Curiosity is going to get that cat in trouble.

Beloved on videogame consoles for its off-kilter, Japanese style, i Love Katamari loses its splendor on the iPhone. At its launch, the game is almost completely broken, with controls that fight against you, and a sluggish speed that constantly frustrates.

Even the game modes lack the original punch of the series. You're still pushing a magically adhesive ball that rolls up smaller objects into its mass, building its total size like a cartoon snowball. But the game skips its most elegant mode of growing to a certain size within a set time. That premise gave Katamari a clear target. Now you'll most often have to roll up a certain object in a time limit, although a few other modes add moderately different goals.
 
The variety of objects still powers Katamari's whimsy, the only redeeming part of this iPhone version. Each assimilated item gets named as it's collected, from hundreds scattered all around. Start with dominos; get big enough for cassette tapes; then add water bottles, bowling pins, or a house cat; finally keep growing to capture people, vending machines, small cars, large trees, houses, office buildings, islands, and more.

We're shouting, not whispering.

The flat-edged 3D graphics look great, although the slow frame rates and unresponsive controls ruin the game. When picking up the smallest objects, the movement stays fluid, with iPhone tilts effectively steering the ball. But as you grow and pick up larger objects, the animation feels stuck in slow motion. The game clock even runs at about half the speed of real time.

The ball quickly becomes difficult to steer in this slow-motion setting, and the center point drifts as you play, requiring all sorts of contortions to just go straight. In an interface disaster, you can recalibrate the center point by tapping the ball, but you also touch it for other functions. So you'll constantly reset the neutral angle even when trying to do something else.

Bug fixes could potentially improve Katamari's terrible control and slow speed. But the limited game mode types and other issues still disappoint.

i Love Katamari 1.0.0
COMPANY: Namco Networks America
CONTACT: www.namcogames.com
PRICE: $7.99
REQUIREMENTS: iPhone or iPod touch with 2.0 software update.
Amusing variety of objects to collect. Simple, clear 3D graphics. Goofy Japanese-pop songs match the absurd setting.
Sluggish animation. Limited game modes. Constantly re-calibrating controls grow awkward as each level progresses. Can't stop game music or listen to your own songs.