What began as a quirky cult hit has now grown into a big franchise, as the Katamari series continues to expand just like its trademark sticky-ball. After a recent appearance on 360 in Beautiful Katamari, the Prince and King of All Cosmos are coming back to a Sony platform in the PS3-exclusive Katatmari Forever.

The story centers around the King getting knocked on the head by an errant star, which obviously causes amnesia. While he's out of commission, the Prince and his fellow royalty build a new robotic king to take over. Unfortunately, the android immediately loses control and starts messing up the galaxy. So now you need to help the original King regain his memories, which involves playing through classic levels from previous Katamari games.

Don't think this is just a lazy remake where you go through the motions in tired old areas, though. Some new features have been added to change things up. First of all, all the levels have been remade to take advantage of the graphical upgrade from PS2 to PS3, and run in 1080p for those with the TV to take advantage of it. Also, as you play through it, you’ll unlock multiple screen filters, such as making everything look wooden, to make the levels look different.

It isn't all looks, as changes were done to the gameplay too. Taking advantage of the PS3’s Sixaxis capabilities, jerking the controller up quickly gets the Prince to jump, as the ball bounces off the ground (although lazier players can also do this with the shoulder buttons). Additionally, there’s King Fever mode; once the gauge fills as you pick up items, you enter King Fever and will attract all the items you could roll up within a certain radius, leading to very quick growth.

Though there are some new levels - including one where you get the ball wet and roll it on dirt to grow plants - this is meant more as tribute to games past. Any of the Sony faithful who missed out on this series before can finally give the ball a spin - and if you’re already a fan, this could bring your memories of good times back  from their space-induced haze. We’ll know for sure when the game arrives this fall.

Jun 30, 2009