The original Katamari Damacy stole my heart and soul as soon as I picked up the PS2 controller and gave it a roll. The quirky, zany and oh-so-Japanese style pushed the concept of gaming for me in all sorts of unique and odd directions. I will say here and now that Katamari Damacy ranks as one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time.

That means that I was right there as the series lost momentum and began to spit and sputter its way through We Love Katamari, Me and My Katamari (PSP), I Love Katamari (iPhone, the one with broken controls) and Beautiful Katamari (360). The charm and appeal to the series degraded through issues in control and graphical slowdown and clipping. As the consoles and methods evolved, this game stayed the same and then started to get worse. As a fan that wanted more and more from Katamari, it started to get frustrating when I got less and less. I still loved the series and the experiences within, of course, but it just wasn't the same.

Katamari Forever looks to serve as a testament to all that's wonderful in the Katamari universe. The game is attempting just that by cooking up a PS3 exclusive that supports 1080p in all its high-res glory. The title mixes and matches the best levels from Beautiful Katamari and Katamari Damacy along with some completely new ones. Presents and cousins (50 of them!) are back again to help you roll up some glory.

Multiplayer, however, won't be returning to the Prince and his brethren. Along with that--and this one was sort of a disappointment to me--is the fact that there's no new music. They've simply "remixed" the tracks of old. The music within the Katamari games is some of the best in gaming; this time around we won't be able to look forward to hearing any new stuff. I admit that the show floor was too loud for me to hear anything concerning the "remixed" tracks, so I can't give any indication as to how the stuff sounds. It may be fantastic; it just isn't new.

Don't get too upset, there's a good bit of new duds for the Prince to rock out in. By now, if you've followed the title at all, you know that there are filters present in Katamari Forever. Tic on the filter before you start the level and you'll be able to consume in filters like the normal one, Comic, Wood or Cel-Art. You've got four to choose from and they all bring a striking look to any clump of souls.



The graphical slowdown that plagued the previous entries I mentioned above is seemingly gone as well. When growing your Katamari or in exceptionally intense areas, the framerate remained rock solid in my hands-on.

There are also some new variants in gameplay. Rather than just picking stuff up and getting bigger, players will be allowed to do different things like plant flowers in a colorless world. This concept of variants is not new to the series, but there are some new variants to be found in Katamari Forever.

The Prince has some powers to boost his play and roll-up ability here as well. One of which I didn't get a chance to see was the ability to suck in nearby objects. The person from Namco that was there giving the hands-on made mention of the new ability, but I didn't see it in motion. I did, however, get to try out the new Prince Hop. Squeeze one of the triggers and you can send the Katamari flying in the direction you're headed. I found that building up speed with the sprint move made it possible to skip across levels in a breeze. This will come in handy when you need to move to new sections quickly in order to continue growing. More importantly, this move gets you out of some tight corners more efficiently than anything done by the Prince to date. The move itself does not feel like a gimmick in any sense of the word, so just get ready to hop around and enjoy.



The story this time around is back to rampaging and destructive King of all Cosmos glory. The King, for some reason or another, bumped his head in the early goings of the game. A Robo-King has been constructed to replace our favorite drunkard and lead the Prince or his cousins on a collection spree. Yes, the Robo-King looks damn amusing. We'll also be seeing a whole heap of new cut-scenes, styled like the originals from Katamari Damacy, as the story progresses.

Katamari Forever will be releasing in Japan on July 23rd. The rep from Namco mentioned that the game is practically done right now but will be held off until the Holiday here in the states. Listed for late 2009, I was told that we can expect Katamari Forever in late September. Katamari Forever is a PS3 exclusive.