[OLD] Touch My Katamari

In the wake of Christmas, among the many gifts I received were some video games, which I will get to over time, among them a PlayStation Vita along with a few games for the system. One of those games, which I am going to discuss in this review, is the next installment in the Katamari Damacy franchise, the unfortunately-named Touch My Katamari. Coming out last year as a Vita launch title, this game seeks to please fans of the franchise while shaking things up with the handheld's unique layout. Having just completed it, as a Katamari fan, I feel that while it is a rather unique game, something feels a little off about it.

It's expected for a Katamari game's plot to be no more than just an excuse for balls to be rolled and stars to be made, but this one felt flimsy even by Katamari standards. What literally gets things rolling (pun intended) is that the King of All Cosmos hears a comment about one teacher being just as awesome as he is, and so he sends his son, the Prince, to roll Katamaris to please the fan base. Otherwise, every other mission sees an installment in the exploits of the crudely-animated Goro the Slacker, who's trying to purchase a study guide while avoiding being distracted by whatever's around him, most especially "babes" (and yes, this does tie in to the main game eventually). I'm not trying to come off as expecting a story of higher quality, since Katamari games can actually pull off having little story, but at least other games in the franchise had their stories serve a greater purpose in-universe (ex. Beautiful Katamari involved trying to save the universe from a black hole caused by the King playing tennis too hard, the end result being the black hole is plugged up). At least the Goro the Slacker sub-plot has more of a conclusion.

The gameplay follows those of the other games, but Touch My Katamari also introduces a twist. Not only can you perform the Prince Hop from Katamari Forever (a mechanic that I liked), you can also to use the Vita's touch screen and rear touch pad to stretch and squeeze the Katamari itself to reach smaller spaces and  gather more objects at once. I rather enjoyed this feature, since I was able to complete the objectives faster, though the game is short and there's hardly anything that forces you to utilize this form of gameplay. Still, I used the new touch functions, especially the stretch feature, whenever I could to (barely) complete some of the tasks. In this respect, I give praise to the innovation displayed in this game and I hope that, if further Katamari titles are released for the Vita, these features will be kept.

I have no complaints about the in-game visuals, since they follow typical Katamari graphics...except for the King of All Cosmos. This game sees him in a different art style than the previous games, and while I like that they tried to give him more fluid animations, it feels a little jarring since they made his face more realistic. I usually have no problems with realism if it fits the game and platform, but the problem here is that his face gives off a slight uncanny valley sort of feeling since, while it appears more real, it clashes with his cartoonish nose and other design features. What I'm saying here is that the King's face is overall kind of ugly, but I do give the animators props for trying. (But did they really have to make his default costume a skin-tight yellow body suit? I didn't really want to get that good a view of the King's bulging crotch.)

The game also introduces a system of currency involving candy, which you get after completing objectives and can spend on things within the game, such as clothes for the King, new gameplay modes, and the in-game soundtrack. You can also collect something called a Fan Damacy within a level, which you can use as one way to obtain Candy Tickets (otherwise I have no idea what sort of purpose they actually serve). Candy Tickets can be used after an objective is completed, when the in-game fan gives you candy based on your grade, in order to Sweet Talk more candy out of them by multiplying said candy in multiples of 2 (you can also buy more on the PlayStation Store, but I don't want to). There are also times where the fans or the King will just give you candy that they found, making your purchases easier to make. (Though I was really disturbed when the King wanted a bridal cape and went into excessive detail over the purchase.) Candy can also be acquired further by collecting all the special objects, or Curios, within each level.

The soundtrack, par for the course with Katamari, is amazing, keeping up the quirkiness of previous soundtracks. Some of these are songs that I would listen to over and over again, and if I could acquire a physical copy, I would try to get my hands on it. The other option is to play them back within the game, which is a feature I enjoy, but, as I mentioned earlier, you actually have to purchase them with candy in order to play them back. This is a feature I disapprove of, since earlier games just added them to a soundtrack spot in the hub world (which here is the King's head) so you could listen to them at any time post-game. However, if I ever play this game again, I'll do what I can to collect the music this way, since that's all I care to spend candy on anyway outside of the other game modes. (They've got to use this new currency system somehow, right?)

