Katamari Damacy for PlayStation 2

This quirky title is hard to classify, and harder to put down. It's become something of a cult phenomenon, and has taken on a life of its own. This has been helped by the simple controls and excellent sense of humor. The plot alone is ludicrous--and is secondary to the game play itself: the King of All Cosmos got drunk one night and destroyed all the stars, you play his son who has to make them again out of stuff found on earth. It's a ridiculous plot that has only small importance in the game, the gameplay itself what is important:

To make these stars, you control the tiny Prince while he rolls a round, sticky ball around picking up objects. Each level has a goal, most of them are to get this ball to a certain size--although some are to get specific objects, like anything crab shaped to rebuild the constellation Cancer; as the ball increases in size, you're able to get to new areas and pick up new objects. The controls are also very simple, which increases the game's charm: using the Playstation's analog sticks only, you maneuver the ball around picking up increasingly large and hilarious objects--paperclips, lunchboxes, dogs, people, cars, buildings.

It is a fun game with a very simple and yet widespread appeal. It's very hard to go wrong, and it's hard to forget the first time you manage to pick up a person. The laughter alone is worth the price of admission.

Ever wish you could roll up your neighbors in one big screaming ball? Well this is your chance. I’m not sure what drugs the makers were taking while watching Monty Python and creating this game, but the results are fun universally. It’s such a bizarre concept until you start playing, then it’s like “Oh!!! I get it. This is great!” The visuals are comical. The quirky music will stick in your head. And the dialogue with the Grand Pooba (whatever his name was) is like something out of Monty Python. It starts out small scale with you just rolling up crumbs, mah jong tiles, etc. If you stick with it, though, the payoff is great. You start rolling up livestock, people, even buildings. The other great thing about this game—and one of it’s biggest selling points to me—was that you only really need to use the two joysticks on your PS2 controller. You needn’t bother with the buttons. The PS2 is nice, but I’ve come to realize that it’s a more mature console. There aren’t too many games that a pre-schooler could play and enjoy made for the PS2. Fortunately, this is one of them. Literal “fun for the whole family.”

I'm a fan of all types of video games but tend to avoid those that could use "blood and guts" in their tag lines (I save that for the zombie movies...) -- and Katamari Damacy I would say is the complete opposite of any of those games.

Your sole mission in this game? To roll a ball around earth 'collecting' as many random objects as you can. Sounds simple enough, right? Well actually it can get quite hard!

You are the prince of the cosmos, sent to earth to collect materials to rebuild the cosmos after your father, The King of the Cosmos, accidentally drunkenly destroys it (The King also introduces all the segments in what at first seem like riddles you have to figure out but turn out to be completely useless in the game (at least as far as I can tell).

And to gather said materials, you roll a ball around collecting objects, starting from very small things like pin tacks and batteries, all the way up to buildings and automobiles, etc.

What makes the game tough are two things: controlling your Katamari and collecting enough materials in the time limit, which gets shorter as you progress through the levels.

On certain levels you also must collect only certain types of objects, which gets harder as the game progresses because the bigger the Katamari, the easier it is to pick stuff up!

I love this game. It is a simple concept but is designed very well and is really fun to play, for anyone of any age!

Oh, and the music in this game is really fun and catchy. It's very Japanese - something you'd hear in a karaoke bar but so catchy the songs will be stuck in your head for hours after playing!

One of the strangest, most unique video games for the PS2, Katamari Damacy is brilliant. With catchy, bouncy music and curious bits of game story, Katamari is classic and kooky all at once. The premise is simple. Roll up stuff into balls of a certain size or with certain objects. Those balls are then turned into stars and constellations. The levels grow progressively more difficult. The controls are simple, and the game offers a hilarious accounting system of all the items you've rolled up along your way.

Katamari is one of those universally loveable games, great for kids or teenagers, drunk parties, or low key events. You can't really go wrong with something this off the wall.

This is my all-time favorite video game. The guy at GameSpot suggested it for my then-5 year old son, because of its simple, yet bizarre concept: you are a tiny Prince and you have a ball that you push around. As you push the ball around, stuff sticks to it.
At first your ball is really small, and you can only pick up really small things. You're in a japanese house picking up game pieces, candy, pencils, batteries, food-- occasionally the family dog comes by and hits you, causing stuff to fly off your Katamari ball.
Eventually, your ball becomes huge, and you roll through different landscapes. You pick up cattle, humans, and even buildings, until you finally win all the levels and you're done.
I also really like the music, and downloaded the theme as my ringtone.
It's easy to play but really addictive, kind of like tetris, as you try to roll up more and more stuff with various time constraints.