Thoughts on Beautiful Katamari
Oh, journal, I have neglected you so! Then again in a way I’ve also neglected video games for some time now (mostly from constantly forgetting to recharge batteries for the GP2X). This is not to say that no fun has been had (I have recently gotten to play some Portal which, upon finishing or further devotion, will no doubt get a post of it’s own) and a variety of other things I haven’t had the time to talk about.
But, after taking a nap at 11:00 p.m. only to be woken up at 2:30 a.m. to actually get into bed, I find myself faaaar too awake to attempt any such sort of deeper sleep. With the time finally on my hands I can now go on about gaming-things that happened some weeks ago.
Which brings me to the subject of Beautiful Katamari.
Oh, Katamari, how I love you so! Anyone who knows me has probably heard me squeal in glee over this gaming series or, for those within my arm’s reach, have probably been subject to watching me play it/playing it with me/having the controller forced into their hands. Ever since my bro got the first game and, subsequently, the second, I have been rolling away towards greater things and expressing my devotion to the King of All Cosmos.
Both Katamari Damacy and, more specifically, We <3 Katamari are very dear to my heart and always close at hand when I need to get some good gaming in. So when I heard about then next game, Beautiful Katamari, of course I was thrilled (regardless of the fact that I do not own an Xbox 360). Seeing that I thought that there was a massive leap towards the better between Katamari Damacy and We <3 Katamari my heart was all a twitter thinking that this newest game would be another step up.
Sadly to say in the end I’m disappointed.
Some might think it was too optimistic for me to hope for so much; I mean, how many times are we let down by sequels in the series of our life? But oh, the childhood optimism in me hoped for the better. I had only a sparse opportunity to play back in December but only a level or two, not nearly enough to gauge it in any retrospect (though I will say that playing it on a huge plasma screen tv was a bit of an experience, if not a headache-inducing one).
But then! V’s brother Mark comes down for his Spring break, bringing his 360 and all his goodies, including Beautiful Katamari! My chance! One cannot describe the nerdy glee I was filled with as I soon had a day with the 360 all to myself!
It didn’t take too long for me to be let down. I played with a constant feeling of expecting something more than what was offered. The pitter-patter of my heart slowed to a dull thump as I drudged through levels, barely making the time and accumulating a sad amount of points.
My disappointments didn’t end there, however. Though here is a much more cohesive list in order to keep things more organized.
WHY I DIDN’T LOVE BEAUTIFUL KATAMARI 
1.) The King’s new outfit- What a let-down. His overly-theatrical, too-poofy wardrobe change was not a plus in my mind. I miss the purple tights, the sash, the bulge! Overkill.
2.) The levels expanded too quickly- The old games had a sense of leisure when playing, slowly expanding your world enough to appreciate your surroundings and what you picked up as well as giving a game you could just relax to play. In Beautiful Katamari I felt waaay too rushed when playing, the levels growing so big so fast that I could barely do more than frantically roll in every direction. The fast expansion also made it more difficult to memorize where things were and where you were going, which in the other games was a sense of comfort. When a sequel comes out I do expect it to be somewhat more challenging than the last, but it got to a point where it was almost ridiculous.
3.) They wouldn’t tell you where to go when you did expand- This might vary with other players of the game, but I liked in the old games how they would shift the camera so that you knew where the next zone was. In Beautiful Katamari they just kind of expect you to know, which could get quite irritating at some points.
4.) The King talked way too much- This problem wouldn’t have been so bad for me if it weren’t for the Xbox controller. With the PS2 controller if you wanted to press X to get through his speeches faster it was just a shift of the thumb without having to take it off the joystick. With the 360 controller you actually need to remove your thumb in order to hit the button through. Maybe other people don’t have this problem, but I’ve got tiny hands and it was more of a difficulty than I was happy with.
5.) The scoring system- Now, I don’t have a problem with the point system itself, but, as Mark pointed out to me, it doesn’t give you the option anymore to pick if you want it to be the new planet/top score or into stardust. Instead your newest one just instantly replaces the old. Which is just…confusing, and I think takes away from the replayability of the levels.
6.) The music- I absolutely love the Katamari music, specifically in We <3 Katamari. But god, there were so many in Beautiful Katamari that I had to mute due to the awfulness. Yuck.
7.) The quick-turn- This might sound weird (though I doubt I’m the only one who noticed) but they slowed down the quick-turn to some degree. I’m a quick-turn addict so I always use it in levels but it turned so slow that not only does it take up a fraction more time but also kind of makes me dizzy. I feel like before the quick-turn was so fast you barely noticed, but in this you actually feel like you’re lifting along with it. Not fun.
8.) Generally boring levels- Simply put, I wasn’t entertained. There were very few that caught my attention and that were fun to play more than once. Some of them were just plain irritating.
9.) A lot of the old problems from the first game that they solved in the second game are back in the third- From the first game one of the biggest problems for me was the little flaws, like how easy it was to get stuck, how sometimes you couldn’t see anything, and the rapid rate that stuff would eject itself from the Katamari. These problems and more I felt were solved in We <3 Katamari. But in Beautiful Katamari I felt like these things were reoccurring; many times I would get jammed in strange places that were nearly impossible to get out of or, when rolling behind things, it felt like the little clear-screen bubble would only appear half the time.
I do feel like I had a few more gripes but can’t remember them now, though if I do they’ll surely be added later.
This isn’t to say my feelings for Beautiful Katamari were all of hate. With the new console there was a smoothness that the other games had and the graphics were done really well. Some of the levels were pretty innovative (specifically the one where you rolled the King himself and collected memories for him and the level where you plug up the black hole). Other than that I can’t really count that many saving graces. I feel like for old fans of the game this was a let-down, but for anyone who hadn’t played the first two I’m sure it was a really fun and new kind of game-play for them.
If I had a 360 would I buy it? No doubt in my mind. There’s just a very likely chance that I’d be whipping out the PS2 when I was in a Katamari mood.
GAME TOTALS:
Katamari Damacy: 7/10 We <3 Katamari: 10/10 Beautiful Katamari: 4/10
P.S.- For some reason while writing this up I spelled the world ‘beautiful’ wrong almost every time I typed it, but had no problems at any point spelling Katamari. Huh.
