The King of All Cosmos and the Prince returns, but their visit is extremely short.
It seems that while everyone in the universe was working, The King of All Cosmos, hanger of stars, was not. He became so lackadaisical that he soon turned into an overweight slob with a defined 5 o'clock shadow. This was no good, as soon the Katamari Damacy fans expressed their disappointment, and a king cannot leave his subjects disappointed! The Prince, creator of katamaris, is once again enlisted to set things right and show the people just how hard working the King of All Cosmos is - vicariously through the Prince, of course.
If you've played one Katamari game, you've played them all. If you haven't, then here's how the game works. You approach people that appear on the King's head (weird as that sounds), and they give you a request. They want to see you roll up a katamari with objects and it has to be a certain size in a given time. You when you select a request, you start out very small, usually in the centimeter range, and then you begin rolling the ball over objects small enough for the katamari to pick up until it starts to grow. From that point on, you can then pick up larger objects that were blocking your way and gain access to new areas to continue rolling up even larger stuff.
Thanks to the Vita's two analogue sticks, it's now possible to control the game exactly as it was with its console counterparts. Think of controlling a tank and you get the idea of how the controls work; both sticks up to go forward, down to go back, one up or down to turn and both sticks in opposite directions to turn around in place. Because the game's called Touch My Katamari, touch controls have also been implemented. You can now touch the katamari and roll it in whichever direction you choose, using two fingers to execute sharper turns. You can also pinch the screen to widen or flatten the size of the katamari to pick up more items at once or squeeze through tight areas, and you can do this as well with the rear touch pad. However, the swipe recognition is - for lack of a better term - touchy, and you may find yourself futzing with the controls until you get the katamari just the way you want it. It's still better to just control the game with the sticks.
Rolling everything up including the kitchen sink is all good fun, but the major problem with Touch My Katamari is the lack of content. There are roughly a dozen or so stages lasting just a few minutes, and the game can be beaten in a single sitting. The game's draw comes from trying the stages over again to build bigger and bigger katamaris, but since the core game hasn't changed a single bit since 2004, you may not feel compelled enough to try again. There is plenty of DLC available to extend the life of the game, but sadly it's content that should have been included from day one to give the initial offering more substance. You can also collect Curios (curious objects) and Damacy fans along with earning more candies for creating larger katamaris to trade for new garbs for the Prince and King. You can even share scores online via leaderboards if you're so inclined to keep replaying.
Due to the simplistic nature of the Katamari Damacy series, Touch My Katamari is the least visually impressive title in the Vita's line up. It's the unique and wacky style of the game that appeals to the eyes, however. People and objects are modeled purposefully blocky, and the same goes with animations as they glide across the ground without lifting a limb. It is an impressive effect to see the world shrink as your katamari grows ever-larger, but a severe case of pop-up puts a hamper on said effect. Also, there is so much clipping in the game that you wonder if your katamari might not just be a giant spherical specter. Still, its light-hearted atmosphere is a joy to roll around in.
The standout feature of the game's audio is the music. Each stage's music is very distinct and quite catchy. You might even find yourself beatboxing along to a couple of them. There's really not much in the way of sound effects. Your katamari rolls around making suction cup noises as it picks up objects. Being hit hard by charging wildlife and speeding vehicles elicits a jolting bang, and hearing the squawks of people as they're about to be consumed by your katarmi is always good for a chuckle. There's also intermittent cutscenes of a man whose life is about to be changed forever by a katarmi, and the voice acting is simply brilliant in a cheesy sort of way.
Hardcore fans of Katamari Damacy not looking for any kind of evolution in the series will be happy to play Touch My Katamari on their Vitas, but even the most die-hard fan will be hard-pressed to admit that they've been given enough. The game currently sells for 20 dollars, so the reduced price helps to soften the blow a bit. It also contains a rather unique DLC system where you can unlock extra content by collecting Damacy Fans, or if you're too lazy to search for them, you can buy them in packs. It's an incentive for people who simply have to do everything in a game, but it's costly for impatient gamers who must have everything right away. If you never played a Katamari Damacy game before and are looking for something bizarre on your new Vita, you may want to give this a try, but just remember you won't be getting much.