Katamari Damacy is one of those games that’s so weird, chances are you’ve either played it or seen someone else play it enough to know all about its simplistic yet addictive nature. Rolling up ever-bigger items to create celestial bodies is even more fun than it sounds, and the Katamari series has seen some likely unexpected success because of it.

Now the Prince and King of All Cosmos are making the jump to “next-gen,” but with a surprisingly “last-gen” look and feel. But does that really matter?

Hail to the King

The King of All Cosmos is at it again, mistakenly clearing the night sky of everything of beauty, and leaving the diminutive Prince to clean up the mess. And to clean up, the Prince must begin rolling katamaris all over again, picking up anything and everything in his path in order to repopulate the night sky.

Beautiful Katamari doesn’t bring much new to the table that we haven’t already seen over the three previous versions of the game. The game play is pretty much exactly the same – move the Prince around using the controller’s two analog sticks, pick up items that are small enough, and eventually graduate to larger items as your katamari grows. Make a big enough katamari within the time limit and you get to move on.

The game is almost dastardly in its simplicity, yet manages to be as challenging as ever. In fact, this is probably the most challenging Katamari Damacy game thus far. For those who are seasons vets, Beautiful Katamari lets you take your skills online and battle it out for Katamari supremacy.

Katamari Party Dress

The biggest complaint being bandied about regarding Beautiful Katamari is that this doesn’t look like an Xbox 360 game. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a major visual difference between this game and We Love Katamari on the PlayStation 2. Yeah, the look hasn’t changed at all…but that’s OK.

Katamari Damacy is all about the block figures and simplistic graphics. And really, when you’re going for a simple look, the only way to “advance” it is likely to clutter it up a bit. So complaining about the geometry in Beautiful Katamari seems like a bit of a stretch.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Beautiful Katamari doesn’t reinvent the wheel – this is the fourth time we’ve seen what is basically the same game. While that might be pushing the whole thing a bit far, the simple fact of the matter is that this setup hasn’t yet worn thin. If there’s anything to complain about in Beautiful Katamari, it’s that vets will likely tear through the game in a matter of hours. Still, there’ll always be the online multiplayer aspect to keep them going.

Review by: Greg Stewart
Video Produced by: Tim Jennings