Time to get your balls out, Katamari fans. No, the ones you make stars out of. In the game. Shame on you. The June issue of Official Xbox Magazine hits newsstands May 8th with an exclusive look at Beautiful Katamari, the first installment of the series to hit current-gen consoles.
Along with some much-anticipated screenshots, the preview will feature new details on the massive levels you’ll be destroying and a peek at the 4-player (Online!) VS Mode. Hit the jump for an excerpt from the magazine and be sure to pick up your copy next month so you can get ready to have those awesome songs lodged in your brain for weeks when the game is released.
[Thanks, Noa!]
On the premise: “The idea behind the game is to use the Prince’s ‘katamari’- a colorful rolling ball whose size varies throughout the game- to roll over and pick up different objects in the environment.”
On the objective of the game: “Each stage has its own bizarro objectives, whether it’s hitting a specific size for your katamari or collecting a certain amount of a specific object.”
On collecting objects: “In some stages, you’ll start off with small objects like matchsticks and eventually build up to stuff as big as, say, and elephant. You can actually collect clouds, planes, and skyscrapers.”
On VS mode: “In VS mode, you can take on up to three friends to see who has the fastest rolling skills.”
On customizing your character: “Presents are little ‘equippable items’ bestowed on you by your kooky dad- you must roll them up on your katamari to make them accessible in your virtual closet. They range from new hats to differently colored shirts.”
Lindsay Gray [the man behind the localization efforts for Namco Bandai’s International Software Development team] on objects in the game: “‘We’ve gone from around 1,486 objects in previous Katamaris to nearly 5,000 in the new game.’”
In sum: “Even with all this wackiness being tossed around, at its heart Beautiful Katamari remains the same game.”
