LittleBigPlanet Review

BY Rabie Hassoun | POSTED: 17 October 2008

A not so little adventure to let your creativity flow



For a publisher/developer to sell during this time of the year they need to come up big. The game released has to be a unique twist on the genre in order for hard-to-please gamers to take note. Last year, the game to beat was Call of Duty 4. The year before it was Gears of War that owned the scene. This year the winning title might be Fallout 3 or Gears of War 2, but if by any chance LittleBigPlanet is not near the top of the sales and awards charts we will be very disappointed. LBP features an excellent single player experience, a deeply detailed editing mode and a fantastic multiplayer game. To put all of that into plain words, this game has it all and then some.

LittleBigPlanet is something never seen nor done before. Yes, it is a platforming game based on a character that lacks the star power Sonic and Mario enjoy, but he more than matches them in personality. The real star here however is the levels and how they are designed. From the first level you play you will notice how well designed this game is. The way each item is placed and how fun it is to get past every obstacle is absolutely fantastic. Amazingly enough you will actually manage to notice all of this before even getting past the first level. And if that was not good enough, the game gives you the ability to recreate your own levels using items you have seen and collected in the single player mode, which we will get to later on in the review.

The levels will be based in a set of different environments. You will be travelling around the world to play in some jungles, cities and deserts. Each environment is based on a continent and features its own set of challenges. That is right; each set of levels has its own set of challenges and gameplay styles. So you will not be using the same techniques and styles in the game over again and again. In the city levels for example, you will be using a controllable car to drive around most of the time. In the jungle set of levels you will be hanging for your life from one area to another. This feature alone is enough to distinguish LBP from any other game we have ever played. We do not remember the last time a game challenged as much in different ways from level to level.

LBP is a game that will reward you for everything you do or achieve. It rewards you with both the valuable in-game items and an interesting list of PSN trophies for you to collect. The items you win range from stuff you have seen in the story mode such as objects and materials to use in the editor mode or items to dress up your Sackboy. Yup, that is the name of our star in LBP. Sackboy lacks any level of details when you first get the game started, but that will change very fast. As you progress through the game you will be unlocking a load of items and clothing materials you can use to dress up your Sackboy. You can recreate him as anything from a zebra to a pirate, the choice is yours. While this option in the game might sound too casual and therefore unimportant, it’s actually very significant. Dressing up your character in a set of diverse combinations adds a deep level of personalization to the game. One of the first things you will do after beating a level is check to see what new items you have to dress up your character. With pictures of Solid Snake Sackboy already all over the internet, you can only imagine what you can create in this game.

The single player story is not interesting enough to play the game for. What you play for is the beautiful level designs. All together the single player game shouldn’t take you more than four to five hours to complete, if you are rushing through it that is. What LBP really shines in though is how it drags you back to replay each level over and over again. The main goal behind playing the story mode is to collect items. You can collect those items by finding them in specific locations within the levels or by beating the level with style. Beating the level without dying for example will reward you with some very interesting items you can use which will keep you coming back for more action.

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