Experience the new high-definition, next generation sights and sounds of Beautiful Katamari as the Prince takes on a new high-rolling adventure, with his famous cousins in tow, to save the Katamari universe once again after the King of All Cosmos has a very un-royal and unfortunate accident. As usual, the King of All Cosmos demands the service of his son, the Prince, to roll anything and everything up into massive clumps and set things right, bringing harmony once again to the Katamari Cosmos. To keep his son inspired, the King of All Cosmos will provide another fresh and memorable soundtrack that will have players moving and grooving to the beat as they roll through the absurd, yet wonderful world of Beautiful Katamari.
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A completely fine, functional Katamari game. If you own a modern console, just buy the remasters of the first two games. If you already played those and want a new Katamari summer fix, this is a totally fine way to get that.
Really, the only problem with Beautiful Katamari is that it reuses so much from previous entries that it felt less like a new game and more like an opportunity to replay classic Katamari with some new requests.
But there's some great music, a few silly character moments with the King, a good couple of power trip levels to close things out, you know. Like I said, it's totally fine Katamari!
It makes me a bit sad though that if you really think about it, the Katamari franchise is two games and a bunch of half-baked (maybe three-quarters baked sometimes...) spinoffs. I really want a Crash Bandicoot 4/Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble-type sequel for Katamari. There's a lot you could do with this franchise (let alone the concept of rolling things up) and no one is really doing it. Hopefully the remakes are a step toward this goal.
Really, the only problem with Beautiful Katamari is that it reuses so much from previous entries that it felt less like a new game and more like an opportunity to replay classic Katamari with some new requests.
But there's some great music, a few silly character moments with the King, a good couple of power trip levels to close things out, you know. Like I said, it's totally fine Katamari!
It makes me a bit sad though that if you really think about it, the Katamari franchise is two games and a bunch of half-baked (maybe three-quarters baked sometimes...) spinoffs. I really want a Crash Bandicoot 4/Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble-type sequel for Katamari. There's a lot you could do with this franchise (let alone the concept of rolling things up) and no one is really doing it. Hopefully the remakes are a step toward this goal.
It's an alright game. Certainly an improvement over the previous game, but still can't reach the greatness and feel of the first two entries.
This game certainly "raises the stakes" of the previous entries, with The King accidentally opening a black hole, sucking up many things across space. So, in addition to making the usual stars, the Katamari are also used to create planets, all in order to eventually plug the black hole entirely. This all culminates in the final level of the game, which is easily the best part of the whole thing.
Gameplay is largely unchanged, but my problems with it stem from the lack of level variety and a problem that also affected Me & My, that being the lackluster level design. Thankfully this game isn't on a handheld, and so you can actually use 2 sticks to control it, as well as actually containing full levels and not switching up the stage countless times! But, just like that game, growing bigger loses its charm once you get super big faster, and levels ramp up way quicker, and you have less time to complete them. This makes going through the levels stressful, especially if you're trying to get all the cousins and presents sprinkled across every level. At least this game carries that Katamari charm that I felt was missing after the creator left/after the second entry. And, again, that final level is amazing, so the game isn't terrible or even medicore, but just good or alright. Probably alright, considering the end.
Another thing I'm grateful for is this game's music, as the last game had few new tracks, thankfully this game does, and they're just as good as what I expect from this series. I have to notice the lack of male singers, though. I wonder what was up with that.
Overall, I feel kind of hesitant to give this game 3.5 stars, as I found most of the game just OK until the end, but that last level (it's seriously really good), and also the alright DLC, as well as the banging soundtrack I think makes the game land that spot. It's lacking level design may make it less desirable than the first two titles, but it's still probably worth checking out if you like Katamari.
This game certainly "raises the stakes" of the previous entries, with The King accidentally opening a black hole, sucking up many things across space. So, in addition to making the usual stars, the Katamari are also used to create planets, all in order to eventually plug the black hole entirely. This all culminates in the final level of the game, which is easily the best part of the whole thing.
Gameplay is largely unchanged, but my problems with it stem from the lack of level variety and a problem that also affected Me & My, that being the lackluster level design. Thankfully this game isn't on a handheld, and so you can actually use 2 sticks to control it, as well as actually containing full levels and not switching up the stage countless times! But, just like that game, growing bigger loses its charm once you get super big faster, and levels ramp up way quicker, and you have less time to complete them. This makes going through the levels stressful, especially if you're trying to get all the cousins and presents sprinkled across every level. At least this game carries that Katamari charm that I felt was missing after the creator left/after the second entry. And, again, that final level is amazing, so the game isn't terrible or even medicore, but just good or alright. Probably alright, considering the end.
Another thing I'm grateful for is this game's music, as the last game had few new tracks, thankfully this game does, and they're just as good as what I expect from this series. I have to notice the lack of male singers, though. I wonder what was up with that.
Overall, I feel kind of hesitant to give this game 3.5 stars, as I found most of the game just OK until the end, but that last level (it's seriously really good), and also the alright DLC, as well as the banging soundtrack I think makes the game land that spot. It's lacking level design may make it less desirable than the first two titles, but it's still probably worth checking out if you like Katamari.
Spectacular. What a game.
ROLL UP THE WORLD!
AHAHHAHAHHAHAHHA!!!
AHAHHAHAHHAHAHHA!!!
would be a lower score if katamari wasn't my favorite franchise. stellar ost and while the gameplay isn't nearly as innovative in terms of what wlk brang to the table, it does a good enough job to deliver more katamari and still feel fresh. the fact that there's dlc and it's required for 100% is pure evil. also very middling performance that's way below what you'd expect for the 360.
This was one of my first Xbox 360 games, but a frustrating temperature-based level made me put it down for 16 years. “Maybe it won’t be as bad now that I’ve beaten the first two games and I'm better at Katamari,” I thought. Nope! Still an absolutely dogshit level. But also, turns out the whole game is only like two hours long if you don’t care about high scores and optional content lmao. It’s still Katamari, so it’s still fun - the final level in particular, which seamlessly takes you from ground level all the way to space, feels like a logical endpoint for the series - but beyond that this was clearly a series suffering from the departure of its creator. It just doesn’t have the same soul.