I Love Katamari

I Love Katamari (Japanese: 塊魂モバイル, Hepburn: Katamari Damashii Mobairu, lit. "Clump Spirit Mobile"), is a third-person puzzle-action video game developed by Namco Bandai Games for iOS. It is a continuation of the Katamari Damacy series of games. It was released worldwide in the App Store on December 14, 2008 (2008-12-14) (and subsequently removed on March 30, 2015 (2015-03-30)[1]). In 2010 Namco announced a Windows Phone 7 version of the game.[2] A version was released for Android in 2012 exclusively for Samsung Android devices.[3] In this game, the King of All Cosmos instructs the game's protagonist – the Prince – to gather as many objects as possible to grow a highly adhesive ball called a Katamari large enough so that he can pick up special objects to bring to the King so that he can regain his memory.

I Love Katamari
Appstore icon
Developer(s)Namco Bandai Games
Publisher(s)Namco Bandai Games
SeriesKatamari Damacy
Platform(s)iOS, Windows Phone 7, Android
Release
  • WW: December 14, 2008
Genre(s)Puzzle, action
Mode(s)Single-player

The gameplay is identical to that of Katamari Damacy, where the player rolls a highly adhesive ball called a Katamari, collecting various objects of increasing size until it becomes large enough to transform into a star. The game utilizes the specialized technology from the iPhone and iPod Touch in which players tilt the device to move the Katamari across the playing field. I Love Katamari received mixed reviews. While it has been praised for its game presentation, it has also been criticized for performance and control issues. The performance and control issues were improved in an update, but not entirely fixed. As of 2018 the game has been delisted from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and while it is not available on the Windows Store, the page for it is still active.

Gameplay
Gameplay of I Love Katamari

In I Love Katamari, the player controls a highly–adhesive ball called the katamari. The object is to make the katamari as large as possible by running over and collecting objects of increasing size. The more objects players collect, the larger the katamari becomes. One reviewer described the game as follows: "Basically, the object is to roll a ball around a level and pick up as much junk as you can to make the ball bigger. It sounds EPIC, and it’s fun to play and really addicting".[4] Instead of using analog controllers to control the katamari as in the home console Katamari games, players roll the katamari by tilting the iPhone/iPod Touch in the direction they want the katamari to go.[4] The goal is to collect specific objects requested by the King of All Cosmos within a specified time limit.[5]

Reception

I Love Katamari has received some praise and some criticism from various reviewers. While some reviewers, such as Nicole Lee from CNET, praised the game for its intuitive usage of the iPhone/iPod Touch technology,[10] other reviewers such as Luke Plunkett from Kotaku and Levi Buchanan from IGN have heavily criticized the game for its lack of responsiveness in controls and handling of the katamari as well as software lag that could cause the game to freeze.[5][11][12][13]Namco Bandai released an update for the game, improving some performance and control problems previously experienced by users.[14]

References
  1. "Bandai Namco pulls pile of games from iOS, including Katamari and Pac-Man". technobuffalo. 31 March 2015.
  2. "A quick look at some of the new WP7 games from Namco". BestWP7Games. 9 November 2010. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010.
  3. "Samsung Apps". Samsung. 16 February 2012.
  4. Siegler, MG (2008-12-13). "I Love Katamari rolls onto the iPhone". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  5. Buchanan, Levi (2008-12-15). "I Love Katamari iPhone Review: Disastrous technical issues totally spoil a quirky cult favorite". IGN. Archived from the original on 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
  6. "i Love Katamari for iOS (iPhone/iPad)". GameRankings. Archived from the original on 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
  7. "I Love Katamari for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
  8. Stern, Zack (2008-12-16). "i Love Katamari". MacLife. Archived from the original on 2012-09-27. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  9. Barylick, Chris (2009-01-23). "Review: I Love Katamari for the iPhone". Macworld. Archived from the original on 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  10. Lee, Nicole (2008-12-22). "'I Love Katamari' for the iPhone and iPod Touch". CNET. Archived from the original on 2012-10-24. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  11. Plunkett, Luke (2008-12-16). "I Love Katamari Micro-Review: I Don't Love Katamari". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  12. Erickson, Tracy (2008-12-14). "I Love Katamari: Make us sappy". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on 2008-12-18. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  13. Acevedo, Paul (2011-03-30). "I Love Katamari - Review". Windows Central. Archived from the original on 2016-04-12. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  14. Plunkett, Luke (2008-12-22). "Katamari iPhone: Fixed!". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2008-12-19. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
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