LittleBigPlanet is, at it’s core, a rock solid platformer. It’s got an extensive single player campaign that will keep you engaged for a good long while. Many levels contain hidden items that will require you play the level through more than once. Even after the first two play throughs, I was lacking at least a few items from many of the levels. The game, as a whole, is absolutely oozing with charm. Stephen Fry provides highly amusing, witty, and well delivered narration for all of sackboy’s many adventures, and the visual style of the game creates a whimsical tone for each and every level. Yes, at the core, this game has many good qualities, but they all pale in comparison to the mind blowing level editor.

The LittleBigPlanet level editor gives you the tools to create… well pretty much anything. I mean that. From an 8 bit calculator, to a recreation of Gradius, to a cover of Sweet Child O’ Mine, it seems there’s nothing you can’t do with the level editor. You have at your disposal a wide variety of materials, and the means to make them into any shape you please. Then, using various bolts, springs, and strings, you can attach one piece to another, allowing for objects with moving parts. You can even give your creations life by adding a programmable brain to them. So, you’ve got some items, and some creatures all made up, why not put them in a well decorated level? You can make surfaces out of various materials, and then color those surfaces as you see fit. You can also add pre created stickers to any surface in the game. Think that wall would look better with “ROFL” on it? Slap down a sticker. Does that car you made look slow? Why not put a flaming arrow sticker on it?

So now you’ve got a level full of stuff, and you’re feeling rather proud of it. What now? Now, you upload it to the LBP servers, and wait impatiently for others to play, and rate your masterpiece. There are currently quite a few levels up on the LBP servers, and most of them are actually a lot of fun. There’s a level where you take a rocket to the moon, ride a moon rover, dodge an alien, and escape back to earth. Another level had me solving puzzles and dodging explosives to save Commissioner Gordon from the inmates of Arkham Asylum. It’s not all mind blowing awesomeness though. I did run into at least five levels dedicated to helping you cheat your way into several trophies. I also ran into a few levels that were just broken, and a few that just weren’t fun. Fortunately, you can rate every level you play, and you can report any downright offensive levels to Sony. Each level, both included on the disc, and created by the community, is more fun when you play with friends.  Up to four players can romp through a level together, making for a fun (if a little chaotic) cooperative, or competitive experience, depending on the level.

LittleBigPlanet isn’t perfect. There are some issues with depth that can be extremely frustrating. It can be difficult to determine which plane an object is on, and it can be equally frustrating to get Sackboy to move to that plane. You have to very deliberately stop moving from side to side, and press the left stick up or down to adjust which plane you’re on. It can also be a little tricky gauging jump distance. If you tap the jump button, you’ll hop. If you hold it in, you’ll leap. Sounds simple enough in theory, but in practice, you’ll find yourself leaping when you meant to hop, and vice versa. Additionally, making a connection to the servers was choppy at best, and impossible at worst during the first week LBP was out. For the most part, the problems seem to have been corrected, but I did still experience longer than usual load times when playing a community level as recently as yesterday (November 3rd).

While there are some flaws with this game, they just aren’t big enough to take anything away from the overall package that is LittleBigPlanet. This game has more charm than you can shake a stick at, a robust level editor for you creative types, and a never ending stream of community-created levels for you non creative types. I would recommend that, if you don’t have your PS3 connected to the internet for some reason, you rent this game before buying it, as a large chunk of the appeal lies in the sharing of levels. For everyone else, this game is a must have.

-Mike Kurz

Tags: Little big planet, PS3, review, Sony

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