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Wattam (PS4) Status: Finished playing I started playing this game on Wednesday 25 November, 2020 // I stopped playing this game on: Friday 11 December, 2020
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.
December 11, 2020 06:40:05 PM
Finished it. I'm feeling mostly "meh". There's some nice music, and the story is cute, and there's nothing "wrong" with the game in any meaningful way - it just didn't really draw me in with "omg, this is so fun". There are funny moments, but the experience playing wasn't really joyous or joyful? This seems really mean, but I think this is what the game was going for....but for me at least, didn't really hit the mark. I'm curious to see if a bunch of kids playing will have a completely different experience. Perhaps it's just me being old... I did unlock the prince and noby noby boy and I thought I'd enjoy picking up the remaining trophies, but ultimately I was really...meh. I've been thinking about Takahashi's style for gameplay - and I think he really enjoys playing across different scales. This was obviously the case for Katamari - both within levels and also across levels as you made progress in the game. In a sense the same is true for noby noby, but I was surprised to also see that pop up here! As you find friends, they come in different sizes and scales and there are explicit controller buttons to zooming in/out. It was kind of fun to do this, but the pacing felt really slow - so moving the really large "table" friends and flying them over to the other seasons just felt like it took...forever.
December 1, 2020 10:11:15 PM
I think I've decided that pretty much anything Keita Takahashi works on will be interesting/worth taking a look at. I never did play Noby Noby boy though...so I guess I'm just going on Katamari and my genuine respect for his creative vision? Wattam definitely has the quirky and playful qualities I've come to associate with Takahashi. It's also colorful and the music is odd and strange to me (in a good way). The game definitely looks like it should be a zany kids game, and it sort of is...but isn't at the same time. It's quite rigid (so far, at least) in its progression - with clear goals and little room for freedom there, though you can basically faff about as much as you like without meeting the goal...and the characters are wacky...but it's feels so restrictive? I guess I'm surprised because the game LOOKS like a playground of sorts, but isn't really a fun playground in the sense of places to explore and things to do. It's mostly about the characters and your interactions with them, but they all sort of mill about (and often do their own thing when you're not paying attention). Now, Katamari was definitely "strict" as well in the sense of doing levels, and a time limit and all that - but while you were playing it did not feel like that at all. There was urgency, but you kind of rambled around. Wattam feels much more empty. There's playful things, sure, but I think people get tired of the exploding hat after a while...and so far there isn't much else other than to complete the goals to move the story along? I'm sad I feel so lukewarm by my experience with the game. Lets hope that changes the more I play.

Wattam (PS4)