Designer Keita Takahashi blasted our curiosity in the PlayStation 2 era with the release of Kathamari Damacy. He may not be the most prolific composer out there, but his creations are memorable in both their strange and almost bizarre aesthetics, almost identical. Is wrapping a large, sticky ball all around fun? Certainly! And even if I didn't understand the point of the follow-up to Katamary Damacy, Noby Noby Boy, extending my character to his colorful world was fun for a while. Wattam offers more structure than one of his extra tests while still encouraging players to explore and disperse to see what they can find.
We first meet the Mayor, a green cube with a mustache and a bow hat. You are alone in the world following a tragic event, but you soon discover that everything is lost. By traveling to a floating platform and interacting with objects, you make friends with anthropomorphized objects such as rocks, flowers and toilets. You can switch between any of these new friends at will, even though without the kick you may be able to get as a gold turd, mouth, acorn, or many other characters, there are a few reasons to do so.
The Mayor has the best trick you have: By holding down the button, he lifts his hat, revealing an already explosive gift. Some characters really, really enjoy the beat, and no one gets hurt by this explosion. Wattam feels like you're sharing a connecting newsletter, and blasting is a recurring event in early times. Those give you times to completely get into the game's heights.
The simple connections that make up these sequences may not be too engaging – most of them start by asking the newly introduced character "What's Wrong?" – but times of asking for a balloon to help bring the phone's handset back to the sun kept me smiling a lot of the game. Funomena captures what has been a pretty unforgettable set-up and adds even more subtle layers, such as the balloon scared to rise, and that its final trip to the top is accompanied by a powerless rock sound. There are loads of moments during the short Wttam period that overlap with the same weird stuff, and many of them are fun.
Wattam excels when it combines its toy-like qualities. There are times when it seems like you're trying to be more of a traditional game, that's where your foot is. Although your actions are often limited to clapping hands with your friends, climbing things (including your friends), and a control candy between multiple characters, there is a lack of clarity that fits everything. It's easy to overlook when you're just looking at the world and examining it inside its playbox, but the apologetic manager encounters pretty good images that Wattam controls don't perform complex tasks. You can't die or fail, but it's exhausting and nowhere. That battle and the chronological order of downloading an item near the end are things for an easy and fun time.
Colorful ideas and messages of compassion and solidarity made Wattam a great game to play with small family members, either during reunions or their passing. Even if it does not encourage any meaningful discussions about the importance of friendship – which can be entirely possible – there is a good chance that you will find the fun of many adventures together.
