Yay!
I first heard Steve's review about a year ago, but didn't give it much thought afterward because I didn't own a PS2. When it comes to games, I'm a PC guy all the way. But I've been in the market for a PS2 for a little longer than a year since my wife picked up a pack with
Dance Dance Revolution: DDRmax and two dance mats at Sam's Club, at my suggestion that it could serve as a form of exercise. I finally picked up a used PS2 last month for my birthday and was reminded of
Katamari Damacy while looking through my old Escape Pod directory; I remembered thinking the concept sounded interesting so I began searching in earnest for it. I had just about been reduced to ordering it from an Amazon seller, but lucked into a local copy last Saturday.
Wow. It's every bit as fun as I expected. The kind of game that could only come out of the same country that gave us
Urusei Yatsura and
Urotsukidouji. Totally surreal weirdness. I love how the police in the "world" level shoot at the katamari as it rolls ominously toward them.
I wonder at the purpose of the "presents" though; they seem to affect the gameplay not a bit (except for the camera which can be used to take screenshots).
To dispute Steve's review a little bit, I didn't really see the King of All Cosmos as being stoned (though the game's backstory
does have him destroying the sky in a drunken bender) ... mostly his conduct in the game seems self-absorbed and condescending. And I just can't seem to please him in the "make Cygnus" or "Make Pisces" stages.
I love this game though. It's easily the prize piece in my meager PS2 game collection now (the rest being GTA:Vice City, Gran Turismo 3, and the aforementioned DDR:Max). Must go play more now; bye.
[edit]
My wife watched me play it just to see what I've been on about these past two or three weeks, and pronounced: "Seems to me you'd have to smoke a lot of pot to think this game is really fun. But then of course you probably wouldn't be able to play it very well."
Well, I haven't smoked up in years, and I still think it's really fun.