Once Upon a KATAMARI

Bandai Namco really hit a home run with this latest entry in the Katamari Damacy series. It's calming, cozy, and whimsical—in other words, everything you expect from a Katamari game. The time travel theme works well, and the ability to customize your appearance based on your gameplay performance really sells it. Once Upon A KATAMARI is now my favorite entry in the series, setting new standards and introducing mechanics that I hope will become franchise staples. This is a perfect introduction to the series for newcomers, while also making veterans very happy.

Once Upon a KATAMARI is a Katamari game at its best, rolling, rolling, and rolling through time collecting items and constructing new planets. The 10+ year wait has been worth it, as it introduces just enough novelty all the while preserving the best bits of the series. Its uniqueness aside, it’s the most approachable Katamari yet.

Once Upon a Katamari is pure charm. Bandai Namco succeeds in reviving the absurd magic of the classic with polished gameplay, humor filled levels, and a vibrant artistic direction. Traveling through different eras, creating your cousins, and rolling up entire worlds remains as fun as ever. While it does not innovate much, it achieves the perfect balance between nostalgia, rhythm, and colorful chaos. A gem that celebrates the weird and beautiful essence of play.

Once Upon A KATAMARI takes one of the most unique and enjoyable formulas in gaming history and makes it even more fun thanks to its many elements that add up to one cleverly quirky era-spanning adventure.

Once Upon A KATAMARI may have taken a while to arrive, but it made up for the fans' wait with a great title. It maintained the good things that the remakes of the first two titles brought to current generations and enhanced them with excellent narrative elements and a charming soundtrack. The King of All Cosmos may have tried to interfere, in more than one way, but the Prince managed to deliver his katamari in the way we all expected.

Once Upon a Katamari is a fantastic new entry in the series and provides an incredibly entertaining experience in all the right ways, despite its tedious parts.

Minor grievances aside, Once Upon a KATAMARI is a surprise delight and the best the long-running arcade adventure series has ever been. I’m shocked that all it took to innovate the already fantastic series was some apt theming and missions that run the gamut, rolling across Ancient Egypt and the Stone Ages, but they damn well pulled it off this time. Meaningful inclusions like pickups and a higher emphasis on collectables and customisation also help to make missions require all the more strategy and replayability. The charm’s still there, as is the new soundtrack that’ll earworm its way into your heart and soul. 21 years deep into the beloved Japanese franchise that could, and I’m obsessed with rolling up cows, people, houses, skyscrapers and the universe all the same. Katamari is back, baby.

It sticks hard to the formula established two decades ago, but Once Upon a Katamari’s tumble through history has enough new ideas and relentless charm to make it a worthy entry for fans old and new.

Once Upon A Katamari marks a triumphant return for the quirky series, blending nostalgic gameplay with thoughtful modern updates. It embraces the chaotic charm that made Katamari Damacy a cult classic while introducing smoother controls, era-hopping levels, and new collectibles that keep the experience fresh. While not every new feature hits the mark, this long-awaited sequel mostly sticks the cosmic landing.

Once Upon a Katamari doesn't stray an inch from the classic formula of the series; in fact, it plays almost exactly the same. But it enriches the experience with more challenges, more distinct objectives, crazy levels, and competitive multiplayer for 4 players (including online). And all of this is sprinkled with the brand's trademark absurd humor.

Thanks to its simplified controls, Once Upon a Katamari is a skill game that even genre newcomers can enjoy. It's colorful, crazy, and truly Japanese-cheesy: an addictive combination that never gets boring thanks to the variety of settings.

Once Upon a KATAMARI makes its long-awaited return, delivering the series’ trademark blend of simple yet addictive gameplay and quirky humor. Unfortunately, a few frustrating bugs also roll back in, but the game’s charm is hard to resist.

Once Upon a Katamari rolls straight into that Katamari-shaped hole in your heart with all the quirky charm you’d expect. It doesn’t change much and honestly, it doesn’t need to. New levels, same absurd joy. Count us in till the end of time.

Much like the remasters before it, Once Upon a Katamari is a great reminder that there's still nothing quite like this series, and it feels as fresh today as it did with Keita Takahashi's original over two decades ago.

Long time fans of the off-the-wall action puzzler and newcomers alike are bound to have a ball.

Once Upon A Katamari delivers an amazingly fun time. It may be derivative with its graphics and story, but the impressive level variety across nine eras and sheer wealth of content ensure fans and newcomers will be rolling until they're sick of smiling.

Once Upon a Katamari is the return fans have been waiting for: colorful, eccentric, and brimming with the carefree absurdity that made Bandai Namco’s franchise so unique. While it doesn’t reinvent the formula, it tastefully modernizes it with a more cohesive structure. It’s a game that chooses refinement over revolution, but does so with genuine love for its quirky universe and characters. In short, Once Upon a Katamari doesn’t redefine the series; it celebrates it in the most joyful way possible.

