disco's Katamari Forever review

I was with most of the review, but I lost interest in the last three paragraphs. Maybe that's just me, I'm beginning to wonder about my attention span these days, grad school is definitely challenging it with some of the dryer readings... but I digress.

I feel this reviews makes some very strong points and gave me a really good sense of what the game would be like... but I didn't walk away feeling the same way you did. As a Katamari fan, the thought that all the levels were rehashes seemed really sketchy to me from a developer's standpoint. Certainly it's hard to justify a $60 price tag with rehashed levels. I know you try to sell us on the game in the last paragraph but it's not working for me. Every point you make you challenge with another point.

You say the game is all about nostalgia... but then you point out they didn't include the original music. You say there's a lot of stuff to do on the side, but then you say there isn't any online multiplayer or really much content outside of what we've already seen.

Perhaps most confusingly, though, you say that the game is nothing new but then say you can roll around the cosmos picking up planets. That is distinctly new. I feel like you should've cut this review down a lot and talked more about that. You get it right at the beginning: what anyone wants out of a Katamari game is the ability to get huge and pick up crazy shit. So why don't you talk more about how huge you can get? Just a brief mention doesn't seem to cut it. Similarly, what are these new levels you mention? What are they like?

These are the questions I come away from the review with. The writing is pretty solid, you've improved a lot in that regard. Now you just need some focus.

"Katamari is on the roll again." Bleeeehaah :D lol

I agree with zipp. It's a good and thorough review. And it only makes you stop a little bit once in a while because you're looking for something wrong - in a sense I'm expecting a review that picks up on the low hum of craziness in the game. But apart from the way it comes off as if you start to explain how it's only a few new things - and then end up saying it's actually quite a lot of the new things with this game. Apart from that - the "only a few challenges" sentence - there's not much to complain about.

If I had one criticism, it's that you seem to tone down the actually funny and genuine things in the review - and end the paragraphs on sentences like the one on the top. In my very subjective opinion, I think you should do this the other way around. Not just because it's generic, but because it gives you artificial separators in the review.

This is a brilliant break.
"...the ball will be converted into a star to decorate the new Cosmos.

It’s a simple concept, but it’s a lot harder than it sounds. "

And, imo, if you eased the reader into some description that focuses on the types of challenges, and the merciless rating system after this - while avoiding some of the threadbare phrases.. I think you could even win over zipp.

... could even win over zipp.

I like that.

Yeah, I know. I kind of got burned out halfway through and basically phoned in the rest of it. I'll do better next time...

By the way, the Prince has been able to roll up planets since We Love Katamari. The Roll Up the Sun level, remember?

Actually, I only played the first Katamari (I LOVED it), and watched a portion of the second game. There's been one on the PSP since then, right? Or the DS or Wii or something.

So man... there really ISN'T anything new. Fuckin' bummer.

Yeah, there have been games for the PSP, 360, and iPhone. The few new levels are incredibly brief and bland compared to the rest of them. But if you're only played and loved the first game, I'd definitely recommend giving this a try (though probably not for full price). It might be a lot of recycled content, but it beats the hell out of anything the original KD had. The biggest you can roll up in KD is what? 800ish meters? This game can rack up sizes past 2 million kilometers.

Just sayin'. >.>