Beautiful Katamari (Xbox 360)

Fast, fun and funky as ever, but for series vets, it remains an all-too-familiar way to get your roll on.
2/18/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 2

Nonetheless, additional extras like leaderboards you can access by drifting through the cosmos that let you compare stats worldwide over Xbox Live (and give added incentive to improve your katamari-constructing skills) are hardly awe-inspiring. Four-man head-to-head play over a broadband connection is likewise a welcome bonus, but in all honesty not that huge a boost for the franchise, given a general dearth of further core design improvements. Sure -- if you're a certified OCD case, there are plenty of reasons to go back and retry previously-completed levels, whether it's your smack-talking father's put-downs or the desire to outshine fellow geeks around the globe. But with its incremental gameplay gains and bland visuals (seemingly straight out of the PS2-era, save for minor upscaling), does Beautiful Katamari really look, feel or play like a truly next-generation title, let alone a meaningful leap forward for the franchise? Meh... Not so much. Think of it more as a predictable, relatively nondescript series expansion.

No disrespect intended: If you haven't kitted out a katamari before, or simply aren't a hard-partier and still want to experience the magic of hallucinogens, by all means, give the game a shot. It's fast, it's simple and, of course, it's mostly nonviolent, unless of course you finally lose it and throttle a pal after a carefully-planned collision knocks a versus-mode victory from your grasp at the last possible second. Just be warned: If you can't handle a cheery techno-babble soundtrack; constant barrage of low-fi, modern-art-style weirdness; periodic bouts of flow-interrupting graphical slowdown; and a curiously last-generation aesthetic, it's best to bow out early. A total guilty pleasure (and one optimally experienced in short, 20- to 30-minute spurts), let's be honest: Every brain cell lost here is guaranteed to have disappeared in the dizzyingly frantic interactive equivalent of a 'Yellow Submarine'-style (Google it, young 'un) haze.

Regardless, it's worth reiterating that those who've already enjoyed the series on alternate platforms shouldn't consider it a definitive purchase by any stretch. The real question to ask yourself here is whether you're actually hungering for more of the same, only with a quick-n-dirty new paint job as well as support for Internet-powered antics. At a $40 retail price, that remains a pretty tough call for the average fan to make. Various niggles aside, though, we will say this: Even jaded sorts can't help but acknowledge that Beautiful Katamari's basic formula remains outlandish and engaging as ever. Besides, look at it this way: If you do choose to spend your spare time getting high off the title's infuriatingly addictive charms, well...at least 20 years down the road, it won't mean having to deal with pesky flashbacks.

This review was based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.