Aaaah! Sticky STICK IT TO ME!

Last week I talked about board games that I have been playing lately. At the end of that entry I promised that I would soon talk about the console/computer games that I am playing. Well today I fulfill that promise with talk about a console game that I have been playing since Steve-o got me stuck on it last year, and Jenne gave me the sequel for Christmas! It's a video game that anyone can play, regardless of your personal experience or skill level with such games. This is a game for anyone and everyone because you don't need amazing hand eye coordination, you don't need super finger reflexes and you don't have to know a crazy amount of controls. You just need two hands, a zany sense of humor, and a love of bright colors and fun music! The game controls like a nimble tank, requires only the use of the thumb sticks and no buttons (but keeping your finger over a couple helps from time to time), and is all about one little star boy pushing an ever expanding sticky sphere-like thingie around the world picking up stuff. There's no magic or psychic powers or laser beams or mutant scorpions that can only be killed with the gem of power. No running around gunning down hordes of demons, Nazis or Imperial Storm Troopers. None of that. It’s just rolling to that funky music white boy! In fact, I will go so far as to call this the most-creative-game-EVER!

Let's talk We Love Katamari! This game is only available for PS2, but PS2s are way down in price (a little over $100) and most stores sell them in a bundle package with some extras. The games, Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari are also pretty cheap for the hours and hours of entertainment they provide ($19.95 and 29.95 respectively). I also just discovered that a Playstation Portable version is coming out in March! AWESOME! In all three games you play the role of the Inchling Prince, son of the King of All Cosmos, who in a drunken stupor one night flew around space and knocked all of the stars out of the sky. Your mission in the first game is to roll the magically sticky katamari (roughly translated, it means clump) and pick up stuff on Earth. You start out with little things like paper clips, tacks, candies, bugs and mice, and build up to ever-larger things, like cars, SUVs (I love clumping up SUVs), buildings, towns, stadiums and clouds. The King tells you he wants a Katamari of X-size, he sends you to Earth on the Royal Rainbow and off you roll. Basically everything on Earth can be stuck to and rolled up in your katamari. When you reach the objective you present the katamari to the King of All Cosmos (and boy, does he have a package) who either praises you for such a lovely katamari, or berates you for merely meeting the minimum requirements. And when the King berates you, he does a damn fine job of it. Either way, he then tosses the clump into space where it explodes into stars, planets and constellations. This act refills the night sky with its spendor! Man, I want what the Japanese game designers are smoking to come up with this wackiness. In the second game, which I have been playing since Jenne gave it to me for Christmas (when I need a break from the other games I play), has you accepting missions from the fans of the King of All Cosmos. Again you roll things up into clumps, but the missions have very specific goals and conditions, such as collecting so many thousand roses, x number of crabs or fish, and keeping a burning katamari from going out. The sequel just builds on the creativity of the first game. It's very addicting and strangely relaxing. As I roll the katamari the stress of the day just rolls off my back. The music is a huge part of this game and is very upbeat and cheery. It fits the game well. I find myself humming it quite often. In fact the music is so catchy that I have a CD of it and it's even on mu iPod. This nice chap translated all of the game's songs! SWEET!

Well, it’s time for me to roll! Aaaah! Sticky STICK IT TO ME!