Katamari Damacy and Ruminatons on Fun-Ness

Of late there's been a lamentation ion the game community, that there's nothing new. And for the most part this is true. There's just a finite amount of things you can do with computer games, though that's a really large 'finite amount.' Still, the games industry is in a bit of a slump of late, filled with realtime strategy games and first-person shooters.

Katamari Damacy (or Damachi) could be argued to be a remake of Pac-Man. Indeed, running around with a round object and gathering up items has been done before. But this game is just so... so... bizarre that it's fun, new, and refreshingly different.

The idea is totally oddball: the King of the Cosmos accidentally broke all the stars and it's up to the prince to replace them. And this is done by rolling around a ball, gathering up stuff to make a bigger ball, to gather up BIGGER stuff and making an EVEN BIGGER ball.... In one game you could potentially go from picking up thumbtacks to picking up -- I kid you not -- whole people. It's weird and yet it's fun. You have a time limit, but if you fail to get a ball of big enough size the King just tells you to go back and try again. You don't have to remember tons of button combinations, combo moves, finding random hidden things... you just PLAY it, and the fun is in playing it rather than attaining a goal.

( Ramblings within,  )

Anyway, Katamari Damacy. Just Plain Fun.

Shadow hearts: Covenant

'Tis a day of game reviews, it seems! This particular title I rented and am gioving it a whirl, and I found that there were some things I felt like sharing with whomever stumbles accross this journal.( Clicky on the cutty. )

My final word on it: forgiving gameplay, involved and (for me) appealing storyline, intriguing subject matter (magic models and historical conspiracies are right up my alley!) and interesting plot; against some rather dark moments and one (for me) disturbing character (damn you, Gepetto!) who isn't really all that disturbing unless you think too much about him. If I had the cash reserves I would probably buy it to play it through to the end.