The second iOS Katamari Damacy game will roll onto iPhone and iPad next Thursday 9/29…
Amore will be available as a freemium title, with $3.99 in-game purchase to upgrade it to the full version. The free version will only include a Time Attack mode.
The full game includes 24 missions including six completely new stages and four Mission Modes: Story, Time Attack, Exact Size Challenge and Eternal Mode. Additionally, one Extra Stage is included with PAC-MAN making a special appearance. Similar to the original, various control methods are supported: Accelerometer or Virtual Pad controls, the latter including single or double virtual pad options. Additional content packs with past and future stages are in development, set to release at a later date.
Read my impressions of the game at E3 earlier this year below (June 8, 2011):
Perhaps the developers at Namco intended the title of Katamari: Amore to be a bad Italian pun. Put simply, this is just A-more of the same
Katamari we have been playing for years now. The universal app features serviceable tilt controls that the player uses to roll a ball about the environment. As one runs over small items they are collected on the ball, as the mass of the items being rolled along increases the player is gradually able to collect larger items. The goal is to collect as much as possible within a set time limit.
While I mentioned the controls were serviceable, they weren’t perfect. I felt like I had moments where I was entirely in command, only to later become stuck in a corner or between two items. The booth attendant alluded to a secondary control method, but it wasn’t available during our play session.
Details on Katamari: Amore are slim. I did catch a glimpse of a special Pac-Man tribute mode, but didn’t get a chance to play it. There wasn’t a clear release date, either, but it should be out sometime this year.
