Little Big Planet at its most basic is a rudimentary platform game with a physics engine that is slightly offset from the laws of gravity. As a platform game LBP is nothing spectacular, it does everything you expect from platformer – Run here, jump this, pull this leaver and press that button etc etc.
You are in control of Sackboy (or girl, it’s your choice), the ever enthusiastic and irrepressible cloth puppet. Exploration is simple, Left stick moves sackboy around the screen, the X button jumps. R1 controls the grab action which is used in a variety of ways. The majority of the functions initiated using R1 involve pushing and pulling items from A to B. The intermittent use of R1 also allows Sackboy to swing from one item to another, all you need is a loin cloth and a few trees and you are away. Sackboy, Lord of the Jungle.
One shift from the usual generic platforming blueprint is that little big planet used three movement plane (mid/fore and background). Moving from one plane is done by holding up or down, there is some level of automated plane changing but never to the point of feeling that your actions are being overridden. Another control, albeit nonessential, is the ability to control sackboys expressions through the use of the D-Pad and you also have the full control of sackboys arm and head movement through the SIXAXIS motion sensing controls of the PS3 controller.
The story mode is nothing special. The Littlebigplanet is full of “Creator Curator” who have created their own weird and wonderful worlds. Each world has its own unique theme and each “Creator Curator” has its own style. Using Sackboy you will move this, jump that and all the usual platform game stuff. Whilst completing tasks during each world you will be picking up hundreds of items and tools and learning how to use them.
You start by altering SackBoy’s outfits and expressions, then use stickers to add personal flare to environments. Most importantly, you are seeing in these pre-made levels how everything they’re collecting can be combined into a living, breathing interactive experience.
There are also a few technical issues that are evident throughout the entire game. Like in many platformers, the fixed camera can be a cause of frustration. This is especially evident while playing co-op mode, since the players can’t move too far from one another. It’s not such a massive problem that you’ll ever want to stop playing. Chaos can ensue when the screen is filled with four sackpersons as the occasional leap of faith into the unknown is required as the screen has the potential to be zoomed out a little too far.
You can replay every level to the point of exhaustion in order to collect every single item, but eventually you will want to start creating your own levels.
Level creation is the real selling point of LBP. Your own imagination is the only limit in creating levels, provided you know how to use everything properly. LBP possesses one of the most comprehensive creation tools of any game. Tutorials are broken down into various actions from simple placement of items to understanding the principles of a piston. Despite having the appearance of a toy box the creation tools are no toy. Having knowledge of logic gates and basic physics will allow you to create some highly unique actions. Understanding that each item has the same properties as their real world counterparts, will give you a good starting point to start creating your masterpieces. Making a really good level takes a lot of time, patience, and commitment, but if you’re willing to give it a solid effort, the only thing limiting you is your imagination.
However change it was inevitable. After a carefree period of free and easy user-generated content, self-expression and uninterrupted creativity, the powers at Sony have started cracking down on Little Big Planet players who integrate brands, pop culture and copyrighted materials into their game levels. So before you spend hours replicating every single aspect of Super Mario Bros.’ World 1-1 remember you are working with another person’s intellectual property. Sony and Media Molecule are keeping their noses clean and staying as far away from controversy as they can and pulling created levels swiftly and without notice.
If for some strange reason you are not interested in creating your own levels I highly recommend that you (if only once) go through the tutorials for the comic musings of intelligent and extremely humorous Stephen Fry. Fry is the modern day Oscar Wilde; hilarious, sharp and frightfully clever, his attachment to the game is an audio pleasure and ensures that the tutorials are never boring.
The LBP community section lets users find levels and interact with each other. LBP has taken its inspiration from the Internets web 2.0 figureheads, Youtube and Facebook. After playing through a level, you have the option to rate the level up to five stars, assign a premade descriptive tag, and add the level and/or creator to your favourites list, called hearting them. You can bring up levels by the most popular items, search by tags, or a certain phrase.
Another online section is called your “InfoMoon”. The infomoon is a simplistic notice board and grapevine service. You can see how your levels are doing amongst the community, what your friends are doing and what they’ve done and if Media Molecule has any community news.
LittleBigPlanet has been given the title of “Most important game in decades” and “Saviour of the Playstation3”, I’m sure that it will sell consoles but ultimately the longevity and the ultimate success of LBP is down to quality and variety of user created levels. Sony and Media Molecule have their fingers crossed that gamers have the skills required to craft masterpieces born out of their own imagination.
LittleBigPlanet is a must have title for any PS3 owner. LBP appears to harness the raw power of the PS3 and demonstrates just what Sony’s black box has under the hood. SIXAXIS controls and graphic prowess have been channelled to a degree that makes you wonder what other PS3 developers are actually doing with their time and money.
LBP has the motto “Play. Create. Share.” And the motto is adhered to 100% of the time. As a single player game LBP isn’t going to rewrite the rules of what a platformer must be, but areas where Media Molecule’s game will revolutionise is in its slick and simple creation tools. The levels you can create are as limitless as your own imagination but you must be prepared to sacrifice some serious time to craft that “must play” level.
Mark Craven
