Well, where should I begin? When I first heard about a game that would give gamers the tools necessary to create your own levels, I immediately wrote it off as a game that I would never play. I’m not the type of gamer who enjoys level editors or creating my own content; so I thought.
Little Big Planet gives anyone the tools necessary to make their dream levels come true. You want to make a level that never stops moving? You can do it. Have you thought of a very complex car that only drives in certain situation? You have that tools at your disposal to make that thought a reality. There are endless possibilities for you to discover in this game and that is one part of the equation that makes this game so much fun. Tweaking every variable of your own idea is very rewarding. If you can think it, you can probably build it on this game.
The other part of the equation is actually playing the game. If you haven’t smiled while playing this game you either don’t have a soul or you’re doing it wrong. During the beta, there were numerous user created levels that oozed with creativity. Seeing some of the more complex levels were just simply amazing and made me want to create a level of my own for others to enjoy. Don’t get me wrong though, there are some horrible ones but you have to expect that from a beta. The user ratings in the beta wasn’t not much help and I often relied on my friends list to find the truly awesome levels. When you’re surfing through user created levels, you have the option to add them to a favorite list. Anyone on your friend’s list can see your favorites and choose to play them as well. I’m sure the process of bubbling up great user created levels will be more refined when the game finally ships and this will drive people to try and perfect their levels.
In addition to the user created content, there will also be a single player aspect to the game. The levels in the single player game will be ones created by the Media Molecule and will probably be super polished. These levels can also be played by yourself or with up to 3 of your friends. If it’s anything like the beta, the single player part of the game gives you more tools for you to use in the creation of your own levels. While I’m not sure if there will be a story to go along with it, I know I’ll probably finish it once so that I can ensure that I have all the tools at my disposal.
Overall, Little Big Planet is a wonderful surprise of a game. Being able to create whatever your mind can come up with is very satisfying. If you have a PS3 then you should own this game, no question about it. Hopefully, in the future, Sony will bundle this game with the system so everyone can have this be their first experience with the machine.
Above is a video of the level that took me roughly 7 hours to put together. All of the content is custom made and hopefully I’ll be able to build upon it even more when the game finally gets released.
That looks insane. But really awesome. How hard is it to use the level editor?
It’s really really easy. There’s a tutorial for each tool and once you sit there and play with it, it becomes second nature. It’s like legos for adults. Although, I still play with legos.
Pretty sick game! One day I will get a new console so I can play some of these games you review. Hey, you should make a level where a vehicle has to travel on a roller coaster track without being attached… Meaning if you don’t steer right your and carry enough speed into the loops your dead meat…lol
-doozieUp