We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie Review (100100101)
I'm more mixed on this than I'd like to be, mostly because of 2-3 character levels in particular that rub me the wrong way, but everything else is mostly what you'd expect from a Katamari game.
Most of the levels feel like Katamari levels and give you ample time to complete the objective, with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions.
The soundtrack has at least a few songs I enjoy listening to on loop and is still a strong aspect of the game. A couple of the songs do reference previous songs from the original title and that can put you in the mood to listen to the songs they reference instead.
One thing I appreciate is that the keyboard controls work decently at least. Considering you're rolling a sphere, most of the time, I thought it'd have worse keyboard mapping, but it's actually better than some other games I played with more one-to-one mapping to the styles of playing.
Most of the levels feel like standard Katamari levels, but I do feel some of the more specialized levels are where things take a nosedive. There's some concepts that are interesting and work but there's also a few that feel like they fail because of a few issues of the concept itself that make them not fun.
Royal Reverie content feels like a plus and none of the levels felt bad, but is definitely really short.
Where it goes wrong:
This section can have varying degrees of things I would consider to be mistakes. Some aren't as bad, but there are some stinkers in this one as well.
Strangely enough, the game feels a little short. It could be level variety since there's definitely a lot of levels that double up on the location to varying degrees, even between fans.
100%ing - check below for anything related to cousins on the levels that are in this section, as some of the issues stems from that. First issue is that you can only acquire 1 new cousin at any given time. If there's 3 cousins available in a level and you didn't acquire 1 yet, you only are allowed to get the first one of 3. Cousin acquisitions do not count for this if they're not new, allowing you to get older and the new cousin on the same run.
Racer level sucks and you have to complete the same one 3 times to get all the cousins, which is over the average per level.
The Katamari doesn't stop and will constantly roll, disabling pivot jumping to the other side of the Katamari to correct positioning easier. They have a similar level in the Royal Reverie section that works much better because you can actually pivot jump, despite the higher speeds. This is despite the fact that it feels like it's easier to pick up things and harder or impossible to lose things rolled up in this level that I would still put this as one of the worst aspects of the game.
Cow and Bear level - It's fine when you get the start where you instantly finish once or twice because each starting location is trapped in at least 2 cardinals, but after 5 or so times of trying, it gets annoying really fast, even with a fast restart. It is also both funny and annoying that the cousin can also end the run because of the cow-themed outfit they have.
Camper Level - Not as bad as the other two, but definitely annoying because of the fire mechanic that can go out really fast if you're stranded somewhere without anything to roll up. Also not being able to roll up living beings aside from the mushroom cousin was a letdown. Also the camper isn't satisfied until doing his level 4 times if I recall correctly, which is the highest amount of times it takes to get the other achievements to satisfy the fans.
Bird and Elephant Level - Just a time waster for getting the 4 cousins on the same mode (disabled in eternal 3, do not attempt to get cousins on eternal modes), but otherwise a good level if you don't mind repeating it.
Overall, I'd put it like this:
People that like 100% achievements? No if you're a new player to the series that may not like the game.
Everyone else? Most of the levels I like so I'd give it a recommend.