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GBL337's We Love Katamari (PS2)
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| [February 9, 2007 03:03:35 PM]
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Okay, finished playing a bunchload more of this game, and here's my promised analysis of the atmosphere.
I don't advocate use of controlled substances, but lemme tell you--this is one of those games that just seems like it was meant to be played under the influence of cannabis or LSD...it's THAT psychedelic.
With "royal" rainbows transporting you to areas where dogs wear t-shirts and you roll up a sumo wrestler so he gets fat, this game is not your normal game at all. I found myself asking "Why is that.....oh bloody it all, I won't question this." when it came to the various elements of the levels, or the way the King of All Cosmos speaks in a collective reference or recounts his journey to becoming King, or why he loves his chin. It's just FUN.
I love this game for that reason--it's just plain fun, and it has something resembling a storyline this time--how the King of All Cosmos went from a half-pint Prince who couldn't do anything right into the flamboyant, cryptically talkative, star-creating-and-destroying King that we have grown to, er, love(?)
Oh, another thing--the multiplayer was fun (We spent awhile figuring it out) but it got old rather quickly--the objective system reduced the crazy fun of just collecting more stuff than your opponent.
Really, I think this is all I can really say about it...if anyone wants me to say anything else, just say so in a comment.
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| [February 9, 2007 02:08:06 AM]
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Well, in hindsight, I should have taken more breaks in the middle of this game than playing it for an hour solid. BAAAAD idea...
The psychedelic masterpiece that was Katamari Damacy got its rebirth in We Love Katamari, and true to the title, I love the game because of its gameplay elements.
Normally, I am one of those gamers who would be content to watching an "interactive movie" style game with in-depth story, beautifully designed and multi-dimensional characters, etc, with very little real gameplay. Games like We Love Katamari challenge me to break out of that norm with its quirky, challenging and horribly addicting gameplay.
It's amazing that such a simple and unassuming concept--roll around stuff into a growing ball in a time limit--could grow into such a phenomenon. I'm not done with the game, but I'll attempt to relate what I've played so far, and look at it from a more professionally-oriented standpoint.
The level design is perhaps one of my more favorite element of the game. The atmosphere of the game is quirky, funny, seemingly random, and psychedelic at times, so it catches you off-guard at how carefully designed each level was.
The people who made the game really knew what they were doing by way of placing the right object in the right place at the right time to maximize challenge and minimizing frustration. This allows the gamer to think of multiple ways of achieving the goal of the level and maximizing replayability.
The controls for We Love Katamari are much more forgiving than KD, and for that I am thankful--or maybe it's because I've finally risen above the learning curve of how to accurately and effectively manipulate the dual analog sticks. It's made it less frustrating than its predecessor and thus successful from a designer's standpoint.
I'll talk about the tone, mood, and atmosphere of the game next post--it deserves its own post...
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GBL337's We Love Katamari (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Friday 2 February, 2007
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