LittleBigPlanet 2 Review

04 Jan 2011 at 15:56:15 by Lauren Wainwright
Systems used to review this title: (PS3)

The happy-go-lucky, creative world of Sack Boy returns with even more Stephen Fry and stickers. Little Big Planet 2 is exactly what fans have been expecting from Media Molecule. It’s wide-eyed sequel to one of the PlayStation 3’s more aspirational titles. Full of fun and crafty goodness, Little Big Planet 2 is a must have for those with the itch to create something special.

And while all the wonderful creation features have been ramped up to include some really interesting looks into game creation, the rest of the game seems to remain the same. It’s still floaty platforming with slightly wonky controls and I’m not sure we can over look these faults for the sake of a few new innovations.

You begin with another introduction of the basic controls, Stephen Fry and Media Molecule staff. It’s not all sugar and rainbows though, and the colourful land of Craftworld is under attack from the Negativitron. The evil vacuum sucks up all of Craftworld’s creative goodness and it’s up to you, a paper bearded Da Vinci and the Alliance to stop it.

Of course, you’ll have to earn your right to join the Alliance to take part in most of Little Big Planet 2’s content and Da Vinci follows you through 7 starter levels where you learn the basics and new additions to the franchise.

One of these additions is the grappling gun which allows you to attach to spongy areas and swing around on them. In theory it sounds great but in practice it’s rather frustrating. There are many moments where you are required to extend the line as well as control your swing from left to right and it all becomes a bit of a mess. Swing to the left or right seems to also reel in the line making it extremely difficult to swing to any awaiting goodies hiding above.

But then, Little Big Planet 2 isn’t being sold as a platform game but instead as a platform for games. If you were into creating all sorts of wonderful designs in the last game then this one will have you foaming at the mouth. Changing the format from basic side scrolling styled levels, players can now create a whole host of genres using the Little Big Planet 2 level creator. From racing games to shoot em’ ups, Little Big Planet 2 has a huge variety of level designs to work with and it’s impressive how much they’ve managed to play around with the original format to make it work so well.

Another great addition for the creators is the Sackbots, new cardboard cut-out programmable AI. You can edit around with their reactions to players, the environment or even speed. If you want the Sackbots to run away they will and you can also program them to be afraid of heights. You can really mess about with their behavioural patterns and it has some rather interesting, and sometimes hilarious, results. This means that all those budding designers out there can really push to create something interesting or even evolve their old levels from the original Little Big Planet, where all 2 million user created levels will be working in the sequel.

The only real issue is that you’re going to have to wade through hundreds of tutorials to really get to grasp with it all. Of course, Media Molecule offer up these tutorials in a fun, interactive and helpful way but it’s still quite daunting when you actually start to build your awesome new game.

For those who are not as design savvy as myself, there is still a fun story to take part in. It’s sadly laid out much like the old game but prettier, bigger and entertaining. The stories are short and whimsical and the atmosphere is most endearing. There is plenty to go back and do in each level as you unlock more stickers to find new paths

There are also a bunch of co-operative levels to enjoy with friends should you wish as part of the story line which work much like ’Splosion Man. Each player takes a certain route and unlocks paths for the other. Its great fun and the levels are well designed for the challenge.

It’s just a shame to see so little this has changed from the first game, but then Little Big Planet has always been about creation and community and that is certainly its strongest attribute. The level design in the single player leads more to hinting at what players can do with the creation. It’s a well-polished and thought about sequel that offers little to the platformer, but goes above and beyond for the creator. One thing is for sure, you might be able to make all these wonderful levels but the clunky controls don’t make playing them any better.

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