If you've ever seen or played Katamari Damacy then you already have a very good idea about the forthcoming game Tornado for the DS. Not because the game is by the same developer, or part of the same franchise, but simply because it is a total rip off.




Just as MySims faithfully steals just about every aspect of Animal Crossing: Wild World and subtly changes the graphics to throw you off the Scent, so Tornado takes the core gameplay of Katamari Damacy and changes the details to protect the innocent (and get away with intellectual property theft to boot).

In Katamari Damacy you roll around the planet, picking up rubbish, growing into a larger and larger ball of trash as you go. In Tornado, you control a Tornado, picking up rubbish, houses, people, detritus as you go, and - shock - grow bigger and bigger as you do so. That's about it.

Katarmari Damacy was awesome, and isn't likely to make it to the DS, so if you want a piece of the action, this obvious and blatant rip off might just satisfy you.

Either way, the Japanese website for the game has now been launched. Not a great deal to see yet, but you can get a feel for the character design and see some screenshots of the game in action.