So will a game with a cutesy facade, a challenging single player, co-op out the wazzoo and an incredibly accessible level creation mode unite the casual with the core? It sure ticks all the boxes...on paper.
Littlebigplanet visually pops. It's art style is amazingly consistent. Everything is considered in content and fantastically high res. It's handmade aesthetic extends to every aspect of the game and makes the game have a tactile quality that few other games could claim.
The game is made up of two distinct modes: Play and Create.
Play is made up Story levels created by the developers Media Molecule, and Community levels which are entirely user created.
The Story levels seem to just be preloaded content to provide a single player game, but they also serve as fantastic inspiration, giving the user an inkling of some of the full on crazy shit they can make in the Create mode. It's worth of noting that Media Molecule have decided to show all the devices that make their levels tick rather than hiding them. This is a nice way to give the players an idea of how some of their amazing tricks are accomplished.
Another thing worth noting is that the later levels are BALLS HARD. Rather than feeling playful glee after I finished up the Story levels, it had me feeling like I had passed a stone. Exausted, with a pain in the dick. It's a necessary evil though if you want to get all the materials to build with, and whether or not that's a good thing is VERY debatable ($5 says there's will be 'unlock all content' DLC within a month or two).
The community levels are hit and miss. Which is of course, not a surprise. Check out YouTube. Bunch a shitty shit on there. There has been some pretty serious copyright infringing ban hammering going on, leaving some users pretty pissed as to their unexplained and inscrutable deletion. Then you have the other end of the spectrum. The un-effing-believable.
The interface for seeking out Community content could do with some tweaking. You navigate the levels on a big globe and it looks hell cool, but is kinda tricky to find what you want. You can 'heart' a level for quick reference, but once you have a few it gets mess again. A filtering system for how many plays and hearts a level has would be appreciated. In non-fancy list form please.
Create mode is utterly amazing. It's a level creator, it's a toy, it's whats ever you make it. I initially though you could make a sweet tree. Turns out you can make a fucking CALCULATOR. It's far more robust and full featured than I could have imagined. Not to mention easy. Metal and I had an idea and within half an hour we had a working prototype. The only thing I would ask for is more control over the view. Let me lock the view where ever I want it and put in a split screen if I choose to. Let's hope it gets patched in.
LittleBigPlanet is not for everybody. On paper it should be, but its my honest belief that this will not be the olive branch that links the core with the casual. Some players will not bother to spend the time building rad levels and get put off by the punishing story levels. Others will find the aesthetic a little too sugary sweet and babyish.
And you know what? I don't give a fuck. It's everything I wanted it to be and I will be playing this game for a very long time to come. I see what it is, I see what it can be, and I am excited.
So wheres the 'fucking ugly'? That would be located in the PSN store. At the moment there is a T-shirt for your Sackperson, that costs $8.45 AU. ONE FUCKING T-SHIRT. This unholy money grubbery is clearly an experiment to see how much you are willing to pay and flies in the face of all the touchy feely community stuff Media Molecule have been pimping. So Please, don't insult us with this shameless bullshit, it only harms the product.
-n
PS. I also find the fact an infinitly reproducable and widely available digital shirt is described as 'rare' hilariously ironical. Watch now as I guffaw into my latte until my monocle falls off.
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