I Love Katamari released for iPhone

By Oli Welsh Published 15 December, 2008

Fully 3D, tilt-controlled.

Coming out of nowhere to the iTunes store is an iPhone version of cult favourite Katamari Damacy for USD 7.99, called I Love Katamari.

Boing Boing's Offworld games blog reports that the game has five stages, four modes, is fully 3D, and controlled with the iPhone's tilt sensors. It's described as a "downsized" version of the original.

Apparently the device "struggles mightily" once your Katamari reaches a certain size and the controls take some getting used to, but Katamari addicts will certainly want to check it out regardless.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (15) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • StooMonster #1 3 years ago

    It's quite good fun, albeit with some limited frame-rates at times.

  • Singularity #2 3 years ago

    Ouch.

    The user reviews are not good.

  • trav #3 3 years ago

    It's a horrible, horrible conversion. More time and money needed to be spent on this before releasing it.

  • Altrezia #4 3 years ago

    too expensive, too! it's a mobile game, not a full blown console game! I'll stick to my ~£1 Virtual Pool :D

  • optimusprym8 #5 3 years ago

    Not buying an iPhone for this. Shame can't get the mobile isometric version on UK mobiles legally

  • lazygamer #6 3 years ago

    It works a bit better on the 2nd Gen iPod Touch (which seems to run faster than the iPhone), but still slows down at certain points.

    The user reviews regarding controls are all wrong, like many iPhone apps the game centres the accelerometer depending on the device position when you open the app. So the tilt controls work if you open the game whilst having the iPod in your preferred playing position.

    Despite all that I still can't finish the very first level :(

  • lazygamer #7 3 years ago

    In fact, most App Store reviews are useless anyway.

    Hundreds of 'DO NOT BYE IT CRASHED MY IPHONE :( :( :(' single sentence reviews made by people whose iPhone's have crashed on opening the app. That's because the current iPhone firmware can be a bit buggy on app starts, so it's recommended to reboot the iPhone after installing anything on it. It's not the App, it's the iPhone itself.
    Edited by lazygamer at 15/12/08 @ 15:06

  • StooMonster #8 3 years ago

    Well I thought it was okay for a mobile phone game ... although poor compared to a PSP or DS (quality) title.

    Trism is still the best game on iPhone IMO.

  • Biggles #9 3 years ago

    nope, dropship's best at the mo, though dr. awesome is pretty cool too. ngmoco are on fire at the mo, but they do need to mix up the gameplay a little in their next games...

  • mcmonkeyplc #10 3 years ago

    I assume this works on the ipod touch?

  • peterfll #11 3 years ago

    Is there any true indication of the iPhone's "PSP killer" capabilities yet? Most of the stuff I read talks crashes and iffy frame rates (not to mention control systems).

  • madgerald Verified Studio Head of PR & Marketing, Colossal Games LTD #12 3 years ago

    Got it today - hard to control at times, sloooooows right down when the game expands to show more of the playfield. As I'm at work i couldn't play it for long, but I managed to play 1 complete level of the story mode and it locked up and crashed... Will play more on the train tonight.

    Fun but frustrating

  • themorganator #13 3 years ago

    Cube Runner for the win!

  • andromeda #14 3 years ago

    @themorganator

    yeah cube runner is the one app i come back to again and again, feels lovely, reminds me of 3d deathchase on the speccy.
    tap firing to shoot some bonus items would be great too. just about to DL cuberunner 2 , has a level editor apparently :)

  • m0thr4 #15 3 years ago

    Is there any true indication of the iPhone's "PSP killer" capabilities yet?

    What a bizarre question. Did you read somewhere that the iPhone was supposed to be a "PSP killer"? The Nintendo DS is killing the PSP quite nicely already and needs no help from the iPhone.