Not much has changed in the Katamari games since Katamari Damacy, the first one, was released in 2004. And while the core of Katamari Forever is the same as its predecessors, there enough new elements have been injected to make this edition worth checking out.

Here’s what’s the same. The objective: create larger and larger accretion balls by rolling them around and picking up objects from the environment.

Also the same are the blocky, psychedelic graphics and the same quirky characters: the Prince and the cousins.

The story, such as it is, is new. The King, beaned by a black star while flying through the heavens, has gone into a coma. A robot replacement RoboKing, flies into the cosmos and destroys all the stars.

It’s up to the Prince to restore the cosmos by constructing katamaris to become replacement stars and planets. The Prince will also go into the King’s mind to help him recover his memories. These levels are presented in black and white, with colour slowly seeping back into the picture.

Also new in Katamari Forever is that when you fail a level, you play a mini game, and when you’ve succeeded you watch a short, 20-second episode of a movie that is as bizarre as the game itself.

The controls have been altered, too. You can now execute a “dash” to move quickly for a short distance, you can do quick 180s in order to reverse direction, and you can get some vertical by flickng the PS3 controller up and performing a “Prince Hop”.

The new feature that you’ll most appreciate, though, is the power-up. By rolling over a heart, indicated by a rainbow cylinder, you’ll pull in all objects in the immediate surroundings of your katamari. Finding one of those at just the right time can really make a difference.

Cross-posted at the Georgia Straight