Me And My Katamari – PSP – Review

Me and My Katamari opens with the King of All Cosmos once again
frolicking around and accidentally destroying all sorts of stuff. While resting
on Earth from his previous exertions, putting the stars and planets back in the
sky, the King manages to whip up a tidal wave that wipes out an entire island
chain. This act leaves many animals homeless and they petition the Prince to ask
the King for assistance on their behalf. As usual the King puts his son to work
rolling a Katamari. The King then magically creates an island for the animals
from the Prince’s creation.

What exactly is a Katamari? Honestly I’m not really sure what it
is, but it looks like a round ball covered in bumps. So what do you do with it?
The King sends the Prince and a Katamari to an area and then sets a time limit
for rolling and a desired Katamari size. For example, the Prince may start with
a Katamari that is one meter across that he must expand to five meters in less
than six minutes. To grow the Katamari the Prince must roll the Katamari and
pick up the items that litter the area. If an item is smaller than the Katamari
it will stick to it. By rolling up lots of items onto the Katamari, the Katamari
grows and the Prince can roll up larger items. If the Prince rolls up enough
objects to reach the desired size under the time limit the King rewards the
Prince by converting the Katamari into an island home for the Prince’s animal
friends.

The
hallmark of the Katamari series has been the intuitiveness of the control setup.
Anybody can pick up a Dual Shock controller and have the Prince zooming around
via the analog sticks in no time on the PS2. Unfortunately, the PSP only has one
analog nub so the developers at Namco had to compromise. Rolling the Katamari
requires use of the D-pad, the face buttons, and the shoulder triggers at the
same time. To roll forward you’ll push up combined with the triangle button.
Moving right or left is accomplished via right plus circle and left plus square.
Rolling backwards is done by pushing down and X. The triggers allow the Prince
to make a slow turn in the appropriate direction. The revised control setup
takes a bit of the magic away but it’s the closest you’ll get to the original
setup with the PSP’s controls.

Even though the focus has been moved to fixing up Earth instead
outer space, Me and My Katamari boasts many of the features found in the PS2
games. The King has left presents for the Prince in every level once again.
After finding a present it can be equipped on the Prince to change his look. The
Royal Cousins introduced in We “Heart” Katamari also return. During the Prince’s
adventures he’ll bump into his cousins from time to time. If he can roll them up
with the Katamari they become selectable characters and can be sent to roll the
Katamari while the Prince takes a well-deserved break.

As each game before it has, Me and My Katamari brings a new
feature to the series. For the first time players can participate in wireless
multiplayer Katamari battles. Supporting up to four players on an ad-hoc
network, no Internet play unfortunately, the multiplayer portion of the game
let’s players battle for points by rolling up items with their Katamari. Every
item in the area has a different point value and the player with the most points
wins when time runs out. Along with the multiplayer battles, players can also
trade objects in their collection and presents while wirelessly connected.

Gameplay: 7.2

It’s
classic Katamari action without the classic controls. While the PSP control
scheme is serviceable it takes some getting used to. If you’ve already played
both PS2 games to death, the game play on the PSP is more of the same. Rolling
the Katamari is still a lot of fun but the novelty is starting to wear off just
a bit.

Graphics: 7.0

Me and
My Katamari’s presentation is right on par with the console titles, but the
actual gameplay graphics take a bit of a hit. Gameplay still features the blocky
art style of the PS2 games. Unfortunately the lower resolution means lots of
jagged edges that take away from the crisp and clean style of the original.
Besides the jaggies, the game also has occasional pop-in issues and brief
framerate hiccups.

Sound: 9.5

Naa,
nanananana na na Na na Na na na na… Now it’s stuck in your head too! The quirky
music featured in Katamari titles is one of the cornerstones of the series. Fans
will be happy to hear that Me and My Katamari features a whole list of music
tracks from it’s PS2 brethren along with a few new tunes.

Difficulty:
Easy/Medium

After getting through the initial learning curve with the revamped PSP controls,
Me and My Katamari is relatively easy to finish. The real challenge comes from
trying to better your scores to win the King of All Cosmos’s approval.

Concept: 9.1
Me and My
Katamari brings the unique game play of the Katamari Damacy series to a handheld
system. Instead of a being a port of the PS2 game, it’s a brand new adventure
for everyone’s favorite dysfunctional royal family. Players will assist the
Prince in rolling up Katamari’s that can be used to rebuild islands for animals
that were displaced after the King’s antics.

Multiplayer: 6.8

Wireless play for four is
the name of the game. While it’s great to have more than two players in
multiplayer for the first time, there are no options beyond the standard “roll
for points” game mode. The ability to trade presents and objects is a nice
touch, but overall the wireless play is lacking compared to the single player
experience.

Overall: 8.1

I have a funny feeling hardcore fans of the Prince are going to dismiss this
game simply because of the control scheme. I’d like to assure those fans that
while it is a bit awkward at first; having a handheld Katamari game outweighs
the controls compromise. While Me and My Katamari plays identically to its
predecessors the ability to roll things up while you’re on the go makes up for
the lack of change in the basic gameplay. It’s nice to have a PSP title that,
while borrowing from its PS2 roots, isn’t a straight port.