The sequel to Katamari Damacy, which may not be too widely known as it was only released in Japan. The demand however became great enough to warrant a sequel on general release. This is probably the weirdest game you will ever play, read on...

The game starts with the King of the Cosmos in his throne, talking to the Prince. The Prince is the character you control but as you meet more relatives through the game you can swap and change. This doesn’t make any difference to the gameplay but some are more brightly coloured than others! The King talks of his fans, who are people who pop up who say how much they loved Katamari Damacy and how much they love the King. As you wander around the Select Meadow, you meet these characters who ask favours of you. This is where it gets slightly weird!

The first mission you do is the tutorial, which is where you are introduced to your Katamari, which is a big ball. The object of the game is to roll objects up with this ball, starting small and working your way up. Think of rolling a snowball. The Katamari picks up small items and as it gets bigger, the bigger items you can collect. The controls use the analogue sticks and get a bit of getting used to, to roll the Katamari left you need to pull back on the left stick and forward with the right for example. Once you have the hang of it though it comes as second nature.

Missions range from, tidying up one fans son’s bedroom. This is basically collecting 100 items as fast as possible, starting with the pens on the floor and up to the bits of scalextric. Another involves how many flowers you can collect in the time limit, sometimes you have to make a certain size Katamari in the time limit. This can mean you end up with a Katamari big enough to roll up people, fences, tables, buildings….. The size you can pick up depends on the size of the Katamari. Some levels involve working your way to a certain size, with a time limit of up to 15 minutes on one level. Some involve you collecting certain items, such as anaimals from the zoo that will be friends with a lonely dog (I kid you not); or rolling a sumo wrestler around to collect food in order to fatten him up!

After each level the King will appear holding your Katamari, with the fan there also to comment on the size of it. After talking it over the Katamari is placed in the cosmos and becomes a planet. This is the key part of the game, you need to get them as big as possible as the end mission is to roll up the sun. Your planets need to be big enough in order to make your Katamari big enough to roll up the sun! Told you it was odd, but in a way addictive. You want to roll up as much as possible on your levels, some are incredibly quick allowing you to pick up anything which results in a frenzy of cackling and crazy laughter. At least it does in my case….

Featuring very bright colours, crazy music and some weird characters this is one of the oddest looking and sounding games that has come out in recent times, it is even alongside Killer 7, though more cute! The platform is very simple, but the challenge is to get them big enough to complete the final mission. You can go back and replay jobs, where the difficulty level goes up, and will allow you to make an even bigger Katamari. The replay value is there, which is unusual for a game such as this.

If you want to play a very different game, that doesn’t take over your life and you can just pick up and play then this is for you. The music is hilarious, the King very amusing and the characters you meet varied. It’s surprisingly addictive and you get more and more determined to roll up that damn sun the more you keep going! Give it a look, and remember, We Love Katamari!