Review:
If you look at Boss Fight Books' website in the paperback bundles section, you'll see that this book is listed as being in the "Historical Bundle" and the "Creator Access Bundle." Through research and interviews with people like Keita Takahashi (the creator of the Katamari Damacy franchise and the director of the first two games) and others, this book takes an in-depth look at how Katamari Damacy came to be created and how it was subsequently received by players and critics.
I didn't actually bother looking at info about this book before starting to read it, so all I knew was that it was very different from my favorite Boss Fight Books entry so far, Mike Drucker's Silent Hill 2. Where that book included Drucker's personal reactions and interpretations of the game as well as info more generally about the game itself, Katamari Damacy was much less focused on the personal and, at times, came across as being somewhat drier because of this.
Still, I appreciated learning more about Keita Takahashi and his unconventional journey towards working for Namco and designing Katamari Damacy. It surprised me to learn that he hadn't initially planned to become a game designer. Instead, his interests lay more in sculpture and design. It was fascinating to see how those interests ended up shaping the game.
Considering how many sequels the original game ended up spawning, it was also somewhat surprising to read that Takahashi was so focused on doing something fresh and original. I hadn't initially realized that he was only involved in the first couple games.
It was easier to get sidetracked while reading this than it was when I was reading the Silent Hill 2 volume, but I still enjoyed this, albeit in a different way.
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