Oh no, another LittleBigPlanet article, aren’t there enough out there in the large interwebs? Apparently not, because this game has so many features that will surprise so many players. You can create anything you wanted to create, the only limitation is your own imagination.
Players have 3 layers of depth to work with mostly being a side-scroller. But with the immense amount of creativity one can have, players could build levels in which you went right-to-left or even vertically, above or below ground.
You have an assortment of materials to choose from to create anything you want. The materials are in such quantities that there are endless possibilities of a design when you create something, especially when you start putting stickers and photos on your materials and creations.
Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet introduces a new type of character, the “Sackboy,” the Sackboy can be customized in an infinite amount of ways, making it a Sackgirl, giving him certain items of clothing, stamping pictures on your Sackboy, attaching/building on to him by adding something and selecting from your bag a material that he should be made out of.
Not only this, but LittleBigPlanet also introduces a new slogan, “Play, Create, Share.” Essentially it comes down to just that, you play through single player mode and get ideas on what to create. You create your own objects or levels and then share them online with friends or the entire world.
A little more into the Play area, this title was so well accepted at GDC that this game has been boosted in media and now needs to meet needs of the consumers, it needs to be big. It’s so big that it’s being developed as a Blu-ray Disc release only so that players can get everything they need. The storyline is supposed to start out with how you get “these powers” to manipulate and create things. Other than that, the story will be extensive and will provide days that turn into weeks of fun with the single-player campaign when you’re aiming for that Trophy that you want.
You choose pins from the world map, which acts like a menu screen and then more pins will appear on the map and you would choose from these to play the level and learn of your stats and more. The game will ship with I believe I heard over 100 levels and will appeal to all audiences.
Now one who doesn’t find themselves completely imaginitive or creative might think, “Oh, well I won’t make anything, it won’t be any good,” don’t play this game with that kind of attitude. The great thing about LittleBigPlanet is that anyone can sit down and enjoy this game for hours and have a smile on their face. Now you don’t have to create levels or objects, but you’re really missing out if you don’t. Creating will be easy for all who try in this game.
When Creating, users can simply tap the Square button to pop out your bag and it’ll have some options for you, now you’d select the categories and eventually you’ll learn where everything is and creating will be much easier and more addicting when you do. As stated before, you have three layers of depth to build anything you like, and you can cheat at making things appear as though they’re floating as well. You can create a wall in the “4th layer” essentially, and attach items to it. The 4th layer is really just like a wall, so you can decorate your level.
There are some limitations to creating though, you must purchase materials and such by collecting “Fluff” from each level. Fluff at first looke like a yellow spongey type of distorted sphere. But has evolved over time to come in many different bright colours. This in a way can be considered currency for LittleBigPlanet and is how you are limited. Virtually, your levels can be as big as your hard drive, putting content in until you can’t anymore because of space on your hard drive.
And Sharing, you would do this online and upload your level to the world. Players can then play it and leave comments on it if they so choose. If people end up putting questionable content or copyrighted content in and around their levels, there will be a way to report those levels and you can even rate it horribly so that others don’t play it. There’ll even be a screening type of process when being shared, you can even make the level only playable by friends.
There are other great aspects of the game that make it so great. Comical deaths, enemies, bosses, Trophy Support, SIXAXIS support and I believe there’s DUALSHOCK 3 support as well. Recent additions into the game include ways to give your materials a certain composition. Recently shown was a walkthrough where you can now make materials be on fire, be frozen or be electrified. If you were to touch the electrical or burning material, you would die in a comical way flying towards the camera and reappear at a spawn check point that you or your buddies have passed.
If you were to touch the frozen material for a long enough amount of time, you yourself would become frozen and you could slide a bit and you would use the SIXAXIS to shake yourself free from being frozen. You can also use the SIXAXIS to rotate your head.
Another cool addition to LittleBigPlanet are the emotions and button layouts. You can use the D-pad to change moods in which your Sackboy is in and you can use the Analog Sticks to control the arms, and as stated before, you can move his head by using SIXAXIS. You can essentially slap your buddies around and your moods could be different and that would change whether you high-five each other or do something completely different when interacting.
Trophy Support will test players to see if they can overcome certain levels without losing a life and having other challenges as well. The control scheme is very easy as well, you move with the Left Analog Stick and jump with X. As stated before as well, pressing Square will bring up your item bag and from there you would enter creating mode. You would press R2 and L2 to make the material you’re using span from one to all three layers and you could move them from what layers with L1 and R1.
There are instances where fire and the wind will mix, along with fire swirling with a frozen object. This game will also have a great physics engine and being able to hold on to objects makes this game even more fun.
Fire and Ice Developer Walkthrough – Watch how easy it is to create a level and how fire and ice mix! [GameTrailers]
You know what else makes this game fun? Co-op, you can play with up to 4 players on one PS3 and you can play with up to 8 players in a single level online. You can race through a level, there are starting and end points you can set up and you can gain points and glory by having the best time of your friends. There will be settings in which you can have players create objects in a certain part of your level to get past something challenging.
In short, this game is revolutionary, and lately, it seems as though many games are turning out that way, introducing something that’s never been introduced to video games before. Whether you’re a hardcore or casual gamer, this game will appeal to most everyone that sees it or plays it. This game is scheduled for release in October this year and hopefully we’ll have videos to show you how great this game is up by then. But check out the videos and screens below!
Boss Battle – A look at how a certain boss fight will be handled! [GameTrailers]
Cam Developer Walkthrough – This is the entire level with the Boss Battle towards the end! [GameTrailers]
Sony E3’s Presentation – Watch this new twist to LittleBigPlanet! The level is the Sony Presentation! [GameTrailers]
