LittleBigPlanet Review
- Posted October 19th, 2008 at 16:43 EDT by Eric Blattberg
- 19,259 views
- 65 Comments
Review Score
- PSU Review Score
- 9.5
- Avg. user review score:
- 9.1
Summary
LittleBigPlanet is innovation at its finest. It’s beautiful, hilarious, completely unique, and incredibly fun. You can’t afford to miss it.
We like
- Brilliant audiovisual presentation, streamlined interface, and hilarious attitude
- Infinite replayability due to incredible content creation system
- Strong gameplay intertwined with excellent multiplayer experience
We dislike
- “2.5D” mechanic can prove a bit tricky
See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings
Approachable. Brilliant. Classic. Dynamic. Exciting. Fun. Gorgeous. Hilarious. Innovative. Jammin’. Kooky. Lovable. Magical. Numinous. Open. Playful. Quirky. Robust. Splendid. Transcendent. Universal. Vibrant. Wacky. Xenial. Youthful. Zany.
LittleBigPlanet.
These qualities pervade this big title from the little Media Molecule, a previously unproven team of 30 or so individuals. I’d venture that they’ll have something to put on their resume from now on.
LittleBigPlanet is a masterpiece – that’s evident from the moment you boot it up. For those unfamiliar with the game -- all three of you -- LittleBigPlanet is a platformer at heart, but often transcends its own genre. What’s on the disc, however, is primarily platforming action. As you travel the LittleBigPlanet globe, you’ll meet the seven Creator Curators, who require your assistance for their odd, often comical requests. A coherent story is essentially non-existent, but the game has such a quirky, funny style that a narrative isn’t necessary.
Not that LittleBigPlanet won’t touch you. It’s certainly not the elusive “game that will make you cry,” but it will absolutely make you laugh. To be brutally honest, SackPeople are ridiculously cute. Their wooly exteriors are adorned with tiny little zippers, shiny button-eyes, and whatever else you unlock or create. To further express your endearing SackPerson, four different emotions -- happy, sad, scared and angry -- are mapped to the directional buttons. The mechanic sounds goofy and unimportant, but it’s supremely satisfying to slap a big grin across your SackBoy’s face as you ruthlessly whack your comrades into a nearby fire-pit.
But that’s just the frosting, so what does the cake taste like? First of all, it’s a three-layer cake. LittleBigPlanet is obviously rendered in 3D, but to the untrained eye it appears to be a 2D platformer. That’s partially correct. There are three “dimensions,” a foreground, middle, and background, in which to play. Swapping between these dimensions is relatively simple, but can be a bit irritating at times. This is the game’s principal fault.
On level ground, tap the left stick up or down to move into the background or foreground. This works fine. On uneven terrain, however, it gets a bit trickier. If you jump upwards, SackBoy will automatically move into the background if there’s higher ground above. That can cause some issues. To pinpoint a specific area where I had trouble with this mechanic, on Uncle Jalapeño’s level Boom Town there’s a short segment where you can jump up a small cliffside, present in all but the foreground. Every time I tried to jump up the middle cliff, I’d move right into the background, where I could no longer proceed. I hopped back down to the middle cliff and tried again, but the same thing occurred four or five times before I made it up.
Instances like this are few and far between, so don’t think that the gameplay is inherently flawed. Thankfully, the rest of the primary mechanics are as buttery as could be. You can run, jump and grab with ease, then perform other actions like tilting your SackPerson’s head or hips with motion sensing, and using L2 and R2 to control your SackArms. One thing will take a bit of getting used to, however, is the game’s physics system. I’ve never before played a platformer with such a heavy emphasis on physics. This took a bit of time to become accustomed to, but once I spent a couple of minutes with the game, I immediately saw the benefits of such a system. Movements aren’t predefined whatsoever; velocity and acceleration are taken into account at all times. This gives you the freedom to replay levels without them feeling stale.
Another key implementation in LittleBigPlanet is its multiplayer component. The folks at Media Molecule wisely fused all of the standard multiplayer modes from other games into one grand experience. Multiplayer is neither offline nor online, competitive nor cooperative; it is all of the above. Play with any combination of up to four offline and online SackPeople. Explore story levels or head into the online arena and discover new creations. Compete vigorously for score and prize bubbles, work together to get them all, or ignore them entirely. It’s up to you.
