I read in a news report the other day that the team behind the innovative Katamari Damacy games decided to call it a day and broke apart on new projects. It's always a shame to see such a team behind big hits break apart, sort of like the feeling I felt when the Panzer Dragoon team went off to do their own things...or even the 16-bit masters at Wolfteam. But sometimes it's for the better, and one might take a look at Me and My Katamari and see exactly where the well has run dry. That's not to say the water still isn't fresh, though.

Like previous entries in the series, Me and My Katamari once again puts you in charge of the harried Prince of All Cosmos, who's commanded by his weird-ass dad, King of All Cosmos, to roll up gigantic balls of matter to reform stars in the sky. Of course, this matter can be made up of anything, from little blocks on the ground to larger things such as buildings, stadiums, and even living creatures. The formula's served well on the PS2 for two games, but how does it manage on the PSP?

Well, good and bad. It saddens me to say that this Katamari comes up a bit short compared to its console brethren, but it still has its merits. Probably the biggest fault that comes into play is not with the control (like many in numerous forums assumed), but rather the level layouts themselves. The game's made up of six different styles of levels, indoor and outdoor, that seem to be travelled across numerous times as the Prince completes his tasks. This is a double-edged sword. The levels seem to fit the PSP nicely and have the same great graphical style as the previous games, but they also get...dare I say it...repetitious. Some of the terrain even looks borrowed, with not much real thought put into new areas to explore outside the cosmos.

Worse yet, the presentation gets slightly bogged down with loading times in the middle of levels. I can understand that the PSP takes some processing to task more than others, but to interrupt the tempo of play with loading time right then and there? It can get a bit bothersome after a few times, and throw in the lack of real variety and you'll find someone saying the game's better suited for short bursts. And with Katamari, that's not what you want to be saying.

To top this off, there's not really much to do once you complete the single player. True, there's a bit of exploring to be done, like some bothersome cousins to be found and bonus items to pick up, but outside of that, you just have the wireless multiplayer, which seems gimmicky at best as a foot race. Some might find some joy in it for an hour or so, but it's nothing you'll find yourself going back to in the long-term. Yes, even for Katamari.

Besides these flaws (which, yes, lead to a lower score than the PS2 versions), the game still works pretty well. Like I said, the controls are surprisingly fluent. It takes a bit of settling in at first, having to control your actions with the touch pad and buttons instead of dual analog sticks, but after rolling the katamari along for a bit, you'll find your adjustment not so nagging, and soon you'll get into the tempo of play...unless, of course, you can't handle the mid-level loading problems.

The game still looks like its delusional self, complete with comments from the King of All Cosmos that require a bit of acceptance for the bizarre, a soundtrack that works like a "best of" compilation with tunes borrowed from previous games mixed in with a couple of new ones, and a smooth frame rate and distance view that will still allow you to roll up objects in plain sight, without having to worry about missing that one little thing. The limited levels that are here are eye-pleasing, even though you'll probably hit deja vu more than you'd like.

Perhaps we were expecting too much. After all, the Katamari team already made lightning strike with two well-appealing games as it is, and maybe they just did what they could to end the series with as much energy as they could muster. As a result, our expectations may have been too high...or maybe their standards were just getting worn out. Either way, some will be disappointed with Me and My Katamari for its limitations, but don't be so harsh. It's still a fun and innovative game for your game library, and a reminder that maybe it's just best to go when the getting's good. Even the King of All Cosmos needs a nap every now and then.