I fired up We Love Katamari and finished a few more stages in it, ending the night at the racetrack. A couple of the ones I did tonight were fairly traditional get-to-a-certain-size-in-X-minutes stages, which weren’t too difficult or interesting, but there were a few others that threw in a twist or two.

In one stage my katamari was on fire, and I had to get it big enough to roll up a stack of wood at the top of a hill. I failed this one a couple times because you have to a) avoid falling into water (which I didn’t), and b) keep rolling things up at a fast enough pace that your flame doesn’t run out of fuel, which I didn’t realize at first and failed once because of it. It’s tricky trying to judge the right time at which you think your katamari is big enough and well-fueled enough that you can make a run for the wood stack and risk not being able to light it and find more fuel fast enough.

Another stage had me rolling up planets I’d already created in an attempt to roll up the sun. It’s too early for that though, as I need a lot more planets and they’ll probably have to be a lot bigger before I can really attempt it. Fortunately it’s an optional stage anyway.

And finally there was the racetrack. The twist on this one is that your katamari is constantly moving very quickly, whether you like it or not, and you start right on the track itself, dodging through other race cars, horses, and other vehicles. It’s frantic, but not frustratingly so, and it doesn’t take long before you’re big enough to start picking up all those cars you were previously avoiding, stuff beside the track, in the pits, at the nearby docks, all while quickly zipping along. This is probably the best level so far, and a high point of the game for a lot of people on the forums.