The classic Katamari formula remains intact in the new installment. Growing and consuming everything in your path is still a lot of fun, and the adventure's climax is a delight. However, nearly 50 levels were unnecessary. Bandai Namco should have streamlined things a bit and eliminated all the stages that use a rather flat and boring design. Fortunately, many of the missions use new ideas or well-executed variations on familiar concepts. It doesn't surpass the fantastic We Love Katamari, but Once Upon a Katamari is a good installment that fans shouldn't miss.

Once Upon a Katamari brings back everything fans love about the series while polishing a few gameplay elements along the way. It keeps its trademark quirky humor, chaotic mechanics, and delightfully weird story intact. It’s not a reinvention of the formula, but it’s still a joy to play from start to finish.

Once Upon a Katamari takes the simple, brilliant idea at the heart of the series and rolls it through time, offering a hilarious snapshot of human history. It’s packed with clever twists that shake up a formula which, at its core, stays the same — and yet it never stops being fun, thanks to its absurd creativity, irresistible soundtrack, and a presentation that’s unapologetically, wonderfully Japanese. If you’ve loved this franchise in the past, this comeback will have you cheerfully humming for days. And if you’ve never played it before, now’s a perfect time to give it a shot and discover just how fun it can be to roll over a bunch of Greek philosophers or barrel through a pack of velociraptors.

Katamari Damacy is back, and it's still the same: crazy, fun, and hypnotic. The first true new entry in the series in 14 years offers a remarkable amount of content, plenty of customization options, and gameplay accessible to everyone, though it requires a fair amount of practice to master. The camera system, always the series' blessing and curse, has been improved, but it will require a fair amount of patience, especially in the more complex levels.

Once Upon a Katamari is still a fantastic time and the new must-play title in the series. It manages to perfectly capture what has always made Katamari so charming and special--the writing, the humor, the music, the absurdity of it all--and refines it into the best way to experience the series, regardless of if it's your first time playing or if you're a long-time fan. Though it seems absurd to claim I wanted Bandai Namco to commit even more to the bit with this game, more intention and innovation is all that keeps Once Upon a Katamari from being truly great. Regardless, it's still a wonderful--and much-welcomed--return to the world of Katamari.

The first brand new Katamari game in years, Once Upon a Katamari doesn't disappoint. While it suffers from the same issues the series always has, like wonky controls and camera, there's no denying that it's as fun as ever to play. There's nothing else like it, and we'll never grow tired of the utter weirdness of rolling up items with a special ball.

Once Upon a Katamari gets what has made the series such a long-lasting and beloved gaming franchise. The latest Katamari game is simply a joy to experience, as it gives the Prince plenty of wacky objects to roll up and is a worthy sequel. Both newcomers and series veterans will have a blast with Bandai Namco’s latest, as it’s hard to imagine anyone not smiling while playing.

Once Upon A Katamari is the first true sequel in the long-rolling series since 2023, bringing with it a plethora of levels and multiplayer action to keep fans pleased while being approachable to newcomers alike.

While its colorful art direction, eccentric humor, and fantastic new soundtrack capture the charm of the original, Once Upon a Katamari feels stagnant, with outdated controls, low interactivity, and few meaningful innovations beyond its nostalgic core.

Once Upon a Katamari has an excellent concept, and excellent gameplay. The problem is that there are lots of Katamari games with the same excellent concept and gameplay. The new online modes and customization options are great ideas, but are very shallow in execution. There just isn’t enough evolution in any of the series’ core ideas. If you’re a player who wants more Katamari levels, then Once Upon a Katamari has that. But if you were excited to create your own Prince character and get lost in endless online battle modes, then I’m sorry to have to share that those aspects are afterthoughts, despite being advertised as key features. As a fan of the series, I can tell there wasn’t the same amount of care and effort in Once Upon a Katamari that went into the series’ classic titles.

Once Upon a Katamari returns as weird as ever and remains faithful to the previous games. While some serious repetition in its levels and a problematic camera hold it back, these flaws do little to diminish the relaxing and uniquely delightful experience that Katamari continues to offer.

It's not easy to frame an operation like Once Upon a Katamari, suspended between the desire to renew a twenty-year-old tradition and the fear of losing the true essence of what is a cult PS2 title. The joy of completely destroying the settings, starting from their smallest elements, remains intact, and it's impossible not to be won over by the nonsensical madness of a video game that never takes itself seriously. Yet it was reasonable to expect some substantial additions to a gameplay formula that, while still unassailable, dates back to distant 2004. Bandai Namco has thus played to the nostalgia factor without taking the risk of modernizing its intellectual property, giving longtime fans another chance to roll their Katamari, but without offering any convincing glimpses into the future of the series.

Yet another entirely unnecessary sequel to a classic game that should never have got any follow-ups at all. But if you want even more of the same old thing there are few small sparks of imagination here and there.