...or is Beautiful Katamari the most BS in the series? It took me twice to get through just the first level, and I've already failed more times than I have levels unlocked. It took me THREE tries to get through the Venus level, and I finally managed to pass that only because I stumbled upon the stash of gold bars that barely bumped me up to the minimum size with less than 1 minute remaining. Ugh...my thumbs are numb...

i hope the new one is harder cause i breezed thru the 2nd one in like 2 days...

The thing I find the most strange about the game is that it takes the entire premise of the original game being totally original and unique from anything else... and kind of turns its on its head.

I, too, noticed a sharp spike in difficulty. But I also hear the game is incredibly short, even compared to the other three Katamari's. Maybe they ramped up the difficulty to compensate?

I'm not sure I've heard a single good thing about Beautiful Katamari from anyone I know who's played it.  Hooray for continuing quirky games without the input of their original (insane) creators.