"We ♥ Katamari" was released last week. (That's "We Love Katamari", with a heart for love, in case your browser didn't render the heart.) I've had a chance to play through it (complete to the end, in two days...) and can give my brief review.
In We ♥ Katamari, the King of All Cosmos and his son the Prince are helping out their many fans from the first game. You play as the Prince or one of his many cousins (who you unlock during the game), and travel the world, attempting to gather up as many objects into the Katamari (Japanese for "clump"). The Katamari is essentially a magical sticky ball that can absorb any other object into itself, including thumb tacks, chocolates, apples, chairs, desks, people, houses, skyscrapers, islands, and mountains - as well as hopes and dreams.
Nothing has really changed between the original and the new We ♥ Katamari. The basic game play is identical. The Prince has learned no new moves, and the goal is essentially the same - roll stuff up to achieve some goal. If you've played the original, you know what to expect in the sequel.
That's not to say that they haven't added new things. A new co-op mode has been added, with each player controlling one side of the Katamari. (One person pushes the left side, the other the right.) The versus mode has been improved and offers more stages to compete in. (I've yet to try it, so I don't know if they've solved the camera woes that I had with the previous game.)
The goals are also more varied. Most of the levels are the same "make the Katamari this big in this amount of time" just like the previous game, although there are some variations on that theme. Several levels also have a second "time trial" mode, where you attempt to get to a certain size as fast as possible.
You may have seen screenshots of a burning Katamari before. These come from the Campfire level. In this variation, you have to get the Katamari to a certain size before time runs out (sounds familiar...) with a couple of added restrictions: you have to be constantly picking up more items, or the burning katamari will go out, and you cannot fall into any water, or the katamari will go out. To complete the stage, you need to be a certain (unspecified) size and attempt to roll up a pile of wood. A couple of other stages function like this - you need to get to a certain size and roll up a certain goal object.
The new We Love Katamari soundtrack is well done. I, personally, like the new soundtrack better than the original. Several songs are variations of the original songs, and the original Katamari theme remains present in many of the new songs.
There are a host of minor improvements as well: the physics engine is improved, and you can restart a level after completeing it without having to reload the level and original introduction scene to the level. (This is especially useful on the new Cow and Bear level. People who played the original game should be able to figure out why. And, yes, polka-dotted traffic cones still count as "cows".)
If you enjoyed the original Katamari Damacy, then you'll enjoy We Love Katamari. Otherwise, it's an overall improvement on the original game, but not a sufficient change to really widen the original audience.
Overall, I give it an 8/10. An excellent game, if you like the quirkyness, but it's certainly not for everyone.