Touch My Katamari is a great handheld Katamari game for fans and newcomers alike. Despite what I saw as the game's flaws, this is a game I would actually not hesitate to tell new Vita owners to pick up. Despite the short length that comes with a Katamari game, it's actually quite fun, and you might end up wanting to spend plenty of time (and battery life) playing this game.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors - Your Hopes and Dreams are Still On-Board

Due to lack of an American retail release, here's the European box art.

If you have delved into the world of anime/manga at any point, chances are high that you may have come across the title, One Piece. For those who don't know what the series is, or simply don't care for this type of medium, One Piece is a highly popular Japanese manga created by Eiichiro Oda, that has been running in Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan for around 15 years. The story tells of the misadventures of a boy named Monkey D. Luffy, who dreams of becoming King of the Pirates and is after the legendary treasure known as the One Piece. As a child, Luffy accidentally ate the Gum-Gum Fruit, which turned him into rubber and allows him to stretch his body, at the cost of being unable to swim. However this doesn't deter him from his goal, as he sets sail on (initially) a raft, gaining many friends and foes along his journey.

The series was serialized in the American Shonen Jump Magazine before the publication became the digital Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha, where the manga continues to run in English. The manga has also been adapted to anime form, where it has received about a dozen movies (only one of which is officially canon), several video games (none of which I have played except for the one I am about to go into), and tons of other merchandise (in Japan it's gotten popular to the point where recent volumes not only outsold the Harry Potter books, but also themselves on many occasions). The anime has also been dubbed into English for American consumption twice, first by 4Kids before being taken over by Funimation (whose dub I have only begun watching), the first of which seems to have contributed to the problems One Piece has with finding an American audience due to the company's shoddy work overall (I have only read about this dub online, which makes me glad I initially actively avoided the series as a child). In light of the manga's 15th anniversary, Namco Bandai Games has recently published a game developed by Tecmo Koei and Omega Force, titled One Piece: Pirate Warriors, earlier this year. A few months ago the game was released in English, but retaining the Japanese audio, although American players must download it off of PlaySation Network while European audiences have the option of retail. After one of the most expensive purchases I have ever made for a download, I can safely say that the game is totally worth the money. If you are a One Piece fan.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors follows the same story as the manga, with the framing device for most of the game being the current members of the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy's crew, telling stories to each other (I'm going to give it to you straight: Just telling you the names of every member that's not Luffy automatically creates massive spoilers). While the game does a pretty faithful retelling of 60+(!) volumes of manga, a number of bigger and smaller (often important) arcs have been cut from the story. Though there's several animatics and text recaps to accompany the story levels, or the Main Log, you are still not getting the full account of what happened during the Straw Hats' voyage, since some events are not even mentioned or are simply glossed over (including an entire story arc that was reduced to a sentence or two), which the game actually pokes fun at near the end. This means you are better off reading those 60+ volumes before playing the game; I have personally been reading the manga up to the ending point of the game and beyond, one way or another, and I can assure you that such an investment is definitely worth your time and money.

Omega Force is known for developing the Dynasty Warriors series, one that you may have at least heard of. I myself haven't played any of the Dynasty Warriors games, but from my experience with Pirate Warriors, I think I have a good idea of what the series is like. As you progress through the Main Log, you encounter three different types of levels; one is a straight-up platforming section where you occasionally fight enemies while solving puzzles that take advantage of Luffy's Gum-Gum powers, one is based around capturing territories while completing objectives to advance, and the other is more or less focused entirely on a boss fight. During the levels you are able to collect a variety of power-ups by hitting chests, which gave give you a temporary boost or refill your Life and SP Meters. The SP Meter is an orange bar that's divided into sections, which increase when you level up enough, which can be used to pull off special attacks based on how many meters you use. You can also collect Coins, either by opening special chests or completing certain objectives, which can be used to enhance your character's stats. Each Coin represents a character, symbol, or item from the One Piece universe, and they can be equipped to a character by accessing a special menu, in sets of up to three, again depending on how much you level up, and grant special enhancements depending on the Coin; if you arrange the Coins in certain sets, you can also unlock a special enhancement that is applied to the character as long as you maintain that set. During certain encounters, you are also tasked with completing a Quick-Time Event(s), which I compared to Asura's Wrath, that represent an intense moment as Luffy triumphs over his enemies. During the territory missions, you are able to initiate a Crew Strike by pairing up with another character, allowing you to switch over to another character after performing a specific combo in order to dish out more damage to enemy swarms.

