Despite the fact that the mainstream games this year have been the good, the very problem is, they're mainstream... and they're nothing original. I yawned when I heard yet another GTA was coming out. Was at the most slightly amused with the release of Metal Gear Solid 3, and rolled my eyes as EA brought out yet another freakin' football game. All games have been about the past few years is making things look better, more refined, and basically being as real as real life. It comes to a point where people demand a game where they can practically do the things they do in real life to a T... where the characters have to ABSOLUTELY look like you and I, and where a gun fired = kill. Where game publishers go with "what works" and are too damn chicken to try out something new.

This is the reason why I tend to review games that either are highly unpopular, highly underrated, or both. Even FFX-2 received slack from Square because of the absence of the "usual FF formula" that made each successive FF just a version 1000.0 of the original.

Turn to Japan, which is known for making many wacky and underrated games that NEVER make it to the states...

Katamari Damacy is one of them - except this one actually got ported over. It ain't mainstream, but it definitely does not make it even CLOSE to crappy.

Just what is this game? Storyline wise, you are the Prince of All Cosmos, the son of the King of All Cosmos. The King, in his drunken rampage, manages to destroy all the stars that are in the sky and the moon along with it. You, as the lowly son of the mighty King, must restore the stars by using a Katamari (basically a giant adhesive ball) to pick up the materials necessary for the task.

In other words, you roll a ball of crap, to pick up crap. To pick up bigger crap, you collect enough crap to make your ball big enough to pick up the bigger crap. Then to pick up bigger crap, you pick up more crap to pick up the bigger crap. And so on and so forth. You must make your ball of crap big enough to satisfy the objectives of the particular level within a specified time limit, and that's it.

"Now what the heck is so fun about picking up crap with a ball?" you ask.

Because it simply is. When's the last time you played a game where you picked up crap to progressively pick up bigger crap?

Never? Yeah, I thought so.

It's so damn basic, it's a wonder no one hasn't thought of it. And really, it's simple. You control your ball of crap with ONLY the analog sticks on your PS2 controller. Think of the sticks as like tank treads, with the left stick controlling the left "wheel" and vice versa for the right. It's tricky at first to get down, but once you do, it ain't really a big deal. It took no more than 15 minutes for me to get adjusted to it. This game is the epitome of "pick up and play", which are the type of games I enjoy. Forget strategy, depth, and complex tactics - I just wanna play dammit.

You see, what makes this game great is the simple fact that all you really do is pick up crap. This harkens back to the days of Tetris, Pac-Man, and Super Mario Bros. Where you didn't have to have all the games need nowadays to be awesome, it just had to be different, and FUN.

The fun factor of this game grows greater and greater as you get bigger and bigger. This is probably what makes the game so addicting - the progressive nature as you turn from a tiny ball of crap to a giant armageddon of rolling doom. That rat that got in the way will later succumb to your mighty katamari, and that table that you couldn't roll over becomes roadkill as you slowly begin to tower over it. Yes, you can even roll over people, HOUSES, continents, you name it - you can probably roll over it.

And damn does this game have so much to roll over. For the collector in you, there are many unlockables and hidden items to get, some of which will require a great deal of skill (and maybe a small bit of luck) to acquire. You will not complete this game in a week... not even a month. There's just so much to do, and there's also the fact that this game keeps track of your best katamaris, which strives you to topple your own records as time goes on.

This game plays on the human need to simply GET stuff. Perhaps you really want to run over that car, or get to that area that you just can't get to because you can't knock over those cones that are blocking your way... maybe you're missing that final item in your Tools collection, and so on and so forth. It's ok to be greedy, because nothing penalizes you for doing so. Sure you don't progress the level, but there's no game over, there's no nothing. In fact, if all you do is end up collecting items, even that counts as some progress. If you spend the entire 10 minutes in the level looking for that one particular item, you may fail the level, but naught is lost. You found the item, and that's all that really matters.

