The gameplay in LittleBigPlanet is simple, all you need to know to get through a level is how to run, jump, and grab. The actual platforming, however, can be rather imprecise. This is because of the "plain" system that LittleBigPlanet uses. Your Sackperson won't always jump onto what you want them to, and this leads to occasionally frustrating cheap deaths. Its particularly annoying when there's a prize bubble that's out of the way of the main path and you can't get your Sackperson to reach it because they want to remain on the main plain. This never becomes so frustrating that you want to throw your controller at the television though. In fact, the platforming in LittleBigPlanet is very fun and enjoyable most of the time, you'll just have to deal with some floaty controls.
The main "story" mode in LittleBigPlanet lasts roughly five to six hours. There's plenty of replay value to be had with these levels though. There's plenty of prize bubbles, and keys to collect that unlock various mini-game challenges that you wont be able to access on your first playthrough. The official levels also serve as an inspirational garden of ideas for people to use in their own levels, which is the core component of LittleBigPlanet.
LittleBigPlanet's level editor can seem very overwhelming at first, but there's an hour long set of tutorials that show you how to make things move, dissolve, blow up, and more. Once your ready to start creating, starting small is key. But once you've mastered all of the mechanics, you can make pretty much anything your imagination cooks up with relative ease.
This brings us to the biggest concern about LittleBigPlanet since the beginning, will users be able to create quality content that others will find enjoyable to play? Well I can safely say the answer is yes. There's already been a slew of levels that absolutely just blew my mind away. Some are even more imaginative and more impressive than the campaign levels, even though they might not always have the same polish. I can't even count how many times I've been playing through user created levels and said, "How did they do that?" Yes, worry no longer, the gaming community is completely capable of making fun, quality levels. Of course there's some real stinkers in the mix as well, but you can successfully avoid them as long as you stick to playing the levels with high play counts, lots of hearts, and positive tags.
There's sadly more negative than positive things about playing online cooperatively though. First of all, its difficult to even join a game, since most of the time a "Failed to load all player profiles" error message will come up. Once you are playing with others, the game starts to have to have some lagging issues. And the camera also presents a problem, like the Lego games it doesn't pull back far enough, so those that fall behind won't be able to see where they are going. This applies to both online, and offline co-op. Which is unfortunate because playing cooperatively with others is some of the best fun to be had in LittleBigPlanet.
The graphics in LittleBigPlanet would even impress the guys at Pixar. The visuals are cute, clean, stylistic and simply beautiful, and the art direction is absolutely top-notch. The soundtrack is as perfect as it gets, LBP features plenty of British pop-rock and Indy tracks that fit the game perfectly. And the rest of the sound work is excellent as well, from the clashes of different materials, to the pops and squishes, it simply sounds great.
Overall LittleBigPlanet is one of the most creative and imaginative games ever made, and the best platformer since Super Mario Galaxy. Its also one of the best games available for the PlayStation 3, and a title that all PS3 owners should play. Despite its problematic online and offline cooperative play, LittleBigPlanet is hugely fun and entertaining, and extremely charming. Its also one of the few games that has nearly limitless replay value, and will keep you coming back to it for months, if not years from now.
9/10
*Originally written March 30, 2009*
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