Throughout most of the Main Log you play as Luffy across the various arcs included, but you are also sometimes able to briefly play as another character, which is than unlocked for use in Another Log. In Another Log, you can play as one of the characters unlocked through the Main Log to play during missions from the story; if you use certain characters on specific missions, you can also play through their own story, increasing the replay value, but you do have the option of using completely different characters for those missions if you want to have some fun with it. Each character plays a bit differently from Luffy, though I ended up getting bored while testing out each character, since the only levels I could play were territory-based, which can become a bit monotonous after a while. However, there are certain animations that perfectly display the quirks of each character, which brings some entertainment to this mode, but not enough to keep me going personally.

As far as extras go, there is also an option to play Another Log missions in local co-op, which I tried out, but the split-screen for this mode is a bit awkward and I quickly stopped using that mode. Aside from a rather difficult Challenge Mode, there are also glossaries and character bios to help fill you in on the world of One Piece (from what I've read of them, they're actually pretty accurate). However, even with all this extra information, you're still better off catching up on a bulk of the manga prior to playing this game.

Onto the technical side of things; let's begin with the graphics. The character models are, put simply, amazing, perfectly capturing Eiichiro Oda's current art style and remaining faithful to where it looks as if the manga came to life. Some of the cutscenes before and after each mission actually use these models to perfectly recreate panels from the manga, albeit sometimes with an art style more advanced than before, but the execution still works really well. Some of these cutscenes are also fully animated, also faithfully recreating enitre manga sequences, making it the closest you can get to a CG One Piece anime. The level designs also expertly use the designs of each locale on the Straw Hats' voyage to their advantage, taking many creative liberties while still creating a sense of immersion.

The music of Pirate Warriors is also fantastic, ranging from lighthearted to intense depending on the situation. It matches each situation nicely and sounds like it fits in with One Piece (I am not intimately familiar with the anime soundtrack). As mentioned above, while the game has translated all Japanese text into English, it still retains the Japanese language track, though this might have been influenced by the progress of Funimation's dub of the anime. While I don't mind the Japanese acting that much, I think it still would have been nice to have an English language track.

Aside from the omission of arcs from the story the game is trying to retell, I only really have one major complaint. I was playing on Easy (because it was the very first thing the game asked me when I began and I'm not familiar with Dynasty Warriors gameplay), and even then I had one hell of a time against Admiral Aokiji in the Main Log, due to heavy spamming of attacks and me not being able to actually land a hit for quite some time, even when using the full extent of Luffy's SP Meter, which made the fight very frustrating. The fight just felt a little broken, and it took me a few tries before I was actually able to win.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors is a good game for any fan of One Piece who is essentially caught up with the story. It perfectly captures the spirit of the story and faithfully recreates key moments for the optimal One Piece video game experience. If you have only just begun to get into it or haven't experienced the series at all, I would suggest either holding off on this game until you have read those 60+ volumes or simply skip it altogether if you are not a fan of Japanese media for whatever reason. However, if you don't care about knowing all the details and are a fan of Dynasty Warriors gameplay, I would suggest downloading this game, so long as you keep in mind that it doesn't contain everything.

[OLD] Beautiful Katamari - Lacks Some Luster

You may have heard of an odd Japanese game called Katamari Damacy. If you have not, it is a game created by Keita Takahashi that involves rolling a ball around in order to pick up stuff so it be made into a star; this premise came about because Takahashi wanted to re-introduce simplicity to gaming. When it was released in 2004, it became a sleeper hit, increasing in popularity to spawn many sequels to come. I myself am a fan of this series, having played the original Katamari Damacy and its sequels We Love Katamari, Me & My Katamari, and Katamari Forever (I would play the unfortunately-named Touch My Katamari, but as of this writing I currently do not own a PlayStation Vita). I had a desire to play the subject of this review, Beautiful Katamari, for a while, but for that while I did not own an Xbox 360. Now that I have had one for about a year, I recently got my hands on this game to further complete my Katamari collection. Personally, I enjoyed the game, although it isn't quite as beautiful as the title suggests.

