• Posted October 19th, 2008 at 16:43 EDT by Eric Blattberg
• 65 Comments

(continued from previous page) ...beaten all of Media Molecule’s levels. What do you do next? Let’s say you want to create a level. LittleBigPlanet can be twisted and kneaded into whatever you desire. Want to create a modified version of Tetris? It’s already been made. How about staging an epic battle where you valiantly stave off a dragon with a cannon? My SackBoy will always wear his battle scars from that level with pride. Or, instead of all this fancy-shmancy genre-transcending stuff, you could always just recreate Super Mario Bros: World 1-1, though your level may get lost in the pack of the countless reconstructions that already exist.

All of this falls under the ‘create’ aspect of LittleBigPlanet. With such a powerful suite of tools, you’d expect content creators to be limited to a niche audience willing to learn an insanely complex toolset. That’s simply not the case. LittleBigPlanet has both the most user-friendly and most powerful content creation system ever seen in any console game ever. Once again: ever. A series of helpful tutorial videos and tasks, narrated by the jubilant Stephen Fry, will have even the most un-technical people creating levels in no time. Grab Grandma and have her create a level that bring those “good old days” she’s always talking about to life, or tell little eight-year-old Jimmy he can finally make those ninja dinosaurs he’s been whining about for years. Anything is possible.

Once your level is done, publish it to make your mark on the LittleBigPlanet community. If it’s popular, it will rise to the top of the “cool levels” category, and you could very well become a “cool creator.” Yes, there are countless horrid levels that people have made, but there are ample diamonds in the rough as well. The cream of the crop rises to the top due to the intelligent filtering system that Media Molecule has built. But say you’re looking for your friend’s level, which hasn’t been the most popular in the past. No problem - you can use the search option to find a specific level or author. There’s also an in-depth system of tagging and hearting levels. Tagging labels a level with a word that describes it, while hearting a level is the equivalent of bookmarking a webpage. It’s simple, helpful additions like these that make the community component of LittleBigPlanet refined to the point of near-perfection.

While I’m sure you’ve assumed this by now, it needs to be said. Some individuals out there on our own RatherBigPlanet are insanely gifted. To make a masterpiece, you have to have a lot of time and talent. Even if less than 1% of the creations that are published attain such a standing, expect to be inspired daily. You’ll come across levels that emulate other games and be amazed at the distinct details that went into their design. You’ll also discover original concepts that have such personality that entire games could be based off of single LittleBigPlanet levels.

LittleBigPlanet isn’t only a game for the PlayStation community – it’s a reason to join the PlayStation community. Anyone who plays games should experience this title. It’s been called the YouTube of gaming, the definition of user-generated content, the first true next-generation game and much, much more. I agree with those descriptions, but here’s something far simpler: It’s a blast, and you can’t afford to miss it.