G-pinions

Unlike Nick, I did not require a break from this amazing game. In fact, I played the game straight through, from beginning to end, in one sitting. And, I would have kept playing, long after winning the game for the very first time, if I did not have an early class in the morning. As good as this generation of gaming has been, Katamari Damacy is the first game I played straight through to the end. Coincidentally, it is also the game that most closely represents old school gameplay on a next generation system.

This game is on the PS2 and not the SNES or Intellivision only because the developers didn't think of the idea until now. This game could be on any system, even the Virtual Boy, and still be every bit as good as this offering. The game is so simplistic it's shocking that someone did not come up with this idea before hand. You roll a ball around collecting various objects. The bigger you are, the bigger the objects you can pick up are. This creates the perfect reward system for progress in the game, always making you keep playing.

For instance, in the first level you see mice running around. Now, at only 1 CM high, there is no way you will be able to catch these mice. After walking around for a minute, grabbing small objects like dice and buttons, you can grow large enough to catch those mice. Granted, navigating game worlds in this way has existed for years and years. Think about the Zelda series. You can see that ledge up there, but only later, when you get the hookshot, can you get up there.

But the immediate reward of Katamari Damacy, knowing with just a minute more of playing you can get that object you want, makes the game so addicting it's almost impossible to put down.

I have been hyped for this game for months now. But, I never actually expected it to be this good. I was just hoping for an off beat Japanese title that I could laugh at and have some fun. What Katamari does with it's simple gameplay is the very reason I got into gaming in first place. The game doesn't rely on fancy graphics or a silly gimmick to make the game fun. It just has simple, structured gameplay that urges players to keep playing through the levels because it is just so much fun.

The sense of accomplishment is ridiculous. Now I know how professional opera singers feel. In one level, I grew from 50CM big to over 700 Meters across. In the span of only 25 minutes, I went from not being able to pick up small beach balls to grabbing storm clouds right out of the sky. The growth is incredibly fun. From trying desperately to get big enough to pick up people, to shouting with glee when you can finally pick up cars, to sitting their, slack jawed, as you pluck an entire football stadium from the ground, the game is just incredibly fun.

When I go home today, I'm probably going to start the game up again and play through the entire adventure one more time. The game does a great job of giving you different tasks as well. Half of the game just has the goal of growing to a certain size within the time limit. The other half has you building constelations from scratch, with the goal of catching only certain objects. So, when you build Cancer you are put in a world populated by hundreds of crabs and need to collect as many as you can.

My favorite of these was Virgo. Yes, Virgo the Virgin. A mode where you have to pick up young girls. Hilarious. Crashing a girlie wrestling match and snatching up all the female spectators and participants, or dropping in on a class room, rolling up the young girls and saving the older teacher for last. This game offers hilarity while you are having fun with the awesome gameplay. A rare combination.

Katamari Damacy just has an amazing sense of humor. When you fail a mission (which will happen often, this game isn't easy) your father looks down at you, rain pouring on your failure head, and dishes out some of the harshest critisism ever. It's along the lines of "I'm not mad, I'm disappointed" except he is bloody furious at you, and wishes he had a better son. So cruel that, after recieving the treatment one time, you will feel compelled to skip it the next time for fear of breaking out in tears in real life.

I could probably talk about this game for a lot longer but I know if I keep thinking about this game I will race home to play it now, skipping my next class and failing the test.