There’s a sure diploma of weirdness you’d count on from a Keita Takahashi game. Whether it’s creating planets by rolling up the world’s detritus (with the occasional screeching human and puzzled animal in tow) in Katamari Damacy, or utilizing an LED controller to get bare whereas brushing your enamel in Tenya Wanya Teens, Takahashi’s games have all the time baffled and bemused me in equal measure. They additionally are likely to make me chortle quite a bit. I misplaced depend of the occasions I sat there chuckling to myself taking part in Katamari Damacy ReRoll final yr, and I hoped Wattam, his newest game a few lonely inexperienced dice referred to as Mayor who’s looking for some buddies, would put an equally huge smile on my face.
Spoilers: it didn’t.
In its favour, Wattam undoubtedly has that Takahashi weirdness. It’s there within the childlike squeals and giggles, erupting from the sentient shapes, toys and diverse grocery objects which progressively come to populate Mayor’s unusual, empty world. It’s there in Mayor’s signature celebration trick, the place, with a raise of his black high hat, he sends himself – and anybody in his neighborhood – taking pictures up into the air in an enormous, laugh-fuelled explosion. The rubber geese, pencils and celebration candles of Wattam’s world completely adore this kind of stuff, and I’ll admit to a couple grinning snorts myself – at the very least the first couple of occasions I used to be requested to do it.
The weirdness extends to different characters, too. My favorite is the jiggling, over-excited mouth referred to as Beth, who simply stops herself from devouring each final one among her meals buddies and turning them into huge emoji swirls of multi-coloured poop. She additionally has a… bathroom as a pal. She’s referred to as Emma, and may flush these stink-line-emitting poops (or certainly some other character you need) down the u-bend. Then they pop again out of her mate Alex (who’s pipe), became golden variations of themselves.
Anything goes for Masahiko the ice cream cone.
It’s a bit juvenile, positive, nevertheless it will get higher. At one level, I had a bereft ice cream cone ask if I might assist them out by discovering an acceptable topping for them – and sure, it did contain smashing a dollop of gold-plated poop into their craterous noggin. But it was cheers all spherical from the newly united pair, and off they went, content material that they had been lastly entire and full.
There are many such moments to be present in Wattam. But after 4 hours of fetch quest after fetch quest, the joke does begin to put on a bit skinny. It’s all a bit ‘bring the sentient onion to the sentient, landlocked island so they can cry a sea’s value of tears to make themselves a correct island’ and ‘stack enough poops on top of each other to appease the golden bowling pin who’s obsessive about being the identical peak as everybody else’. At no level are you ever doubtful as to what you must do, since each goal is spelled out in huge letters or glowing circles for you. Instead, all you’re actually left with is becoming quest objects of acceptable form into corresponding quest holes.
You’d be confused too should you simply pooped out of your mouth.
I’m positive there shall be loads of individuals who shall be completely down with that. Heck, Untitled Goose Game did virtually precisely the identical factor on the finish of final yr. And but that horrible goose has a lot extra going for it than Wattam’s forged of babbling doodads. I felt real sparks of artistic genius after I managed to cross off one among my targets within the goose game, however Wattam’s refusal to have interaction with its personal weirdness leaves it feeling bland and uninspired by comparability. I’m positive youngsters will get a kick out of it, particularly given there are farts, poops and explosions of giggles consistently on faucet, however most of it left me chilly.
So a lot of Wattam feels underutilised. As you progressively full every island’s aims, for instance, new buddies are bussed in on all method of plane, from large rubber geese to beds, tables and even – sure – flying bogs. The plane are additionally folks. Sadly, these bigger buddies are solely good for ferrying smaller objects/folks between islands (yet one more missed alternative for foolish mayhem, should you ask me), and even a lot of the passengers they create to the celebration haven’t any goal by any means. They’re simply there, laughing and usually getting in the way in which.
Wattam doesn’t even actually make you interact with the chain reactions that get set off over the course of its unusual journey, which simply makes the characters concerned really feel all of the extra superfluous. Trees, for instance, can gobble up virtually each object obtainable and burp them again out as fruits, greens, and even twinkling Christmas lights. The pillow can ship issues to sleep, whereas the onion forces everybody to interrupt out in tears as quickly as they get close to it. There’s even a cute ruler that may inform everybody how tall they’re. But at no level will you ever have to name upon these particular powers to assist anybody out. Instead, it’s simply fixed fart jokes and making issues go ‘kaboom’ with Mayor’s hat.
The controls are a little bit of a ache as nicely, no matter whether or not you’re taking part in on mouse and keyboard, or a controller. The latter is barely extra intuitive, however with digicam controls mapped to set off buttons as a substitute of the best analogue stick (which you’ll want so as to swap between characters), it’s nonetheless a little bit of a multitude. The controls turned significantly irritating in the course of the game’s single (and relatively misjudged) “boss” battle, during which you must chase after an enormous, terrified (and terrifying) doll, pelting her with issues, then reattaching its misplaced eyes, nostril and mouth whereas she’s surprised. It’s fiddly work, made worse by having to navigate the hordes of cavorting bathtub toys and bits of sushi consistently attempting to hitch within the enjoyable.
You and me each, mate.
Ultimately, I used to be only a bit bored by the point I lastly acquired to Wattam’s finish credit, which is the very last thing I needed or anticipated to be, after having such an excellent time with Katamari Damacy Reroll final yr. There is certainly loads of Takahashi weirdness to be present in Wattam, nevertheless it’s of restricted worth with out the magic, the soul, or simply the fundamental ingenuity required to attach the dots and make all of it sing. Some people will like it all the identical, but when foolish mayhem is what you’re after, you’d be finest off honking away to the goose game, relatively than farting round with Wattam.
