We Love Katamari is a 2005 action-puzzle video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2. It is the sequel and prequel to the 2004 sleeper hit Katamari Damacy. The player controls a diminutive character named the Prince as he rolls around an adhesive ball called a "katamari" to collect increasingly larger objects, ranging from coins to pencils to buildings, in order to build stars as ordered by his father, the King of All Cosmos.
Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi opposed the idea of a sequel as he believed the video game industry's focus on sequels was detrimental to employee creativity. He agreed to direct We Love Katamari when Namco executives stated they would continue development with or without his input. The game was given a larger budget and staff compared to the original, with Takahashi leading a team of 30 employees to create it. We Love Katamari is themed around fan service as a response to the significant support from fans for Katamari Damacy. Takahashi mandated that it needed to retain the spirit of its predecessor while also feeling new and fresh at the same time.
Critics enjoyed We Love Katamari for keeping the style of Katamari Damacy intact, such as its unique gameplay, heavily-stylized visuals, and soundtrack. Its new additions, such as multiplayer modes and additional level objectives, were also met with praise. Some believed the game did not feel like the creative leap of the original, and its new ideas did not change much overall. It was the only other Katamari game to have involvement from Takahashi, and was followed by Me & My Katamari later that year.
A remaster, We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie, was released in June 2023 by Namco's successor Bandai Namco Entertainment for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
Gameplay
thumb|left|The Prince rolling his katamari through a city.
In We Love Katamari, the player controls the Prince, the 5-centimeter-tall son of the god-like entity the King of All Cosmos, who rolls around a "katamari", a magical ball that causes objects smaller than it to attach to it. and was demonstrated at that year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), where it gained favorable reception from attendees. Keita Takahashi opposed the idea of creating a sequel to Katamari Damacy, as it was his belief the industry relied heavily on sequels that limited creativity and what developers could implement into their games. Namco already began work on a follow-up to Katamari in the form of a Christmas-themed version of the original, without involvement from Takahashi.
Takahashi chose to theme the sequel around supplying fan service as a response to the significant support from fans for the original Katamari Damacy. This stemmed from Takahashi's gripe towards defining games with traditional methods, such as displaying product descriptions on the front of its cover art. was created to further emphasize its centering around fanservice.
Developed by Monkeycraft, a remaster of We Love Katamari, titled We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie, was released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Windows, Xbox One and Series X/S, on June 2, 2023. The remaster supports high-definition resolutions and other quality of life improvements.
Reception
We Love Katamari was met with positive reception upon release. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave it an aggregate score of 86 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. The Sydney Morning Herald praised the game, stating that "the way the scale changes seamlessly is incredibly cunning with areas becoming accessible and later off-limits again according to the size of your flotsam-encrusted orb".
Both GamePro and Game Informer praised the co-op mode introduced into the game, noting that it took some getting used to, but that the game was just as polished and fun as the single-player mode.
According to Metacritic, We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie received "generally favorable reviews".