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Tuesday 19 February, 2008
Entry #2
GAMEPLAY
As the game progresses, the gameplay does not change much but the stages get progressively larger. I have moved on from small items like pens paperclips and have started to pick up animals and cars. As the prince creates more and more planets, a parallel story involving the Hoshino family is shown through cutscenes that show the effects of the prince's efforts to restore the stars. It's interesting to see how each katamari rolled effects the lives of this family.
In addition to the missions that require the prince to get the katamari to a target size, there are levels that require the prince to roll up a certain number of a particular item to create constellations. For example, one level requires the player to roll up a number of crabs to create the constellation Cancer. This offers a little more variety in gameplay but is still essentially the same thing, for better or for worse.
There is also a very medeocre multiplayer mode that involves two players facing off against each other to create the bigger katamari. An interesting feature implemented in the game is the fact that if one player is leading the other player in katamari size by a substantial amount, he can roll up the other player and end the match. Although this may be entertaining for a few matches, it does not have the same flare that the single player missions have and quickly loses its entertainment value.
DESIGN
Katamari Damacy is one of the few games that developers have made that take a huge risk in creating something truly unique. Before katamari, there has not been a game that utilizes the concept of rolling a ball to pick up objects of increasing sizes. The developers found a way to make an event that sounds incredibly mundane and succeeded to create a fun and visually pleasing game.
In addition to the unique gameplay of the game, Katamari also has a very distinct visual style. The game models are very simple and blocky and are cartoonish and lack details. This creates a style that stands out in a world of games emphasizing realistic graphics. With the relatively limited processing power available on the Playstation 2, this was an excellent choice and was implemented extremely well.
Another part of this game that stood out to me was the unique soundtrack. It has a perfect blend of traditional video game music with heavy jazz and samba influences. The game has countless memorable audio tracks that are both catchy and easy on the ears.
The level design in Katamari was also well thought out. Each level usually consists of various zones that are barricaded by an object that can only be bypassed and rolled when the katamari reaches a certain diameter. When that occurs, a new area, usually filled with larger items to roll, is available to the player. This method of using barricades also teaches the player the progression of items that a katamari is capable of rolling as the size increases.
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