LittleBigPlanet

15 Dec 2008 at 15:32:31 by Jake Kawaguchi
Systems used to review this title: ()

There’s a very good reason this review is late: I’ve been playing LittleBigPlanet. A lot. An awful lot.

Let’s get this straight, though – LittleBigPlanet is not perfect. For one thing, the control of characters feels a bit woolly. And that sensation is exacerbated by the fact that you can’t use the d-pad. Call me a stupid philistine, but I prefer to use the d-pad when I’m playing a 2D (or 2.5D) platformer, not the Dual Shock 3’s slightly vague and baked bean-y analogue stick. In LBP I have no choice but to analogue-bean my way through the game.

And another thing: it only takes ten hours or so to complete the story mode. It’s a riotous and tremendously enjoyable five-twelfths of a day, admittedly, but it’s still only five-twelfths of a day.

In spite of those factors, however, this is the kind of game which is so full of charm that it’s easy to forgive any minor quibbles and throw yourself into its arms like any number of foolish Hollywood actresses flinging themselves in Hugh Grant’s direction. Yes, it can be a bit too smug at times (the self-congratulatory tone of Stephen Fry’s narration doesn’t help) but it’s also clearly trying its hardest to entertain. And, 90% of the time, it succeeds quite splendidly.

Most of LBP’s best moments are based around set-pieces, where the level design is such that puzzles and mini challenges are stitched together by carefully positioned sections of platformer tradition: collecting items, running and jumping. If you’d forgotten just how much fun collecting stuff was, LBP sets things right with a huge Post-It note applied to your forehead. It says: “REMEMBER, STUPID – COLLECTING THINGS IS FUN!”

But what principally sets LBP apart from the classic 2D platformers of the 1980s and 1990s is its online integration. Being able to compare your performance with other players in each level of the story mode provides an extra incentive to play well. More important than that, being able to tinker with the game engine to create original levels and challenges – for your own enjoyment and for the entertainment of other players who are connected to the game’s servers – really does open things up in an interesting new direction.

The level design tools and editing system require considerable time and effort if you want to produce something really special (or even something that forms a cohesive challenge), but there’s immense satisfaction to be had from being able to see your own handicraft and play in your own world. LBP isn’t just a vast playground; it’s also a playground construction kit.  

These features don’t change the fact that LBP is a platformer in essence, but with puzzles and choices galore, this is a game that demands brainpower as much as dexterity. Little Big Planet varies in size according to what you choose to do with it – user-created levels and worlds add infinite scope – so how much you get out of it to a certain extent depends on how much you put in.

All the while, no matter what you’re getting up to – whether it’s something creative like building levels or changing the look of your sackperson, or something traditional-but-with-a-twist like multiplayer platform puzzle-solving – the overwhelming prettiness of everything makes LBP a joy to experience.

Do you remember when videogame graphics were still evolving at such a silly pace that you’d play new games partly because you just wanted to treat your retinas to something phenomenally good-looking? Well LBP brings that kind of thing back to the fore. Part of the incentive that keeps you wanting to try out new levels is the appeal of how awesomely pretty it might look. This is what HD tellies were built for. 

Even the music is inspired, with a perfect mix of original tracks and eclectic licensed songs (Go Team/Jim Noir/Battles). Each area has its own sonic theme and the developer has used the sorts of instruments you wouldn’t ordinarily expect to hear in a game soundtrack (panpipes and accordion, anyone?) to achieve an oddly sublime effect that matches LBP’s sublimely odd graphical style.

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