Review – Little Big Planet

If there’s one game that can frustrate and delight in equal measure at the same time then its Little Big Planet. No other game has that level of cuteness to make you laugh and smile when your Sackboy flies through the air as his legs thrash wildly to reach the other side of some spike-filled chasm.

No other game has that level of freedom to let you create almost anything you can imagine a platforming game can do. It has a sense of community that can’t be matched by any other game on the PS3 as you play the most silly and ridiculous levels that have been made by your friends, with your friends online.

And by that same token it encourages others to pick up controller for the first time and actually engage in a videogame – surely this must be nirvana?

But no. Mixed in with all this messianic design and concept lies a few flaws that for me (and I stress that this is a personal misgiving) come close to ruining the game entirely.

First of all, what is the game? Little Big Planet is a platform game with a single-player campaign that’s purpose is to teach you how to go about building your own level. Along these 4 chapters you collect materials, items, stickers and decorations, essentially unlocking content to use yourself later on. Although most of these items can be collected single-handedly, you’re going to have to rope in another player or two to reach everything the developers have put in there.

This is a minor problem as there’s always a kind soul online that’ll be willing to shepherd you through these parts and it’s also a good excuse to get anyone else hanging around to give you a hand.

The two major problems I had though were with the controls and with the difficulty curve. Now it’s fair to say that both of these are concerns I should just get over. Controls can be adapted in my gamer brain over time and difficulty curves just show how crap I am at games and how I need to just try and try until I get it right. After all, most games get harder as you progress through them so why should LBP be any different?

Well my concern is that LBP seems to pull in both directions. On the surface it’s a wonderful and accessible title that pulls in a lot of casual and non-gamers that see it in action. But once you get into the meat and bones you find a hardcore heart beating away at its single-player campaign.

So most people enticed in by the cute art style don’t get beyond the 2nd world. Even as a gamer with many years behind me, I got increasingly frustrated with the difficulty hike – some of which would have been solved by changing the checkpoint system. Although these are placed at convenient intervals you only have 4 lives to get the next stage right. Otherwise it’s essentially game over and you have to restart the entire level.
I understand that you want some sort of ‘game’ out of LBP as its primary aim is giving tools to the userbase and letting them create levels, but god, really? Just 4 lives? I’m quite happy to forgo any kudos and be branded a cheat on my Gamertag if you just give me infinite lives.

How much time is needed to play?

For the single player you could put anywhere from 5 hours to 15 hours depending on how you get on with the controls. For all my own problems with them, the levels are worth savouring because nobody yet has come close to reproducing their quality.

As for user-generated content and your own creations… It’s more a case of what the minimum time needed to create a level is and you’d be looking at an hour to make something meaningful. User content varies in length to just a few minutes to almost half an hour for some of the tougher and more complex levels.

Play in front of the kids?

Oh yes, there’s no doubt Little Big Planet is an excellent game for kids to watch and play along with you. With 4 player co-op available on everything you play it’s a real hit for a family evening and there’s nothing quite like making a level for your kids to muck around in. A level made entirely of explosions or rockets is a sure-fire win!

Conclusion

Despite all my misgivings on the controls and the difficulty curve, this is a game you simply have to try if you want to know if it’s for you. One problem Sony had with LBP was marketing the game and that’s because its very difficult to describe clearly. But try it for just an hour or so and you’ll know if it’s the game for you.
Rating:

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