have enjoyed versions on PSP and iPhone. And now, somewhat belatedly, it’s turned up on the mobile.

Rolling with Katamari carries across that same core mechanic of rolling stuff up, and replicates it brilliantly on your mobile. You see, it’s not just snow that contributes to your ball’s mass (in fact snow doesn’t figure at all). Rather, it’s everything.

Playing as a tiny extra-terrestrial prince with a magically sticky ‘katamari’ ball, you’re placed into a series of primary-coloured environments, each of which is littered with a whole bunch of related (and unrelated) objects. So during the levels set in and around a suburban house you’ll find garden gnomes, flowers, television sets and even cats and dogs.

The very first training level, rather neatly, is set inside your phone, with a bunch of microchips and transistors to collect.

As you push your ball around (Up/’2’ moves you forward, Left/’4’ and Right/’6’ steer and OK/’5’ performs a U-turn) it grows in size by picking up the smaller items. You’re gradually able to move onto larger and larger objects, until eventually you find yourself in control of an unstoppable ball of stuff.

Rolling with Katamari is no aimless toy, however. Goals are set and time limits imposed by your random nonsense-spouting father, the King of All Cosmos. In amongst his random jabbering he’ll ask you to fulfil certain criteria, such as collecting as many blue objects as you can, or growing to a particular size within five minutes.

As such, although the game uses and reuses a limited number of environments, repetition is held at bay by these nicely varied goals. There’s even a checkpoint racing task, although you have to grow to a sufficient size to roll each checkpoint up, naturally.

Further reasons to progress are dangled tantalisingly in front of you, like finding each of the ten presents dotted around the levels (you have to roll them up too), or discovering each of your freakishly proportioned cousins lurking somewhere in the gameworld (you have to… yep, you got it).

Then there’s the competitive element of besting your own scores. Once each level is completed, your katamari is turned into a unique star in the universe, complete with its own measurements. It’s quite a compelling reason to return, as you often know that you could have been far more efficient once you're familiar with the layout of each level.

There are also unlockable cut-scenes placed at regular intervals throughout the game, which consist of brief stylised sketches - such as a family sitting in front of a TV report that informs you all of the stars have disappeared. In true Katamari style, they’re utter nonsense, but completely charming all the same.

It’s good to see that the twee-yet-knowing (if that isn’t too much of a contradiction) writing has been competently replicated too. From the moment the King of All Cosmos greets you with the words “Ah, little Prince. You look smaller and more mobile than usual today,” you know you’re in good hands.

Despite all the good work, there are a few notable niggles - primarily squared at the controls and the act of simply negotiating the levels.

Initial control responsiveness is okay as you set off with your tiny ball. The trouble at this stage is that larger objects tend to snag the little prince, stopping you in your tracks a little too abruptly.

It can be quite frustrating when you’re trying to establish some momentum only for your flow to be disrupted by a tree or a rogue dog (which, even more annoyingly, tends to follow you).

The problems don’t end when you grow large enough to absorb such obstacles: they just shift to other areas of the game. At this point, the control responsiveness changes to account for the larger ball. Because you’re controlling the prince rather than the ball itself, the speed at which he scoots around it in order to change direction has to increase.

This hasn’t quite been calibrated well enough, and the shift is quite a jarring one. You’ll find yourself over-steering as you grow larger, zig-zagging rather than moving in smooth curves.

Another problem when you get really big is that you lose site of the prince himself, which can be extremely disorientating. At these points, it can feel like your katamari has a mind of its own, which isn’t a great situation to be in when the seconds are ticking down.

Namco Bandai clearly realises this is an issue, as it has included an option to turn a helper arrow on, which is a slightly inelegant solution.

Still, Katamari’s first showing on mobile can safely be declared a triumph. All of the elements that have made the series such a cult hit - the distinctive visual style, the sharp sense of humour, the simple fun of hoovering up household pets - have been rolled up into one delightfully compact ball of fun.

Rolling with Katamari

Rolling with Katamari retains all of the key elements of the series, and overcomes some slight control niggles with an irresistible sense of fun and good humour
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Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.