It never stops rolling.
Me & My Katamari was the first handheld version of the Katamari series. Made from the ground-up for the PSP,
Me & My Katamari is a game that rises above its limitations to become even better than the first, and here's why.
The King of all Cosmos, alongside his Queen and his son, the Prince, is on vacation, but as it usually is with the King, he manages to destroy all the tropical Islands, so now he sends his son to
rebuild the many different Islands. Of course, that's as
easy as rolling a Katamari and gathering as much stuff as possible, so that the King can turn it into an Island with his powers.
The first hurdle you had to jump on the PS2 version were the controls, that hurdle is back, but this time around it's a bit
higher. To roll the Katamari you must use either the analog nub or the directional pads in
conjunction with the four face buttons on the PSP. Getting used to them will get a while, and even when you get the hang of them, they don't feel as good as the PS2 version, mind you, they are not terrible by any means and they are more than functional, but
nothing beats two analog sticks.
The rest of the game plays the same,
gather up stuff, by rolling over it, and get your Katamari bigger, so that you can roll bigger stuff, before the time runs out, do especially good and you'll unlock the "Eternal" stages, which allow you to play without a time limit, and on your travels you'll come around presents, which unlock accessories, and cousins, which, well, unlock
them. This time around you can play and customize the different cousins, they all play the same, but it's a nice touch, the Yellow cousins are the
best! Oh, and beating the game unlocks a 2D mini-level of Katamari, very
cool.
The first game in the series sometimes had special stars, that required you getting the biggest or a certain object or the like, these are
gone, The animals make ask you to gather "cold", "cool", "cute" or even "shiny" stuff, but at the end of the level, the only thing that really matters for your score is how
big your Katamari got. Frankly, I wouldn't have it
any other way, these is just the
purest Katamari experience, and since it's supposed to be played on the go, you don't have to think much about it, just roll your Katamari and gather stuff! The game has about 5 different stages, which correspond to the
size of the Katamari, but depending on the time of the day said 'stage' takes part, is which objects will be available and where. All in all, there's more stages than on the first Katamari game, they are bigger and more
fun to explore.
The game looks
really good, I'd say about as good as the first game, but the frame-rate can
suffer a bit at times. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing, featuring the songs from the first game, plus a couple of
new ones. The soundtrack is as quirky and
bedazzlingly hypnotic, I found myself humming the theme song more than once.
I do think that it's
slightly superior to the first game. The controls aren't as precise, and don't feel as good, but that's the PSP's
fault. There's more levels than on the first Katamari, and they got a bit more
creative this time around, and it has little enhancements like playing as the different cousins, even if they are the same as the Prince, or letting you
pick which song will play on each level. I also liked that the more involved challenges from the first game are gone, they add
variety and are better for a Console game, but if I wanna have Katamari on the go, this is how I want it.
8.5 out of 10
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