Katamari Damacy is not easily defined or confined by any one specific genre. I had enough trouble determining what genre I should classify it as, settling for the awkward Action-Puzzle combination. And to top it off, it's among the most exhilaratingly innovative games I have ever had the pleasure to experience. Someone over at Namco must have had a difficult time pitching the idea, but once the true insanity and sheer brilliance of it sunk into the design team's brains, they must have known in advance that they had a wonderful idea on their hands. The idea is as follows: Your father, the King of All Cosmos, has accidentally wiped out the night sky in a drunken stupor, and so it is your duty as the young and miniscule Prince to recreate it. How will you go about doing so? A large number of miscellaneous objects will be sent to Earth by the King of All Cosmos, and you shall follow alongside your katamari, a small sticky globule. Your duty is to roll around this katamari and pick up as many objects as you can, until you have created a ball of objects large enough to create various stars and constellations in the sky. The storyline is not one that could ever enter the New York Times' Bestseller List, but the overall plotline is generally a secondary addition to Katamari Damacy that has been crafted over top of a unique style of gameplay.

Annoyingly enough, however, the storyline presented in the actual game is a tad skewed by the King of All Cosmos' spaced-out method of speech delivery. He tends to ramble in nonsensical phrases, often stradling the line between just being a trippy character and forcing me to wonder whether a stoned translation team is to blame for the gum flapping of this braying buffoon. You will need to get used to him and perhaps even develop a thick skin for his interruptions, for indeed, you will hear from him quite frequently, both between challenges and even during your missions. His mood and the situation shall together decide how he shall address you as well; failing a mission will lead to a very unhappy King, but success leads to praise. Of course, he may pop up without welcome as you are busy rolling around your katamari, informing you of how big it is, or just saying random nonsense, such as the infamous "BA-NA-NA" sequence as you enrapture a series of banana bunches during one challenge. He will speak cryptically at all times, so try and make the best sense of what he is trying to say. This should not be unexpected though, as the King of All Cosmos is quite a strange character altogether: he flies around all over the place, boasting a giant box-shaped head (not unlike your own) and a very, um, pronounced package stuffed within a pair of nasty purple tights. That's about as detailed as I choose to be. Of course, the King of All Cosmos is just one aspect of the overall Japanese cultural feel of this game. Katamari Damacy is practically dripping with Japanese culture; no American developer would be insane enough to create a product as wacky as this one. It is reflected in everything the game has to offer: the graphic style, the music, the storyline, and the overall presentation. Just the introductory sequence alone is trippier than anything I have seen in a video game so far: the breakdancing pandas and choral mallards are just plain gnarly. It's a shame that most American publishers opt not to release anything that doesn't fit in with Westernized preferences; we of the West often never know what great things we are missing out on.

Anyway, your goal is indeed to build the largest katamari possible. You will usually start out fairly small (as it should be, considering the Prince is only 5cm tall -- hardly a strong specimen if I may say so) and work your way from there; the first level, entitled "Make A Star 1", will start you off with a 5cm katamari and you must work your way around, picking up whatever objects you can to make a katamari with a size of 10cm, all within a three-minute time limit. All typical "Make A Star" levels have a set time limit (which can be annoying but adds to the challenge and frantic "always-keep-moving" nature of the game) and goal size, each challenge having a larger destination katamari size than the last -- up to 300m in "Make A Star 8". There are other quests as well, specifically when it comes to creating constellations. These challenges will require you to roll up as many of a certain type of object as you can (or, depending upon the level, the largest ONE you can find). For example, to create the Gemini constellation, you'll need to pick up as many sets of twins as you can. For Ursa Major on the other hand, you'll want to snag the largest bear you can find (although this is quite difficult, because there are so many smaller bears -- and even bear statues and people in bear suits -- in the area that apply). Yet perhaps the biggest challenge is having to recreate the North Star by rolling a katamari to exactly 10m in size WITHOUT a meter telling you how big your katamari is -- and the game wants you to be as precise as 10m0cm (they will give you leeway with millimetres, but still...). It's no laughing matter. Unfortunately, there are only three areas to explore in the game total, all of which will be revisited many times but each visit will require picking up larger objects, thus allowing for a grander view of the region every time.

