G4 has had the chance to play Media Molecule’s upcoming LittleBigPlanet, and it’s looking as cute as ever!
The channel interviewed Kyle Schubel, senior producer at SCEA, who touched on a number of areas. Although the level in the hands on was created by one of the developers, it was made with the same tools that will be available to all users. And it’s a pretty cool level as you’ll see from the video below.
Schubel commented on the cloudy issue of dying, dismissing suggestions that the game would be too easy. During the hands on, one of the sackboys falls into a fire pit but simply respawns at a checkpoint slightly further into the level. However, we should expect "challenging physical environments" due to the physics engine and there actually are some enemies, or "meanies". Cute! These won’t be enemies in the "conventional sense" however.
He went on to say that what’s available to users when they first get the game will actually be a limited subset of tools. You’ll have to unlock new textures and objects by playing through Media Molecule’s 50 levels included on the disc.
Schubel confirmed the excellent multiplayer support – the game will support 1 to 4 players on 1 to 4 PS3s. That means up to 4 player online and offline. On the DLC side, there will be capacity for 1 million user-created levels on a planet, and the number of planets can be expanded. And to filter through the inevitable mediocre (read: rubbish) levels, you’ll be able to search by popularity, upload date, what your friends have been playing, other levels created by a user and ratings.
And finally, Schubel confirmed that there will be a closed beta this summer, followed by the full release in September or October.
Check out the full video below.