Review: Katamari Damacy Reroll

Obligatory Limp Bizkit Lyric!

Title: Katamari Damacy Reroll
Platform: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 (reviewed)
Developer: Monkeycraft
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Release date: Out now
Tl;dr: Ever wondered what it’d be like to roll up the world?
Price: Â£25/$30
Family Focus?: Click here for more information

I remember the first time I saw Katamari, I just started college and I met one of my best friends to this day and I went over to his house and he asked if I’d ever played Katamari Damacy? I looked at him with a puzzled expression as he began humming the theme. At the time, I was only really into Japanese action and RPG titles, this was peak weeaboo for me, however, I had never heard of Katamari. He started playing it and didn’t understand what I was seeing but it looked like so much fun! Fast forward twelve years and I still don’t understand what I’m seeing but I like it.

Katamari Damacy Reroll follows the Prince, the son of The King of All Cosmos, the latter whom whilst in a drunken state accidentally wipes out all the stars, the Earth’s Moon, and other celestial entities with the exception of Earth itself. So, this is where The King fixes his mess, right? Wrong! He sends his son, the Prince, off to Earth with a Katamari, a ball-like object that sticks to stuff around the same size as it, to roll stuff up to rebirth the universe. I told you this game was weird!

The game opens with a nice tutorial that tried to ease you into the controls that consist of using the analog sticks to control the Prince and his Katamari. Essentially, you push both sticks forward to go straight forward, both sticks back to reverse, and to turn you need to move just one stick. There are other combinations but it’s hurting my brain just trying to remember those controls, without actually playing the game. The game does take a while to get used as I spent most of my early gameplay running around with the camera at an awkward angle.

Now, the core gameplay of Katamari is to roll up as many things as possible. You enter each stage with a time limit and a goal of how big you must make your Katamari, the hardest part is getting started as you can only pick up small objects which obviously takes time but as you grow your Katamari you can grab larger objects and if you reach your diameter goal with time still on the clock, you can keep going to aim for or beat a high score.

Honestly, this game is crazy! At one point, I was rolling up cats and dogs… I would’ve felt bad but unfortunately for them, I was having too much fun. Even though Katamari Damacy Reroll is set in this weird alternative universe, the game still abides by our physics with hills being a struggle to ascend or if you go down an incline you’ll pick up crazy speed and if you’re not careful you can collide with bigger objects and lose some of the stuff you’ve rolled up on your Katamari.

Overall, Katamari Damacy Reroll is a fun and enjoyable game with the remaster polishing this PS2 title to look more modern in a wacky and wonderful way. I’d highly recommend it – even as the perfect time killer as you wait for the next big game title or maybe something to take your mind off not getting that next-gen console. Seriously, go on your consoles storefront and get this game, you won’t be disappointed.