Picking up items is amazingly fun and can often serve as a stress-reliever, especially when you are picking up people off the street. As my girlfriend (who has come to love this title) is quoted as saying, "Katamari: a great way to pick up chicks!" It's also intriguing to see the world transform from particularly large and overwhelming region to an absolutely tiny enclosure. However, it should be noted that snatching stuff is a gradual process. You can't immediately visit an area and begin picking up things that are taller than your katamari. Every object (items on the ground, buildings, people, etc.) all have a specific size value, in the form of an invisible box that surrounds it; when your katamari is as large (or larger) than the object in question, you can pick it up. Otherwise, you will bounce off of it, possibly having some already-attached items fly off in the process. In other words, be cautious with every roll you take in an effort not to lose what you have already gained. It is strange on occasion, for some items would logically appear easier to pick up than others, but due to their size value, cannot be picked up until the katamari is bigger. There is an impressive variety of items that can be picked up, many of them wrapped in Japanese culture from cuisine to toys from the Land of the Rising Sun. There is humour to be found throughout as well, such as stuffed cat dolls wearing hard hats and buskers with surprisingly pointy hair. To make us even more amused, all objects in the game are categorized in a quite expansive in-game encyclopedia that gives an often humorous description and its size! This is what I call paying attention to detail! Also, you may find special presents laying around; if you pick one up, the King will congratulate you and you will be able to equip what's inside the gift box (usually a snazzy article of clothing) on your Prince!

There are several additional features at play as well. If you achieve certain size goals in certain levels, you will be given access (after completing the game) to "Eternal" levels, which allow you to roam free without a time limit until you roll up everything or you just get tired of rolling around. There is also a multiplayer mode which, due to my relatively low budget and therefore lack of a second controller for my PlayStation 3, I was sadly unable to tackle it. However, from what I've read in the instruction manual, it involves two players in one arena trying to attain the larger of the two katamaris by picking up more items than his or her opponent. Furthermore, if one character gets considerably larger than the other, they can also pick up their opponent! That would be fun to do, but sadly, I cannot do so. My apologies. Opponents come in a variety of colors and patterns; they can be found wandering about in the various levels of the game; picking them up ensures that you have another character that you can use.

So how exactly do we roll around our katamari? Well, in an unprecedented move, Namco decided that our primary control system for the game should be allotted to only the two analog sticks. Aside from the tab buttons at the top of the controller, no button pressing is needed during the main bouts of gameplay. If you push both of the sticks forward, you can move the katamari forward. If you push one of the sticks back, you will turn in one direction, depending upon which stick you are pushing. Quick flicking of the sticks can help you dash (with a short sluggish period afterwards from over-exertion) or quick 180° turns. The L1 and R1 buttons also serve a basic purpose: L1 will allow you to view your surroundings and the R1 button allows the Prince to make a quick jump in the air to see the area around you. These are all the controls that you will use during your various quests. They may sound simple, but they can be a bit tricky to master. Also, the controls can be admittedly stiff at times, especially in tight spaces when you feel as though you are definitively stuck, but perhaps it adds to the reality of the situation. After all, a 5cm Prince would naturally have a rough time pushing a 100m tall katamari. I personally spent more time turning around than anything else though; perhaps I should work on improving my accuracy!

Katamari Damacy has taken a different route, speaking from a graphical and aural perspective. While the majority of games focus on glamour and glitz to impress gamers, the developer here has opted for a less detailed and more blocky approach. The reasoning behind this is more technological than aesthetic: by removing excessive details from objects, more of them can be rendered at once without massive slowdown and framerate issues, which helps when there are hundreds of objects (or more) stuck to your katamari. Artistically, it's still pretty pleasing to the eye but if you're seeking detail, this is definitely the wrong place to look. On the plus side, all of the human characters, cubical though they may seem, appear as though they have their own little lives and personalities, which is neat. And this visual style is carried over to certain cutscenes between levels of a family who is planning on visiting the father at a space launch; the son notices that the stars have disappeared, though the mother remains in adamant disbelief. They are not particularly important, but add a bit of unusual depth to the game. What really stands out about this game, however, aside from its unique gameplay, is the soundtrack. I have never been as impressed as a whole by a game's musical score as I have for this game. We are presented with a mixture of upbeat yet relaxing jazzy tunes, funky techno beats, and wacky vocal stints, all built to create a groovy atmosphere. Many of the tracks, which are densely featured in all levels, feature vocals that are mostly in Japanese, with the exception of one directly jazz song with English vocals that resemble the fine sound of Frank Sinatra. The music is genuinely Japanese, and I could not be more pleased with the sheer wackiness that eminates from it. If you can't find this game, at least seek its soundtrack on CD somewhere because it is downright brilliant. Furthermore, most (if not all) objects have their own sound effects when they are picked up; many of them also have effects outside of being snatched up. All effects are suitable and add even more charm to an already enticing experience. Sound director Yu Miyake and his team should be extremely proud of their work.

I praise this game greatly, but that's not to say that it is without any flaws. Of particular note is the camera, which on occasion does tend to get stuck on walls or behind other objects, making a timed mission even more difficult to complete, thus adding to the frustration level. In fact, just getting stuck on something in general is a pain; at the bottom of the first length ramp into the outside world in "Make A Star 8" is a platform that I have wedged myself into and remained stuck as I watched my items fly into the air. This should have been fixed, considering it is not a small glitch, for I was able to involuntarily repeat the problem several times over. And as I mentioned earlier, cramped environments make things difficult to move around in at times, and when time itself is a major factor, you don't want to be sans inertia!