Caveat: I am not one of those rabid game players whose game collections rival their movie collections and who have exacting standards for game play, length, and graphic quality. I play video games if fits and starts, and a large part of my enjoyment of a game comes from an appreciation of the artistry, programming, and ingenuity that goes into a game. There are some video game enthusiasts who will find Katamari Damacy not to their liking because the image quality is not up to this season's standards or because the game can be played start to finish in as little as 4 hours (depending on your game playing skill level, of course).But there won't be many of them, because there truly is something for everyone in this extraordinary Japanese import!I underscore the "import" because the game's Japanese origins positively ooze from every orifice: from the endlessly cheerful and eye-poppingly colorful graphics to the seemingly endless array of "everyday" items that aren't so typical in western homes, such as paper-wrapped chopsticks or Daruma dolls. While one is always aware that the game has been translated from the Japanese original, none of the actual translations have that agrammatical nonsensical quality you often see. All the dialogue and instructions make sense while (one imagines) retaining some of the original poetry.Some of the game's influences are less region-specific, as seen in the dizzying psychedelic colors, patterns, and references. Giant multi-colored mushrooms figure prominently, and part of the back story involves the King of All Cosmos becoming "one with the beauty of the universe" (wink wink nudge nudge)--something that not all of his friends fully understand when he comes to some time later having destroyed the night sky. The King is a delight; clad in bright ued garments and a giant bright blinky Deco-inspired headress in garish colors that nicely set off his ubiquitous snarl.Rounding out the design features is an interstitial storyline with it's own unique style, and the excellent soundtrack: from the deeply catchy theme song to Japanese pop-inspired jazzy ambient mood music.If the game had all of this and the game play was just so-so, I would already be thrilled, but Katamari Damacy also delivers engrossing and fun game play. They have done an excellent job with the physics engine, complete with awkward lopsided rolling when objects stick out the side of your katamari. In the first levels you transform your katamari by a scale of ten or so, but as you progress on to the later levels you pick objects several hundreds of times larger than the ones you started with (think thumbtack to skyscraper and beyond!). It is hard to express the satisfaction of rolling blithely over a house that once was just a neverending wall, but trust me, it feels good.There aren't a zillion levels and a never-ending terrain to explore so actually finishing the game is within the reach of even casual gamers like myself, which is a refreshing change. At the same time the replay value is quite high since you can replay any level at any time to beat your previous record, and there are goodies hidden in all the levels which you may not have found the first time around.My only complaint is the user interface; both analog sticks are used to control the movement of the katamari resulting in a blend of movement and camera manipulation which might serve the storyline well but results in fighting with the controls instead of enjoying the game. Other reviewers have described this expressed their fondness for this interface, but in my opinion one analog stick for movement and one for camera angle would have been much more intuitive. Should there ever be another version of the game I hope they will make this change.Still--the controls *were* easy enough for a five-year-old to learn and enjoy, so my criticism is minor.Kudos to Namco! If you find a copy of this game available anywhere, buy it right away!