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Wednesday 20 February, 2008
Session #2
Game Play: In my second session of playing Katamari Damacy I was still very engaged in the game. The story still made sense and some new story elements were added in, specifically the creation of constellations by gathering specific items with the katamari. This gave another dimension to rolling your ball around because you have to target crabs or bears, etc. I do not understand the story about the father going to a different location at the beginning of every level, telling you that you should go there, and having a gift for you that he lost. That part of the story does not flow well with the game. The cut scenes of the family going on a trip does make sense and flows better with the overall story of the game. The story of the father and prince was stagnant during my second session. The story of the family continued but the king of the galaxy did not have much new going on.
I became somewhat frustrated after having to play level seven three times because I could not get my katamari large enough, fast enough. It was still fun at this point and very challenging but my emotional state was not quite as good as at the beginning of play.
Design: Katamari Damacy is innovative in several ways. First, the premise and goal of the game are very novel. Rolling a ball around and making it larger does not sound like fun but, in fact, it is very fun and amusing when presented to the player in the game.
The controls are also interesting and add to the overall gaming experience. They are simple but put he player in almost complete control. This control over the ball is added exemplified through level design. The levels are relatively open space with no path that the player is forced down. Almost every thing visible can be rolled onto through a clever system of ramps made of ordinary objects. This makes the levels look as if they are not design heavy but actually must have taken a lot of thought to make every surface so playable. The overall level design makes the game feel like an “open world” and to some degree, it is. The designers have limited movement in some places by making steps too large to get over until your katamari is of a large enough size. In this way they limit you but make it feel like you are not limited.
The gameworld in Katamari Damacy is a cross between very ordinary places like the home, the town, and the world, with very wacky objects and character. It is not meant to be serious but a little bit humorous. I think this is tied in with the fact that all of these wacky items get rolled up in a strange shaped ball. It is funny to see a penguin, a bikini girl, pineapples, and a sumo wrestler all next to each other in a huge glob and this adds to the entertainment of the game.
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