Beautiful Katamari is the perfect example of a Japanese niche title coming to the US. Everything about this game screams “wacky Japanese super fun time”. Surprisingly, the media didn’t give this version of the game much credit for originality since it hasn’t changed much from previous versions on the PS2 and PSP. And even though this is the first entry into the next-gen gaming world for the franchise, it’s look hasn’t changed much at all graphically. And that’s almost a good thing, as this writer can’t imagine playing this wacky game in realistic environments. All the elements of this title come together to make it a perfect example of what it originally was meant to be; a Japanese game.

The graphics aren’t the only thing that’ll look familiar. The son of King Cosmos, the prince, is again the little guy doing all the work. And as usual, the King isn’t exactly dishing out kudos for a job well-done. It’s almost as if this game was designed by communist scientists to break the spirit of capitalist gamers as no matter how well you do in a level, you get run down for not doing better. The objectives of the game remain mostly the same as well. You guide the Prince as he rolls his katamari over various objects (including people and buildings) with the goal to make the katamari grow in size and eventually meet the goal (usually a set size) set by King Cosmos. The game does mix this formula up on occasion with players only rolling up hot items or sometimes even cold items. Crazy right? In a game that’s so wacked out to begin with, a little lack of variety can be forgiven.

Adding to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” model for BK are the controls. The same standard analog stick controls apply. You can’t blame Namco/Bandai since the controls are/were simple to begin with. Push both sticks forward to go forward and the opposite to go backwards. Turning, however, happens at a crawl and never quite feels like the physics are right. This doesn’t matter much if your flying along and nailing everything in your path without having to turn around. The moment you start stopping, making sharp turns, and going back for missed objects will leave you wanting to launch your controller through a window. Collision detection seems to have missed the upgrade train as well, with objects coming anywhere close to your katamari bringing you to a dead stop. In a game where time is everything, this can drive anyone crazy.

The single player mode is the meat of this game and we’ll get to the multiplayer in a moment. But I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t mention the difficulty of this game. At first glance, it feels like a fun little title where you can just go crazy rolling up everything in your path. Three things get in the way of the fun. The camera still seems to get caught up behind objects way too often. The collision detection (as mentioned above) is not where it should be at this point in the franchise. Last, but not least, the difficulty in general is on such a steep curve that you’ll end up playing the same stage over and over. This makes for a frustrating experience in a deceivingly fun package.

The always important online component to any 360 title (minus BioShock) is there too. Beautiful Katamari makes it’s online gaming debut on XBL. The standard leaderboards and downloadable content (coming in the future) is present. Also included is a fun multiplayer battle mode. This “fun” addition has you and 3 others racing to build your katamari up with the goal being to gather the most of a particular item specified at the beginning of the round. Is it really fun? No. It does differ from the single-player mode with the new “lock-on” option that lets players lock-on and dash at a rivals katamari to knock off the opponent's items. You won’t likely play this very long as the fun wears fast.

Despite the gripes people will have with this game, they will undoubtedly keep coming back. I find myself doing it constantly. It has the Tetris appeal, in that you always think you can beat the levels no matter how many times you fail. It’s very deceiving in that aspect. It comes off so simple, but smacks you in the face with difficulty levels that just don’t match up to the intended experience the game aims to deliver. The biggest thing this game has going for it is the $40 price tag. This will surely draw in some innocent victims to be tricked into frustrating gameplay in cutesy environments. Despite this low entry price, I suggest a rent. At least download the demo and give it a run through on XBL. But if you own any previous version of Beautiful Katamari, you shouldn’t even bother with this. There doesn’t really seem to be a single significant upgrade despite the leap to the 360. But like they say on Reading Rainbow, “Don’t take my word for it”.

- Insane difficulty

- Graphics look pre-PS2

+ Will trick you into coming back for more

+It’s only 40 bucks!

Final Score: 6.0