Noby Noby Boy

Developer: Namco Bandai
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Release Date: Feb. 19, 2009
System: PS3
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web site (Japanese)

In a nutshell: What Katamari Damacy would be like if it wasn't much fun.

0:00 I've loved Katamari Damacy ever since I first saw it at E3 2004 (and that was before it was cool to like it!), so I'm obviously psyched about this latest release from that game's creator. Still, I'm a bit worried about how empty and content-free the teaser videos have been.

0:01 Oompah-heavy tuba music plays as "2/20/2009 Friday" is spelled out in small flowers. A standard warning about auto-saving and only features, and then a little yellow sprite with a halo flies in. "Okay! I'm going to create new save data now," he says. Thanks for the info, little guy!

0:02 In the corner, a sleeping 3-D parrot dreams of a flapping 2-D parrot. Then he flies away. "Hang on ... Now loading ... Almost done ... Now loading ... Wait a sec ... Now loading..." says the helpful sprite.

0:03 There's a house with a Pinocchio-like nose, two windows for eyes and a roof that looks like a rainbow wig. The house spins in a void and then sprouts a yard with some Katamari-style figures moving about: a dog with a cat on its back, a person jogging, a bunch of soccer balls, etc. The sprite flies in again. "Are you ready. Let's start with the BOY quiz. Guess the controls for BOY. Question 1: How do you make BOY walk?" On the bottom of the screen is a helpful hint: Q: Move the left and ***** sticks." Hmm ... what's the opposite of left again?

0:05 So the left stick moves the head of BOY's snakelike, rainbow-colored body, while the right stick moves the tail. Both controls feel a little loose, but I guess precision isn't the name of the game here. As I move around, a dog gets stuck to my body and starts riding around.

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer