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cover-We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie

Friday, June 2, 2023 2:13:17 AM

We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie Review (♚𝙳𝚛𝚊𝚑𝚌𝚒𝚛)

Reroll-related post-game comments have been added below.
This review will gloss over the game in both the context of a remaster and the context of a sequel to Katamari Damacy. TL:DR - 100% worthy as both, and if you have the choice of picking up either this or the OG, I'd say go for this one. As of this review, I cleared nearly all the main game stages once and all the Royal Reverie levels. I know my gameplay time is short but I played the original extensively as a kid.
Katamari Damacy was one-of-a-kind when it released in the west nearly 20 years ago. There was nothing like it, and it was strange but wildly entertaining. The stages had so much charm and silly interactions, the characters were silly, and the music was top notch. It was a success, and We Love Katamari ended up coming out soon after, and it really expanded on the base game. More unique level goals and designs, bigger heights, ability to play as the cousins, more plot, more everything. In my opinion it was almost the perfect sequel; The only thing it didn't have was Eternal mode.
Step forward to 2018 when Katamari Damacy Reroll came out. Reliving one of my favorite games of all time was a fantastic experience but oddly underwhelming given what's come out since then? Still no choice in music, no ability to play as other cousins etc. Thankfully Namco took notes because WLK is a more substantial Reroll, adding ETERNAL MODE and even small things like better song management (you can pick your favorite songs etc), all while holding the same level of high quality visual appearanace that Katamari Damacy Reroll had, not to mention a day 1 stable release which is oddly uncommon anymore. The only thing WLK didn't add that I noticed was additional time in some levels like KD:R did, but I think that's because WLK was more relaxed on its time limits to begin with.
The Reroll also added a few new levels where you play as a young King of All Cosmos. These are short levels that remix a few levels from the original game, but they're nice free additions and I felt they still held a level of charm comparable to what the OG levels had. I enjoyed them. There is also a mini objective where you can find little stickers from other Namco games like Pac-Man. If you wear the camera and take pictures, you "collect" these stickers. It's a neat little way to encourage more replayability and I'm all for it since the Katamari games are about that in the first place.
Other small things I noticed worth commenting on... some of the sound effects have a lower pitch which caught me offguard as I wasn't used to them. Some objects I noticed were renamed or redesigned, such as the American Guy being renamed. These things don't affect gameplay at all and the renames/designs likely won't go too noticed.
In terms of why We Love Katamari was an overall great sequel, it just expanded on what Katamari Damacy did... added more level objectives, more levels, bigger goals, more replayability incentive, actually playing as the cousins in single player, a soundtrack just as good if not better than the original, and every level is fun with some having multiple layers to them, such as the "guesstimate" level having 3 variants instead of just the one. The original Katamari Damacy had a couple levels I was "eh" on, but I never felt that way with WLK when I played it back in 2006 and I certainly don't feel that way replaying its reroll in 2023.
Overall, Namco did an excellent job with this remaster, even better than the Katamari Damacy one. It's rare for me to buy a game Day 1 at full cost anymore, but I'm glad I did with this one because it holds up well.

I have now finished WLK:R. I acquired all achievements, cousins, and presents. Still working on stickers, collection & speed comets. The comments I made before with lower-pitched sound effects and renames do get more noticeable as you replay the levels. Examples include the Taiwanese flag just saying "TW" in the space level, and cousin Colombo being renamed to Njamo. The discussions have pinpointed far more differences than I could, so check them out if you're curious.
My other post-game comment pertains to Eternal Mode. It does exist, and I am happy about it... but it only exists for ALAP3-5. Fun levels, especially ALAP5. However WLK has a lot more unique setpieces than KD, and part of me was hoping other levels such as the Campsite, Lake, and Save The Pandas levels, would get the Eternal treatment like in later games. This may just be a petty point, but wanted to comment on it in case others expected more like I did. Maybe they'll patch it in a future date especially if they fix the sounds.
I have not picked up the DLC, but taking a look it's very expensive for what it is and you don't even get MP3s or FLACs. They did a good job at picking a lot of hits from each game though.
My recommendation still stands as it is a genuinely fun game and Namco still did a great job, better than some other companies would. Skip the expensive DLC.