7.3/10 – 4 hours
1/15/2024
A long awaited remaster of a sequel in a super underrated franchise, with a smidgen of bonus content. The spark of the original is weaker, but still has the same qualities that I love about Katamari. Funny, charming, bizarre in a very Japanese way, and packed with a banger soundtrack.
Katamari games are usually pretty small so there isn’t much to dive into, but I’ll run through this based on its continuity from the first title. After the release of Katamari Damacy, the in-universe populace is obsessed with the game and want the Prince and King of All Cosmos to roll up things for them, and use these to repopulate the sky with planets. The UI is designed around this, with you walking around a park taking requests rather than running around the globe. As you progress and find the Prince’s secret goofy cousins in the levels, you can run right into them as they populate the level select screen. I love goofy touches like this. You can even play as these abominations, which is fun too. I also love The King’s portrayal: always contradicting his selfish thoughts at the drop of a hat when he hears praise about himself. A basic yet entertaining quip.
The level design itself is a little more varied which is fun. Instead of always needing to reach a certain diameter, you can grow your katamari with certain modifiers in play, such as perpetual motion around a race track, exploring a school, or collecting fireflies to brighten the map. Fun new ideas that vary the gameplay a bit. This remaster also includes some bonus content surrounding the King’s past, with a small batch of levels surrounding his training to become the next king, and meeting the Queen. They didn’t feel too special or substantial, but were still fun to play. Nothing too extraordinary.
The music itself is still top notch, my favorites include, Baby Universe, Houston, and Everlasting Love. Namco never skimps on the music, and they even let you play any song at any time after hearing it.
We Love Katamari as a whole is a fun game in the same vein as Damacy, but doesn’t do too much to step it up. There are some fun new ideas and new music, but there wasn’t much that drove the game forward. It was just…more Katamari. That isn’t a problem, Katamari is fun, but I was hoping there’d be a bit more of a jump.
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