Beautiful Katamari

Here's what's almost definitely the last game I'll ever play on an Xbox 360. (Finally!) Not because I've got no Xbox 360 games left on my backlog (I wish), but because all those that I have left are backward compatiable on the Xbox One.

At any rate - Beautiful Katamari. Yeah.  It's Katamari. It's the third overall game in the franchise, the first one I ever played, and the hardest one to find over the last decade.

I played and beat two Katamari games in 2010 and then a third one in 2012. Looking back now at the posts for all three of those, I think it's funny that in each of thsoe I basically say, "this is so stupid and so repetetive, but it's a lot of fun, so whatever." And sure enough, that holds true here, even after a six-year hiatus from the franchise. Roll shit into balls that grow bigger and bigger. Rinse. Repeat.

This game in particular felt repetitive, even more so than the other three, and I'm not sure why. Was there just not enough level variance here? It did feel like I was rolling around in the same exact city with the same exact layout for the entire second half of the game.

Still, any game I can beat in one sitting is a blessing of sorts these days.

And most importantly, RIP to my Xbox 360 - that is to say, retire in peace. This thing is an original white one, pre-HDMI, using component cords and everything, and it somehow never red-ringed. It's sounded clunky and scratchy, like a dying animal, for like eight years now. But it's still here, dammit. And now it doesn't need to be. Thank you for your service, buddy.