As is the norm for a Katamari game, the story has some sort of excuse to set the plot in motion. This time, The King and Queen of All Cosmos are playing tennis, when the King hits a ball so hard that it creates a black hole that threatens to swallow the universe. He then sends you, the Prince, in order to roll up junk on Earth to recreate the Solar System (this is from back when Pluto was still considered a planet) and plug up the black hole.

If you've played a Katamari game before, the controls are essentially similar to the others before it. To move your Katamari, you must manipulate both analog sticks in certain ways: moth both forward or back to move in that direction, or tilt one a certain way in order to change the direction the ball is rolling in; alternating the sticks rapidly charges the ball to jet forward briefly, while clicking the sticks moves you to the opposite side of the ball. These are the basics of the controls, but the familiarity isn't a bad thing since it allows fans and newcomers alike to dive right into the game. However, even with the design of the analog sticks on the 360's controller, I end up running into the same problem I have with the console games where playing for an extended period causes severe pain to my thumbs, so I would suggest playing in chunks unless you think you can handle it. In addition, I run into another problem where, due to my constant thumb action and the layout of the controller, may hands ended up forming a tight, painful grip on it as if my hands were claws, so this should enforce my previous statement about playing in bursts.

The graphics of the game are simplistic, but this is a necessity in order for the game to render everything at once (depending on your Katamari size, at which point smaller objects disappear once you level up). This gives the series its trademark boxy visuals, which carry over nicely to this game. One thing I found odd at some points was when I rolled up enough objects before moving on, where the game suddenly become a lot smoother, which is actually rather unusual for a Katamari game. I don't know if this has to do with the 360's hardware or not, but in any case this shouldn't be taken as a complaint; I just haven't seen it before is all. Overall, no complaints here.

The level design is also typical for Katamari Damacy, with most goals being the usual "roll a ball this size within this amount of time". This also isn't too much of a complaint, though I should say that there's at least some variety in the levels; the most I can recall is a level where you must roll up objects that heat up your Katamari in order to create Mars. While it does feel familiar, it can be disappointing for anyone more familiar with the franchise. One thing I feel like I should mention is one level that features a large number of Xbox 360 controllers and consoles, as if to drive the point home that it's an exclusive Xbox title; this can be amusing or annoying depending on your perspective. I am also aware that this game has DLC, but I don't exactly feel like putting down more money just so I can have more levels to play.

The music, as usual, is very impressive and very catchy. It features interesting remixes of tunes from previous games that fit well with the tone of a Katamari title. Not only was this soundtrack released on CD (like other games in the series), but you can also unlock access to the soundtrack itself within the game once you beat the campaign, which is a feature that I like because I get to hear my favorite tunes over and over again. The only other audio there really is are sound effects that play for certain actions as well as when you certain things up. There really isn't much to say here other than that the sounds aren't annoying.

Aside from my earlier comments on variety and how the controller feels, I have one complaint regarding the level design. When you grow big enough in a level, the King of All Cosmos tells you that you can go somewhere else where objects are bigger so you can complete your goal. If memory serves (I haven't played a Katamari game in a while), the King usually shows you where the pylons blocking off the next section are, no matter where you are in the world, but in this game this feature is absent. I personally found this to be very inconvenient, since I ended up a few times scouring the map in search of this mysterious entry point before finally finding it and moving on. I am against games holding your hand too much during play, but I think it would have at least been nice to know where the next section of the level map was.

In the end, Beautiful Katamari is a good game for the Katamari series. It may have its share of flaws, but it's still fun to play, especially if you haven't dusted off a Katamari game in a while. If you are a fan of the series and are interested in this game, I would tell you to either give this one a shot or, in the event that you own a PS3 but aren't willing to purchase an Xbox 360, pick up Katamari Forever, which contains some of this game's levels. If you only own an Xbox 360 and have no experience with Katamari Damacy, but are curious as to what all the fuss is about, this game is a great jump-on point and a good glimpse at the entertaining madness that is Katamari.