Adorable, but really for a niche audience
Beautiful Katamari is a really cute game with bright graphics and droll, sometimes amusingly insulting dialogue. The Japanes lyrics are zippy and interesting. I really wanted to like it. I really wanted to be able to play it, and actually progress in the game without repeating levels over and over and over and over. But, it seems by ability to roll up katamari is very inadequate. Maybe I should have started with the first one in the series, but at this point, I don't think I'll plunk down any appreciable money to get another game like this....

I have to agree with another reviewer that the frame rate sometimes slowing down and getting choppy seems to make a diference, especially when seconds count in the timed trials. It's already not very smooth, and I kept losing my direction, pushing too hard or going in the wrong direction. The controls just didn't seem right. I played over and over and I couldn't really raise my score, and my hands hurt!

My son, who is 12, also had trouble with this game, he has a faster reaction time. He gave up almost immediately, but I persisted, as I was the one who forked out $49.99. Yikes, what a waste of money!

Great fun, if a little repetitive.
My family played this game as a demo for about a year on XBLA before I finally decided to get it for my husband's birthday. We have kids that are 3 and 5 years old, and they love playing on XBOX with their daddy. I thought this would be a great game for them to play, as all one does is roll a ball around to collect stuff.

It is truly a hit for the whole family, but can be a little tough for a small person to collect all of the things the game wants you to get before the timer runs out. Daddy has been taking to clear the level for the kids before they play it, just to avoide frustration. Also, if you like rolling a ball around, this game is for you - but that's about it. It is a good game for small people to enjoy, especially if you don't want to expose kids to FPS games.

Good game for veterans, too many issues to recommend it to new players
Beautiful Katamari feels like a port or an expansion pack. It packs competent levels that play well but do not really innovate. It plays well enough to be worthwhile for fans of the series, but has too many problems to be recommended as someone's first game.

First, what it does right:

The graphics are certainly improved. Widescreen 1080i really helps the visibility of your target objects, which makes the game fun to play and watch. Object detail is probably double what it was in the PS2 installments. Which, to be fair, still isn't saying much compared to most next-gen games. But it is noticable and nice.

The overworld is whimsical and fun. It is similar in concept to "We Love Katamari," but minus the annoying conversations you were forced to have with the people in that world.

The music, when it is not remixes of the previous two games, is very good. There are no painfully annoying songs as in WLK, and some of the J-pop is really catchy.

The larger stages expand the scope of gameplay nicely. Difficulty is ramped up, so if you can beat the other two games with your eyes closed, this installment offers more challenge for your gaming dollar.

What doesn't work:

The framerate issues are just unforgivable. Even though detail has been increased over previous games, it is nowhere near other more stable next gen games on the 360 or the PS3. Yet, when a lot of movement is on the screen or you are swinging the camera around quickly, the framerate chugs to a very frustrating degree, and exacerbates control issues. This is just sloppy coding. We all know the 360 can handle this amount of polygons without turning into a slideshow.

Speaking of controls, it is difficult to put my finger on, but my thumbs get a lot more sore playing this that the PS2 games with the dual shock. Other players I've talked to have confirmed this. Either it's the response programmed in, or the controller itself, but you can feel it. I tend to think it's the game, because it's more noticeable on the larger levels than the smaller ones.

The difficulty, while welcome for a veteran, will probably be painfully frustrating to a newbie. Several levels are timed so that it takes extremely fast and consistent play to even make the minimum objective. Control and framerate issues add to the frustration.

Online modes add interest, but do not really evolve the gameplay in any new directions. It's the same stuff you could do on split screen on the PS2. Also, you need a Live Gold membership, at $50 per year, to do it. Given the overall lameness of 2-player Katamari modes, this is unjustifiable.

I find myself wishing the game were on PS3. The controller is better, perhaps the framerate issues could be solved (again, I think this is the programmers' fault, not Microsoft's), and the online play could be free and wireless.

Nonetheless, it's a good game which fans of the series will enjoy. I bought it for around $30 and felt this was a fair price. Now that it's $20, it's not a bad cheap title to get for your 360. If you want to get a friend into the game, though, get them the original game on PS2. It's better balanced, has fun story cutscenes which help set the tone, and doesn't have the framerate issues of this installment.

Fun, simple game
I had never played any Katamari games before I received this one for Christmas. My brother thought they were a lot of fun, so I downloaded the demo off of Xbox Live and decided that I wanted to purchase Beautiful Katamari.

I like this game pretty well, and it is fun, but there are a few aspects about it that I do not like. For example, the king in the game is very very negative toward the prince and is constantly blocking the screen with his unnecessary commentary. Also, occasionally, the screen angles are terrible and you won't be able to see where you are going, and in turn, can get stuck. The graphics can also be glitchy.

Overall, I do like to play this game. It is a nice, fun game that I play when I am not in the mood for anything complicated. I won't say that it is easy because the 'roll up hot things level' is not every easy, lol, but it is a game that doesn't seem to require a lot of thought.

You get more for your money with the Playstation 2 Katamari games.
I'm glad I didn't buy this game at launch and waited until it got cheap.

The creator of Katamari Damacy didn't work on this game and it shows. It's missing a little bit of the personality of the original games. This game also reuses a lot of the ideas from We Love Katamari (which had a much better variety of stages) and doesn't bring much new to the table. Plus it doesn't come with very many levels unless you pay for five or six extra ones through Xbox Live. It's roughly fifteen bucks worth of Microsoft Points if you plan on getting all the extra levels. It kind of feels like you're getting scalped a little bit.

On the other hand, it's still Katamari Damacy. This game didn't really break anything, which is a major danger when in a situation where the original creators are not present. The great stuff from the previous games is still intact. And if you're tired of the levels from the PS2 Katamari games and really want some more, or don't own a PS2 and want a Katamari game, it's not a bad game to get. There is a nice level in this one where you're supposed to roll up inexpensive items, but still make the ball as big as possible, so you try to roll up cheap things like toilet paper without crashing into diamonds and gold. But this is one of the ones you have to buy through Xbox live.

There's also some great fun music in this game, just like the other Katamari games, although there's a couple of songs in this game that seemed too normal for Katamari. If you don't buy the game check out the tracks Katamarity and Guru Guru Gravity if you can find a place to download them.

Overall I enjoyed this game but I'll really look forward to a new type of game from the original Katamari creators.