G-pinions

E3 gave me a small taste of the greatness to come of We Love Katamari, but I got to sink my teeth in a bit further yesterday when I spent some solid hands-on time with the import version. I didn't want to see too much, as the King's brilliant dialogue is half the fun and I didn't want the no doubt epic story too spoiled for me; but then again, I'm only human, and it's another Katamari game. First off, it should be known that this isn't an evolution in gameplay design in any regard - outside of the much more varied level design and experimentation, the core mechanics of rolling up junk are exactly the same. The goals are definitely more interesting, but again, it plays the same. An indoor house level which I played felt identical to the opening level of the first game, in fact. That's fine though, as the gameplay was brilliant to begin with - the new levels, such as the zoo and underwater areas that I played, are where the sequel shines. The zoo level has you rolling up all sorts of critters, nearly any animal imaginable. Flamingos try frantically to fly away from your rolling, twitching mass of creatures while tigers roar with futility as they're consumed. And, as promised, the background song is comprised of animals singing a medley of tunes from the first game. The underwater stage gives the Katamari slightly different physics, allowing you to careen gently past schools of piranha while searching for that elusive cuttlefish.



Everything is as charming and compelling as it's ever been, even in Japanese. The new intro and menu screen are great as well (the originals are ever so slightly more memorable), and the music is just as catchy once you get into it. And what of multiplayer? Well, co-op is a hair disappointing, even if it succeeds nobly at it's purpose - two players control the Katamari at once, basically forcing cooperation and communication to get anything accomplished. It's not as hard as it sounds (it's perhaps a little too easy actually), and feels almost the same as playing by yourself. Versus is fantastic now though, as the levels are much more full and you can actually be strategic about your paths, not just get the most stuff as quickly as possible. So overall, it's more of the same, but that's not such a bad thing - now I'm just waiting for a photo-realistic Katamari3 on the PS3. How creepy and terrifying would that be?

I somehow missed Genji at E3, probably because it didn't look much different or any better than Onimusha 4. I played a level or two in the same import-happy session as WLK, and they were fairly enjoyable. The combat seems somewhat simplistic, but the environments are stunningly lush and it seems to have a good story and setting going for it, even if it was hard to bear an untranslatable cutscene every thirty seconds. I guess Sony saw something extra-special in it since they're publishing it (at least they did in Japan, I'm too lazy/indifferent to look up the publisher here right now), and I can definitely see some potential in it. Hopefully everything gets tied together well when it comes over here.

Ha! Almost forgot I played Rumble Roses. It's one of those games you just have to play if it's available, just out of the sheer absurdity of it. I mean, I'm all for games like that existing - it might be incredibly specific and somewhat offensive, but hey, it's something different. Why can't games have the variance of the movie industry? Anyhow, the gameplay and control and all that is a bit sloppy, but the ladies are luscious and it very much accomplishes it's purpose. Beating your pal's foxy broad about the face with your foxy broad is a feat of entertainment I think everyone can appreciate.

Finally, Data and I began a potentially lifelong quest to finish Aquaman on Xbox. We played through the first three or four missions, and hilarity did indeed ensue. Crapshaith from to back, from the inexplicably horrid cutscenes made of comic pages using still real-time character models (which are awful in themselves) instead of drawings, to the now-famous "press the left trigger to impale your enemy with a dolphin, shark or hammerhead shark' move, to the mission where you grabs bombs off of underwater buildings, only to be able to throw them right back to explode on said building without repercussion. Anyhow, it was bad, but fun bad. I look forward to more, kind of like that one cheese that I like that smells like socks and tastes like socks but keeps me coming back for more.