Oh yeah, and as your ball of crap gets bigger, everything that was originally huge gets smaller, INCLUDING you. Makes sense, if you were a 100m ball of crap, things like people would probably seem miniscule to you. What I find amazing about this is just how smooth the transaction is. One moment you're picking up thumbtacks and erasers, and 10 minutes later, you're pickin' up chairs, tables and people. Then you realize that you can roll back to where things were blocking you and simply roll over them to remove the barriers. Absolute fun.

Now in terms of the graphics, if you are indeed a fan of the "IT'S GOTTA LOOK GOOD" genre, you're gonna hate this game's graphics, simply because they're plain, blocky (and I mean, INTENTIONALLY blocky), and... weird. But the fact of the matter is, I can't imagine it looking any other way. It simply makes sense to have such nonsensical graphics for a nonsensical and off the wall game like this. The way things look in this game gives it an almost playful feel to it. It just works.

Sound... if it hasn't been said before, I'll say it again. This has got to be one of the BEST soundtracks of 2004, if not the best 20 of all time. There's a wide variety to this game's music: from lighthearted J-pop (Lonely Rolling Star is one of my absolute favorite tracks), to ska, to jazz, to acapella, to even a type of hip hop. There's music that everyone will like, and in a day where music is made for games as a simple replacement for white noise, this is definitely a refreshing experience. Again, the variety of music should make no sense to have in a game like this, but it fits the game. Why? I don't know, but it does.

VAing, if it were to be in any other game, would be considered horrible, but the fact that the Hoshino family sounds as odd as they do again makes sense for KD. Sound effects are right on the money too - stuff makes weird noises as you pick it up. Cats meow, tiny objects make a strangely satisfying "bloop", and people yell as they're absorbed into your katamari. You could have asked for more, but once again it wouldn't be Katamari Damacy.

As I've said before, this game also has a ridiculously huge amount of replay value. There's lots to do, much to collect, and many things to dominantly roll over. It's one of those games where if you choose to think outside the box, you'll find that it becomes more and more engrossing as things you never thought you could do, happen. Ever thought of trying to get to the roof of the house? What if you sped down that ramp that leads into that strange looking area? How about getting that sink that's attached to the wall?

It's been years since a game has been this innovative, thoughtful, and just damn fun to play. Much like how Konami/Treasure took a huge risk by taking a page from its history books and developing a game for a genre that has overshadowed by RPGs, FPSes, and fighting games, Namco decided to bring over something that supposedly shouldn't have work, but did.

The game doesn't try to be the best. I believe what Namco and the developers had in mind for this game is to tell the jaded and "mainstream-crazy" video game industry that perhaps they should all take a look at their roots and see why those Old Games of Yore did so well. To stop pumping out yet another of What Everyone Wants and to take a crack at What Everyone Hasn't Seen.

Think of this game as like a toy that you interact with. This is similar to the mantra of the good ol' Maxis Software, before it got possessed by the corporate conglomerate known as EA. They knew that a game that practically has no bounds was a fun game to play. Sure you can "win", but there are many different ways to do it, and absolutely no one told you you had to win. You can do as you damn well please, and that is what this game says to you. Sure you may not be able to eat that ball of Takoyaki for lunch if you choose to just roll around as your pint sized self, but if that's what you wanna do, you're not gonna get penalized to do it.

And the amazing part about this game is the fact that it only costs a mere $20. Chump change compared to the $50 pocket-burners that are out these days. There's really nothing to lose, and you have absolutely NO excuse not to give it a try. Don't think just because it looks like a little kiddie's game you'll choose not to play it. You're never too old (or perhaps, for the guys, too 'manly') enough to play a FUN game. I've been desperately trying to get the people I know to play this game, but it seems that I'm yet another minority when it comes to game selection.

So yeah, put down those Halo 2's, Half-Life 2's, and GTAs. Forget about the umpteenth incarnation of Final Fantasy and take a break from the next Tekken whateverthehellitsonnow. For the price of a freakin' pizza, you can get hours of rollin' fun.

Get to it. You can thank me later.

Overall: 10/10 - Really.