Katamari Amore (塊魂 アモーレ, Katamari Damashii Amore, lit. Clump Spirit Amore) is a third-person puzzle-action video game that is published and developed by Bandai Namco for iOS. With rumors beginning in March 2011, the game was revealed in a pre-release state at E3 2011, and was released to the public on September 29, 2011. Katamari Amore is the second game of the Katamari franchise to be released on iOS, and features Game Center integration.
The game's plot revolves around the main character The Prince retrieving specific items on the planet Earth for his father The King of All Cosmos.
In March 30, 2015 it was removed from the Apple Store.
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Story[]
The game consists of three different stories, this first on is called "Have a Nice Trip!", one day while cleaning his room, The King stumbles upon a book called "Have a Nice Trip!", which he had gotten while visiting the planet Earth. The book details different rare objects that can be seen around the world. Upon discovering the book, and realizing he is smitten with the beauty of the objects, he orders Prince to Earth to roll them up and bring them back to him. This story features going to different places around the world for example, "South American Ruins" is supposed to represent Machu Picchu.
The second story is called "Time Trip". The King had too much free time and was drifting about in the cosmos. With nothing to do, he started to think about difficult things. The King proclaims that "We think of difficult things sometimes" and that "We think of many different things, We think... Therefore We are.... Where are We from... and where do We go... Time flies... Time flees without delay... Time flows on... Why is the flow of time one-way only...? Wouldn't it be fun if you could co backwards in time?". Thinking of this made The King interested in time travel and he sent The Prince to roll up a time machine called "The Time Hopper" so he can go back in time. This story features going backwards and forwards through time for example, "Western Town" is supposed to represent the Westward Expansion in the 1800's.
The third story is called "Rolling Whopper". The king views Earth from above and while looking at it and notices that it never changes, he then notices that America looks so lively, fun gorgeous, deluxe, dangerous, and exciting. The king wonders why America looks so fun, he comes to the conclusion that the people there have dreams and that dreams are fun, The American Dream! Thinking of this The King wants to know what the American Dream is and if he could know then he can be more gorgeous, deluxe, dangerous, and exciting. The King orders The Prince to go down to Earth and roll up clues about the American Dream. This story features holidays of America, each level has it's own holiday theme like City Square deals with Thanksgiving and Shopping Mall deals with Christmas. We even get to see how the life of a Boy grows up to live his dream and eventually becomes the president.
Gameplay[]
Much of the gameplay is the same as other games in the Katamari series, where a player controls the Prince of All Cosmos who rolls up various items across different levels with a "katamari" in order to increase size. Along the way, and depending on the game mode selected by the player, Prince's father, the King of All Cosmos dictates specific challenges that must be met.
There are multiple control schemes available for player preference. In the "Acceleration Sensor" scheme, the accelerometer of the gaming device is utilized, and Prince is controlled by physically tilting the device. The "Double Virtual Pad" scheme, where dual virtual sticks are presented on-screen, is the most similar to the traditional style of controls featured in the original Katamari Damacy game. The third control scheme, "Single Virtual Pad", which is chosen by default, is the same as the previous scheme in that it also utilizes multi-touch, but only a single virtual stick is displayed on-screen. Regardless of the controls chosen, the option to quickly turn Prince around is achieved by tapping an on-screen button located at the bottom of the display.
Katamari Amore features several different modes of play. In "Story Mode", the player follows along with the game's storyline, and must complete the King's challenges. In "Time Attack Mode", the player simply attempts to roll the largest size katamari that he or she can before the time available runs out. In "Exact Size Challenge Mode", the player attempts to roll the katamari to a specified size, while "Eternal Mode" allows the player to freely roam the level with an unlimited amount of time to roll the katamari as large as he or she wants. Katamari Amore is initially installed on the device with a single level known as "John's Room" that is available to play in the "Time Attack Mode", while additional levels along with the unlocking of the rest of the game modes are available through in-game purchase of level "packs". "Eternal Mode" is only available for each level after it has been previously beaten.
The game features specific achievements attainable by players, that integrate with leaderboards on Game Center.
Development[]
On March 28, 2011, it was reported that Namco Bandai Games had submitted a trademark application to the European Union's Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market for the name Katamari Amore. At the time, it was rumored that Namco Bandai would be releasing a new game for the Katamari Damacy series, but any other details were unknown to the general public. On June 9, 2011, Namco Bandai officially announced the development of the game at E3 2011. On that day, Namco Bandai showcased a demo of the game on the E3 show floor that featured a playable first level and the Pac-Man-themed level.
On September 23, 2011, it was confirmed that the release date of the game would be the week following on September 29, 2011. The game premiered with seven total levels that were available to purchase in a single set from within the game known as the "Have a Nice Trip!" Pack.
On October 27, 2011, Bandai Namco released seven additional levels for the game purchasable in a set known as the "Time Trip" Pack.
Reception[]
Katamari Amore was met with mixed reviews. Andrew Hayward of GamesRadar claimed that despite the game's great performance on the iPad, it suffered in its controls. Chris Schilling of Pocket Gamer wrote that "It creates a poor first impression thanks to Namco’s apparent misunderstanding of the freemium pricing model. All you get for your initial investment of zero pence is a two-minute time attack of one level."