Beautiful Katamari review

The sticky ball-rolling must-playis as quirky, charming, and fun as it's ever been... mostly because it hasn't changed a bit

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GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Instantly compelling gameplay

  • +

    Music and King both still nuts

  • +

    Online versus competitions

Cons

  • -

    Almost no evolution

  • -

    Co-op mode still not right

  • -

    360 controller can be tricky

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Oct 19, 2007

The first thing we noticed upon firing up Beautiful Katamari was that we were constantly steering our ever-expanding sticky ball straight sideways into the wall. Because the analog sticks on the Xbox 360 are offset, instead of being side-by-side as they are on a PS2 controller, you may need a few minutes to adapt before you can guide your adhesive sphere properly.

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The second thing we realized was that, despite the move to fully HD graphics, it looks, feels, sounds, and plays exactly the same. Four games in, this series has hardly evolved at all.

An hour later, the final revelation dawned upon us: we didn't care. We're still as hooked as ever on this snowball-like, "make the ball bigger by running stuff over" quest.

The big appeal is, as always, the game's unique style: an intoxicating blend of innocently eager charm, quirky music, simple-to-grasp gameplay, and downright weirdness. This time, your father, the crazy-talking King of All Cosmos, hit a tennis ball so hard that it punched a hole in the sky. That hole quickly swelled into a black hole that swallowed up the planet upon which you were vacationing and also several nearby stars, planets and other interstellar objects. It's probably best not to analyze the astrophysics of this situation - after all, we are talking about a dude with a tootsie roll-shaped head. But this is obviously a problem.

So, as usual, it falls to you, the Prince, to head to Earth and drive your magically adhesive katamari around with your controller's two analog sticks. There, you'll roll up bulging globes of whatever items the King requests, from coins to clouds, to make new stars, moons, and planets.

Eric Bratcher
Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.