LittleBigPlanet

Voices of: Stephen Fry (narrator)
Developer: Media Molecule
Designer: Mark Healey, David Smith
Rating: E
Genre: Platformer
System: Playstation 3
2008

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: Sackboy travels throughout strange lands, meeting different people on his way to a final confrontation with the Collector.

Review:
Tim: I have a decent amount to say about LittleBigPlanet, much of it good, some of it bad. Overall, I had a blast playing this game in multiplayer, with my 8 year-old son. The game is so vast, so creative, so filled with British humor, it offers up a totally unique platformer game experience. There are a ton of collectables, unique and quirky levels, some surprisingly difficult challenges, and lots of fun. Overall, it's a wonderful experience that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The creativity that went into the level design was outstanding. You never quite know what to expect, as you move around the globe and visit the Gardens, Savannah, the Weddings, Canyons, Metropolis, Islands, Temples, Wilderness, and much more. Each area had its own unique story, mechanisms, and challenges. Taken as a whole, the game feels large, a bit overwhelming when playing with children. Each world had three stories, plus a series of unique challenges to unlock. Completing the levels was challenging enough, but then you have items to collect in each level. This is where the replay value comes in- you have to complete levels several times, to collect all the missing items. Many are obvious, many are challenging, some felt nearly impossible to find on your own (I used online guides for those). This was challenging but so fun- trying to get 100% of the items in each level. My son and I were determined to 100% the game, but a few things made us give up on this. First, we only had two controllers, and as the game progresses, there are certain areas you must have 3 or 4 players to access. We played this game years too late, so the online options weren't available to us- there was just no way to access those areas and get the items. Also, we early on decided not to purse the "Ace" level items- you get those by completing a level without dying once. I liked the game, but not enough to replay levels until you did it perfectly, with an 8 year-old working with you. Even still, we got everything else- 97% of all items you could collect. We also grabbed 100% of the keys to open the bonus levels and collected all of those. That all adds up to an absolute ton of things to see and do. The game felt quite extensive to me.

Sackboy himself is such an excellent character. The whole concept of this game involves creativity, so there's nearly endless opportunities for customizing the character. As we played, my son would design such intricate, fascinating versions of the character. It was so fun to see what he would come up with next. He loved the character design and I loved watching him. I mostly kept the original, brown Sackboy design, although on occasion, I would succumb to the glee of designing my own. We had several of the DLC packs, and it was really fun to dress Sackboy up like Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid.

I thought the game mostly worked well. Some of the controls could be wonky- there were times when you needed to jump forward or backwards and the character would do something illogical that would result in a silly death. Those could be incredibly frustrating. There were definitely moments when I almost lost it- a level would throw a ridiculous challenge in front of you and you couldn't always rely on the controls. Those happened at various intervals, so in between you had long stretches of fun gameplay. But, there were definitely moments of immense frustration. Collecting all the items is a bit of grind, especially in certain levels where they are well-hidden. I lamented that there wasn't an easy way to confirm the items you had online. A few times, I had to go item-by-item down a checklist online, then go to another guide and read through paragraph after paragraph to discover the missing item. Whenever I had to do this, I'd groan in frustration at the subtle thing I missed. This was definitely a frustration at various points. The two-player option was mostly great, I love games where I'm able to play through with my kid(s). My son and I really enjoyed the game, although there are plenty of opportunities for each player to accidentally mess the other one up. I admit, I grew a bit frustrated at times- trying to make it through a brutal challenge and the screen isn't where you need it to be because the other character is far behind, etc. It's a major limitation of the game, but I get it. It really forces the characters to work together as closely as possible.

The visual effects were really good- the level are beautiful, Sackboy is well-rendered. I loved the ability to change the emotions Sackboy felt with a touch of the button. There's so many little quirks and details that make this world feel so vividly alive. The game development was quite impressive.

As a whole, I really liked playing LittleBigPlanet. We were a bit too late for the online option, to play endless user-created levels. We did 6 out of the 18 Bonus Levels that came with the game- we should have finished them all, but we were both suffering from game fatigue and felt like we'd done enough. It was so aggravating that the game required 3-4 players at times, closing us out of areas because I wasn't going to splurge on two extra controllers for a few items. Still, this game offers a ton of creativity and game play. I loved this world, Stephen Fry's wonderful narration, and all the quirks and oddities thrown into this game. It felt like a unique, entertaining game experience. I need a long break from this world, but we'll definitely play the sequel some day.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Earthbound, Metal Gear Solid, Portal, Yoshi's Crafted World