Product Info

Platform

Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Publisher

BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment

Developer

Monkeycraft

Series

Katamari Damacy

Genre

Puzzle

Players

1-2

File Size (Minimum)

3.2 GB

Release Date (NA)

Dec 7, 2018

Purchase From

Amazon

Best Buy

GameStop

eShop

PSN Store

Microsoft Store

Steam

Official Store

It has been years since The King of All Cosmos first graced you with His presence. We know. It has been too long since you last gazed at His gloriousness. And His tights. His magnificent tight-tights. Did you bake Him a cake to celebrate His stellar debut on next gen consoles? No? How about arranging a beautiful bouquet? Not that either? Well, you can roll them up in the repackaged Katamari Damacy REROLL.

For those not in the know, the original Katamari Damacy by Namco landed on the PlayStation 2 in 2004, rolling in a new era of crazy puzzle-adventure games from Japan. The name translates to Clump Spirit. The plot? Dear Father, The King of All Cosmos, goes on an epic bender. We’re talking Tiger Blood. We’re talking The Hangover, One Two AND Three without a potty break. Because of this crazed state, The King inadvertently destroys all the stars in the sky. His bad. Who can He turn to in His time of need to fix His blunder? His teeny, tiny son, The Prince. So small. The King does not even know how He even HAD such a petite Prince. How can an itty-bitty, pint-sized Prince help his larger-than-life father? He takes a Katamari ball and rolls up whatever he can on planet Earth to make new stars.

ROLLIN’ ROLLIN’ ROLLIN’ ROLLIN’… ON

With task in hand, The Prince grabs a Katamari and gets to work. On ReRoll, the mechanics remain the same. New gamers and veterans alike will experience an interactive tutorial, walking them through the easy controls. The toggle buttons become your bread and butter as you navigate the world. After tackling the tutorial, we head Home. Home is a little personal planet for The Prince where he can save, change his settings, find his presents, and more.

Presents? Yes! Presents. His Highness will give you a Present on some levels! Well, give is generous. More like, “Roll around, and maybe you’ll find it.” These presents are little accessories that The Prince can wear on his adventures.

From The Prince’s Planet, you can fly on over to Earth for your father’s requests. It can be anything from making a normal star to making a specific constellation. Some of these rounds have specific size requests, while others request specific items. For example, for the constellation Cancer, you are tasked with—you guessed it—rolling up crabs. And yes, they wriggle. Anything alive thrashes and tries to escape, hence, “Clump Spirit”? Terrifying, but fun!

It’s Got a Good Beat, and You Can Dance to It

The graphics are blocky and give a whimsical feel to an already crazy premise. The aesthetic fits in perfectly with the story and gameplay. The scenery is simple, but the rollable items are given the appropriately cutesy look.

One of the best aspects of the game: the soundtrack. From the game graphics and premise, one would think that the soundtrack would be atypical synth muzak with occasional bops in between. Not Katamari Damacy REROLL. The soundtrack from the original returns with wonderfully composed tracks. Music jumps and wails from pop, swing, and jazz with an eclectic mix of genres thrown in. The Opening Theme and the remainder of the tracks keep the rolling fun. The music is bright and ties in well with the overall feel of the game. In fact, the soundtrack is so good that it won several awards. Plus, the theme song is extremely catchy.

Just a Small Speed Bump

A small hiccup to the game mechanics would be the Katamari size versus the world. Sometimes, the Katamari can get “stuck” between solid items that are too large to pick up. Luckily, the game picks up on it quickly and helps to shake it loose. The downside is that the gamer can lose some of the items they picked up to make the Katamari smaller.

Another small issue—if you have issues with size perception, it might take a moment to get used to seeing what is fair game and what will smack you back. Although this can be frustrating, it can serve as a learning curve for levels down the road.

Gimme More, Gimme, Gimme More…

Yes, Virginia, there is more after-game content. Once the game is done, there are more things to find! Namely, The Prince’s Cousins. The Cousins are a motley crew, full of beings of different shapes and sizes. Of course, The King will give His opinion on each Cousin once they are revealed. The game developers more than likely had the most fun trying to come up with different concepts for each character.

Other than that… We could not determine if Reroll adds anything new to this playthrough. No additional unreleased levels or new character designs to be had. Even a preview of other Katamari titles would have been a nice gesture. 

The Final Roll

For those new to the Katamari series, Katamari Damacy REROLL is a great introduction. The concept is intriguing, inventive, and insane. Gamers revisiting the series will feel a bit of nostalgia, but will wonder if the tiny changes are worth the purchase. Fear not—if you enjoyed the original, you will still enjoy REROLL.

A PlayStation 4 review code provided for this review and gameplay footage.