Reviews// Katamari Damacy

Although for us the novelty factor has long since worn off, we’re still enjoying Katamri Damacy as much as the day it first arrived. Although the overall feel is beautifully simple, the fundamental gameplay structure is genuinely quite sophisticated. Playing around with the notion of scale, the player’s perspective constantly shifts throughout the game. When you start off, all small and compact, it’s mainly a matter of avoiding enemies that might knock things off your Katamari and rushing around at a micro ground-level. Towards the end of each level, when the katamari is so big that Damacy becomes almost invisibly miniscule by comparison, and buildings and cars are dwarved, the gameplay shifts around full circle. Suddenly the bigger objects you had to avoid earlier become your targets, and the issue becomes more one of trying not to get your huge lump of things stuck between a rock and a hard place. The progression from the start to end of each level works in a gloriously organic way, and it’s left us extremely impressed.

To top it all off, Katamari Damacy seems all the more special for the modesty of its creators. Although we’d happily exchange 1,000 copies of Goldeneye Rogue Agent for a single, unboxed copy of this, Namco has been selling this as a cut-price title in Japan and the US; production numbers have been relatively low; and a European release has been denied. If only Namco would realise that everyone who likes games would like this, perhaps it would get the exposure it deserves. In all honesty, the only criticism we can make is that the game isn’t longer: but then again, it’s got replay value and it’s relatively diminutive size has been countered by the low price tag. In our opinion, giving KD a whirl should be a legal obligation: as should falling in love with it immediately afterwards.

SPOnG Rating A+

Katamari Damacy is totally bonkers and we love it loads. If you can find any way to give this a go, we would strongly encourage you to do so as soon as possible. If not, we’ll just have to hope that Katamari Damacy 2 is as good or even better than this. In the words of the King Of the Cosmos: “It’s very graceful, exciting, cool and daring”. And in the words of this reviewer, “Proper genius”.