This may be the coolest game ever, or at least for the Playstation 2.

I picked this thing up for $20 after seeing a friend play it. I haven't purchased a game since Final Fantasy X a few years back, but I knew I had to have this one.

The plot is ... well, the King of the Universe goes on a drunken binge one evening and snuffs out all of the stars. Your job as the spritely Prince of the Universe is to go to Earth, roll a ball around that sucks up debris ranging from thumbtacks to cats to humans to cars and eventually to skyscrapers and continents, and then have the ball tossed into space to replace the stars that the King destroyed. Cut scenes involve a family that watches the incident on T.V. The father is an astronaut heading to the moon on the day the stars go out, but finds that he can't go because the moon has disappeared, also.

The game itself is weirder than the plot, if that's possible. The opening scene is a chaotic montage involving (among other things) the King of the Universe playing guitar, several ducks singing along with him, and an elephant shooting a rainbow out of his trunk.

Katamari has a soundtrack that I don't think has ever been beaten. It has catchy pop that interchanges Japanese lyrics with poorly translated English ones (one stage has a curious love song featuring a lounge lizard who sings the line "I know you love me // I want to wad you up into my life"). Even on the near half-hour long stages, it never gets tiring.

Check it out if you get the chance. I doubt any stores will have this gem for rent, but it's cheap as dirt to buy and is definitely worth it.