Once Upon A KATAMARI

Let me get one thing out of the way right from the start: Once Upon a Katamari is a very solid Katamari game that fans of the core series will have a hard time passing up. That said, I simply can't agree with some of the claims that it's a "masterpiece" and I've played and genuinely loved every entry in the series except for the mobile titles. For newcomers, OUAK is just as welcoming as any other Katamari game. In fact it hardly matters whether you start with the original, jump in somewhere in the middle, or begin with the newest installment. Aside from a few small differences, the formula has remained largely the same. You roll around in a colorful, delightfully quirky world, collecting all kinds of objects and as your Katamari grows, unlocking new sections of each stage. The gameplay has always been and once again is, refreshingly straightforward. If I had to describe Katamari in just a few words, I'd call it a charming, colorful feel-good game for players of all ages. The truth however, and I say this as someone who has been with the series since the PlayStation 2 days and who spent an absurd amount of time with Beautiful, Forever and Touch My Katamari, is that after waiting fourteen years for a new mainline entry, I can unfortunately feel the magic starting to wear off with this release. Some people say Katamari doesn't need to reinvent itself, and for the most part I agree. The problem is that this time the developers played it a little too safe. There simply isn't enough evolution and some of the series more frustrating aspects have once again been left unaddressed. Sure, it's still amusing to see a dinosaur with a mushroom on its back while you're busy rolling up entire houses, but at the same time the formula is starting to feel a bit worn out. In fact, that's ultimately why I decided not to continue playing it more. The different historical eras and themes do make the stages feel more varied than before, the humor is still intact and the new power-ups are a welcome addition, but hey that's about it. On top of that, your Katamari still gets stuck in utterly ridiculous ways, collisions often feel odd and the camera occasionally seems to work against the player. The many unnecessary cutscenes and text pop-ups appearing in the middle of a run remain just as annoying as ever. The soundtrack is a similarly mixed bag. There are some really beautiful tracks by familiar composers and singers, but also a few extremely grating, techno-flavored songs that feel out of place and at times, frankly just made me angry. As mentioned before, it's a solid Katamari game and longtime fans will most likely give it a roll anyway. But I don't think the price is justified, in fact I'd go as far as to call it downright excessive, and the DLC practices are frankly shameless. I can still recommend Once Upon a Katamari but your best bet is to wait for a sale and steer clear of the King of All Sounds Edition and the DLCs.

This game forgot that the rolling is the fun part, not the King commentary. It feels like it takes about 90 seconds anytime you try to start a level to skip through the 3-4 cutscenes, then get rid of all the King comments to clear the screen to start talking. The mechanics and game are pretty much exactly the same as the past games, so this annoyance has me feeling like I'd rather just go back and play those.

This game re-captures a lot of what I loved about Katamari. I had a blast 100%ing this game, I only wish my mom was still around to enjoy it with me; I know how much she enjoyed the original 2 Katamari games.

Once Upon a Katamari prueba varias cosas con la fórmula clásica. Aunque los power-ups no se sientan como el cambio que la serie necesitaba, tener tal variación estética entre niveles como la que cuenta este juego funciona como oportunidad para enfatizar la absurdidad de la saga. Y creo que, en conjunto con el sistema de ranking, y los incentivos extra para explorar los niveles con la posibilidad de que estos reaccionen y se vean afectados por el accionar del jugador, son las formas en las que la serie debería evolucionar. Pero si hay algo que valoro de esta entrega es que, a diferencia de las dos anteriores, al menos se atreve a intentar avanzar lo que significa ser un juego de Katamari, incluso si dicho movimiento no es hacia adelante sino más bien hacia los costados. E incluso me animaría a decir, entendiendo los problemas con los que estos juegos se estuvieron chocando con el sentido de progresión en sus tramos finales, tal vez moverse hacia los costados sea lo mejor que puede hacer la serie en su posición actual, mecánica y temáticamente hablando. [url=https://originalnicodr.github.io/el-corgi-pretencioso/juego/once-upon-a-katamari]Link al resto de la review[/url]

Wished there was a mixed option, because while this game was mostly fun, it was equally frustrating. PROS -More Katamari, the levels were unique. Some of the gimmick stages were good. -New music, and adorable revises of the main theme -I like the collectable outfits, good amount of diversity & collection CONS: -Absolutely DESPISE the cousin collection. Only one spawns in a level at a time, so at best, you have to replay the levels THREE times! Accidentally got so big a cousin despawns? Too bad, finish your 15+ MINUTE level, then replay AGAIN. Awful. Let me collect them in one go as I can the crowns. :( -Artificially extending the game. This uses the cousin collection, locking levels behind them. Awful, awful. Hate it. -No real narrative. The previous Katamari games barely have a story, but at least were cohesively tied together. I didn't feel any sense of progression. Every level is a gimmick, no story. Collect this, avoid that. I know the game tried something new but it just became exhausting. -Ending was lame, like they forgot they had to wrap things up. "Uhhh plug in a sudden black hole with your stars", and then everything resets. I don't know if there's a TRUE ending locked behind cousins, but I didn't jive with it. -Level design isn't as good as the original Katamari, I find myself getting stuck on level geometry more than I should -Bad balance in world amount. Way too much in the Edo period, and seems the later worlds just gave up. Maybe I wanted more ice or stone age, but the 10th edo level, sure... I left rather disappointed and underwhelmed. A big shame.

I love this game except for one, very irritating thing. For the love of God, please move the king's constant voice text box out of the middle if the screen. On a positive note, the levels are largely much better than previous versions and very fun to play. Get this game and be angry about the king's constant talking!

On one hand a really nice quirky game that has a lot to offer and will please any Katamari fan. Heavily let down by incessant menu-ing, clunky interface and way too much fluff. Gameplay itself is spot on, everything between levels is way too drawn out and clunky. You'll spend as much time clicking away dialog, tips and menus as you will be playing. This coupled with a very completionist attitude forcing you to unlock and replay a lot made it a thumbs down for me. Controls feel better and more clunky at the same time and it has very little QoL features so you'll be menu-ing around quite a bit to figure out what to do next.. It just gets tedious and that is the opposite for me what the predecessors did.

I really wanted Beautiful Katamari Reroll, so when I saw this instead, I decided to wait for a sale. I noticed the mixed reviews when it launched and wasn’t sure what to think. To my pleasant surprise, this is one of the best Katamari games out there. It has a ton of content, with more unlockables than ever before, and almost everything about it feels spot-on. The only downside is summy DLC. Sadly I will likely end up picking up the rest of it at somepoint. Because I big doofus Whether you’re a longtime fan of the series or completely new to it, this is a great pickup. I waited for a sale, but if I had known it was this good, I definitely would’ve grabbed it sooner.