So, you’ve beaten all of ... (continued on next page)
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Comments
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Josekenshin |
josek- 7:53pm BST - October 19th, 2008
- 16
then when we get patched the 2.5 controls LBP will be a perfect 10 game?
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zombieking36
- 8:33pm BST - October 19th, 2008
- 17
This game shall be the brilliance of brilliance, if only the controls were already perfection we'd have all 10's!
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BirdPlayer |
BirdPlayer- 9:03pm BST - October 19th, 2008
- 18
that review made me almost cry. very well put. got it on preorder as well as midnight club la
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Fingal_D |
Fingal_D- 9:40pm BST - October 19th, 2008
- 22
Holy socks, Blattberg! Great review, great game. 10/10 for your review. Hopefully I will get mine the week after this one. Old Snake reminds me of Ned Flanders. Guess I will have to make him. Nobody steal that. If you use it at least give Fingal_D a nod. Thanks
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SneakerHolic |
twisted_soul- 10:50pm BST - October 19th, 2008
- 25
I already have this game i got it like 2 week ago! is it suppose to be out already? or when does it come out? and how da heck did i get it so early from XXXXXXX?
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Alpha2
- 11:17pm BST - October 19th, 2008
- 28
Beware that some stores broke the street date on the original version before the recall and delay. I have a feeling those stores will face a problem when they dont send back the copies they sold. Also I question whether or not the sold copies will work with the revised version that ships in a week.
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Harrykid32 |
harryboy3264- 3:24am BST - October 20th, 2008
- 33
I would rate it 9.9
(the .1 is because of the 2d plains problem >=(
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bracomadar |
bracomadar- 5:42am BST - October 20th, 2008
- 35
I was lucky enough to be in the beta and I can tell you that this is what games are suppose to be...FUN! Great graphics are great to have in a game, but IMO, game of the year shouldn't all be about graphics. The most important thing a game should have is loads of stuff that will keep you entertained. This game delivers that and much more. The graphics aren't as mind blowing as say MGS4, but if had the ability to cast a vote for Game of the Year, LBP would get it without me even having to think about it. Still working through my withdraw symptoms after the beta was over with *shake* *shiver*
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PS3-The Ultimate Machine
- 6:35am BST - October 20th, 2008
- 37
Epic review Eric,this game is definitely GOTY material.
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SamTheSkater
- 12:24pm BST - October 20th, 2008
- 40
I pre-ordered LittleBigPlanet a long time ago. It'll simply be the best game ever.
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Shin-Karazu |
shinkarazu- 1:51pm BST - October 20th, 2008
- 42
Its redundant but, great review man... Im a little mad that this game got delayed only 5 or 6 days before release. Its gonna be huge.
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bracomadar |
bracomadar- 2:05pm BST - October 20th, 2008
- 43
@36
I don't know if they would do a demo, at least not with the creative part. Maybe a trial might be released. If you take my word for it, which maybe you won't, but go ahead and buy it when it comes out and you won't be let down. Trust me! Afterwards you can tell everybody that bracomadar is a trustworthy fellow ;)
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istayreppinVA |
sizzilz- 3:50pm BST - October 20th, 2008
- 45
ok please somebody help me...
i have a playstation 3, and love it. don't have anything else
but PLEASE!!! somebody tell me what is the big deal with this game, i just looked at it and just shrugged my shoulders and thought, "aaaaand?"
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sizzilz- 4:24pm BST - October 20th, 2008
- 46
*Edit: please do not advertise for other establishments here, especially if it hinders from the success of supported companies. Thank you
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FlabbyBatWngs |
Hallinater- 6:10pm BST - October 20th, 2008
- 47
Please need help really Farcry 2 and LBP sort of come out at the same time I can only get one please reply or something its a difficult decision
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Ps3_aDdIcT |
WuccA- 8:21pm BST - October 20th, 2008
- 48
You can create your own levels, have other people play them, play other peoples levels, fun run around game, cool decorations, stickers, etc., nice customization. That is why it is an awesome game
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teevanator |
teevanator- 12:03pm BST - October 21st, 2008
- 49
@ 46 buy THIS NOW not far cry
you heard si? comprende? NOOW
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TheWorldEndsWithMe |
DonovanTheICEMAN- 4:42pm BST - October 21st, 2008
- 50
thats a lot of posts... I had fun in the beta, agree that control issue is the only drawback.
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