Touch My Katamari was a launch game for the PlayStation Vita. It is hard to put it into a genre but it is part of the Katamari series of video games which is known for its colorful oddness. The gameplay has you controlling the Prince, who rolls around a ball known as a katamari. The aim of each stage is to roll the katamari over smaller objects so that it sticks on and the ball grows in size. As the ball grows bigger, you can roll bigger and bigger objects, which lead to it getting bigger and so on. Despite this simple gameplay loop, it is oddly addictive and very satisfying to clear away all the objects in a level (it feels like cleaning up).
There are three control schemes. The first is using the touch screen, the second has you using the left stick to aim and the right stick to move, while the third is the best scheme to use, which is basically what most third person action games do, you use the left stick to move and the right stick to control the camera. In addition, you can stretch the ball to become flatter (and thus cover a larger surface area) or narrower (to roll over taller obstacles easier or through tighter areas).
Each stage puts you on a time limit and you must achieve the objective before time is up to past the stage. Most of the stages have the objective of growing to a certain size. As you get to certain size thresholds, new areas of the stages may unlock for you to go through. You have to be careful too since if you grow too big, you might not be able to fit into the smaller areas anymore which might have had things that you hadn’t got to before and now become out of reach. Other objectives include getting as big as you can without rolling over certain objects, which can be quite annoying, or getting as big as you can using only a finite amount of objects. The levels with these more restrictive objectives aren’t as fun.
The stages are interesting, the earlier stages have you shrunk down so you’ll be running through a room rolling over toys and cards, while others will have you go through a park going over balls and playground equipment. The stages will continue to expand and the camera pulls out as you get bigger, revealing more of the stage. You might just be surprised at how big some of the stages are.
Finishing a stage will earn you candies, which is used to purchase cosmetics and additional modes. The rate of earning candy is low so you’ll likely move on from the game long before you’ve unlocked everything. Each level has twelve collectibles in total to collect, one of which requires you to play it at least for the third time. Each time you’ve collected one, a message pops up and that takes over most of the screen which is annoying and distracting.
The story is... odd to say the least. The opening cutscene sets the tone and you might not really understand much. The King overhears a conversation from a young boy on who is cooler, the King of All Cosmos or his principal. Unfortunately the answer is not that great for the King, so he decides to get his son Prince to go around growing the katamari in order to use it to create new stars. On the other side, there is a shut in who watches on TV how the King has become a slob. He then decides to venture out and be more active. These cutscenes are highly exaggerated and hard to take seriously just due to the sheer randomness and absurdity of the things onscreen.
The game is very short, there are only thirteen stages in the base game before the credits roll. Once you’ve finished those thirteen stages, you can unlock Katamari Drive Mode and Eternal Mode. Katamari Drive Mode is a faster version of the stage where you roll faster, while Eternal Mode gets rid of the restrictions (such as the time limit) and allows you to roll indefinitely, which is perfect for exploring the stages and getting the collectibles.
With only thirteen levels, you’ll see nearly everything the game has to offer within a few hours. As a result, the game feels short. Playing it once or twice after to get the collectibles is fine but will get very boring after that. There are a number of DLC levels, and you are able to unlock them through normal gameplay. Unfortunately, this requires a lot of grinding and luck as it unlocks once you’ve collected ten “Fan Damacy”, which are rare in the first place. If you play for quite a bit, you may unlock one DLC stage naturally but otherwise, it’ll be a massive grind, just like the candies to unlock all the cosmetics.
Overall, Touch My Katamari is a fun and unique quirky game. Rolling a ball to collect all the items while growing bigger is surprisingly addictive and satisfying. The limited number of stages, as well as noticeable reuse of level designs are the major flaws of the game. The story and dialogue are wacky and don’t make much sense, although the game is still worth a play, especially if you’ve never played this series before.
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