A Katamari game was going to inevitably arrive at the App Store.  The iPhone’s tilt controls seem to be a perfect fit for this ball rolling wonder of a game.  Version 1.0.1 of i Love Katamari has already hit the App Store with added control sensitivity and a tilt indicator. This is still Katamari, so most gamers know what to expect.  If you didn’t enjoy past iterations of the game, you will not love this Katamari.  On the flip side, if you have always enjoyed the series, this is shaping up to be a worthy addition.

The game consists of five total stages with four modes of play for each stage.  The stages include story mode, time attack, exact size challenge, and eternal mode.  You must complete each stage’s story mode to open up the next stage.  You are also able to keep and view records for each mode.  There is enough content here to keep you rolling for quite some time.

As you can imagine, the controls are what makes the game.  In version 1.0, there were quite a few complaints about how slow and inaccurate the controls were.  With the update came improved controls and a tilt indicator.  The indicator is unobtrusively located at the bottom of your screen and is there just to remind you how far you are tilting your device.  Now there is no need to lean your entire body trying to get enough momentum, you are able to see your limits.

Tilt controls aren’t the only way to accomplish your goals.  You can also tap each side of the screen to strafe from side to side.  A quick turnaround button is also located at the bottom of the screen, tap it to move the prince to the opposite side of the ball to quickly change directions.  Double-tap the ball to spin it up for a quick boost.

The sound and music in i Love Katamari is a joy.  The oddness of it all works very well.  You can also listen to your music instead, but I don’t see why you would want to.  The title screen music itself is enough to put a person into a ball rolling trance, I just can’t get enough of it.

I love Katamari’s graphics are not the most amazing that we have seen in the series but with all of the open environment interaction it’s hard to believe the iPhone/iPod Touch could do much better.  I will take a high framerate over graphics any day, but the problem with Katamari is that it really has neither.

When your ball reaches a certain size, the graphical transition makes the game bog down each and every time.  It happened so often that I thought maybe it was meant to occur, but of course it wasn’t.  The game can also take a massive performance hit when your ball has reached a decent size.  In most instances, the problems occur in the larger levels with vehicles.  When your ball is just large enough to not fit between buildings as well as not large enough to pick up the buildings you can become lodged between them.  This isn’t a problem in itself as you could eventually maneuver out of the jam.  The problem occurs when vehicles start ramming into your ball.  There seems to be too much activity for the iPhone/iPod Touch to handle, the game starts to once again drop in framerate until something gives.  Small events can sometimes create large framerate issues. I love Katamari has not once crashed on me like many iPhone/iPod Touch games, but the framerate issues are a nuisance and take away from the overall enjoyment of the game.

Even with all of the technical glitches, I fully enjoyed playing i Love Katamari.  It is starting to become a broken record with games being released in an almost unplayable state and gamers having to wait patiently for updates.  I hope developers start learning from all of these missteps and attempt to get it right on the first try.  I love Katamari is not quite what it should be.  If you really enjoy the Katamari series, i Love Katamari is a worthy entry if you can put up with the frequent framerate issues.

Overall: 7 out of 10

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