Welcome to a new column called In Case You Missed It, where I’ll be revisiting the games of the past generation, finding budget priced games I think you’ll enjoy.

This week on In Case You Missed It, we take a look at a cult classic on the PS2, Katamari Damacy!

Katamari Damacy is one of those games that really changes the way you look at video games. The premise– rolling things up into a ball — is very simple, and after playing one or two levels you’ll be thinking, “Seriously, is this all there is?” After a few more levels, though, you’ll quickly be hooked by the quirky fun this game provides.

You play as The Prince, and your father, The King Of All Cosmos (who you will be laughing at for the whole game), has destroyed the universe and needs you to make more stars. You’re given a “katamari” — basically a funny shaped ball — to roll around the world and pick up various things within a certain amount of time. You’ll start of small, picking up things like tacks, dice, candy, etc., but as the katamari grows you can pick up larger things. Eventually, in the later levels, you’ll be picking up entire islands!

The way the game is presented, you can easily play it for a few minutes here and there, or sink hours into it finding every single item in the game, including cousins that you can play as, and presents the king has hidden for you.

I have to take a minute to talk about the audio in this game. Usually I don’t notice sound that much unless it’s bad. This game makes you notice it because it’s great. The dj-scratching noise the King makes when he talks adds to the humor, and the sound the katamari makes when you pick things up adds to the satisfaction. But the real star here is the soundtrack. You will have these songs in your head for days.

To put it simply: this game is incredible. You’ll be trying to squeeze past your best time on each level for many hours. However, KD is not without its flaws. The gameplay isn’t varied much, which will be annoying for some. Also, there are some glitches that can cause you to get stuck in a few places in the world. The controls are very intuitive, and for the most part work very well, but sometimes they can be frustrating. To give yourself a boost, you shake the left and right sticks up and down opposite each other. This doesn’t always work as well as it should.

This game has spawned 3 sequels: We [heart] Katamari on the PS2, Me & My Katamari on the PSP, and Beautiful Katamari on the Xbox 360. They are all worth checking out, and all provide different variations on the basic gameplay, and fix a few problems the first had. In the end, however, the heart of the gameplay is basically the same. Katamari Damacy is the first in the series, and is the best one to start with. If you like the first, chances are you’ll like the rest.

Find out more about Katamari Damacy at the official website.