The third tenet of what embodies LittleBig is sharing. Every level/object that you create can be shared with people around the world. So what will keep LittleBigPlanet from becoming a wasteland of half-assed attempts? The sharing system gives people the chance to “heart” a level that they have played and enjoyed, the more hearts a creation receives the more prominently it will be featured. Simple and hopefully effective, the debug network only had a handful of creations present. The download and use is simple and very user friendly, playing with friends or online you can enjoy what will amount to thousands and thousands of levels and hopefully the moderation process will also eliminate most of the penis levels from circulation before they reach my PS3.

Along with playing creations open to the public you can also just play levels with your friends that no one else has access to. This is where slapping and tom foolery comes into its own. The levels that might be very simple alone can become difficult with up to four Sackoids clambering in the same direction and manipulating the interactive elements in the environment. See saws and physics/timing puzzles become a whole new challenge, a fun challenge that is actually far more entertaining than you might expect.

The camera angles do suffer when playing with multiple people in create mode, if the group of players gets spread out the camera zooms out a little. With such a wide view you can see more of the level but the amount of detail and the ability to see what is happening is impaired significantly and for any challenge requiring accuracy or movement becomes overly difficult. There is also the unenjoyable cut off point when playing cooperaratively, if someone swings out of frame they are cut off unless they return within 5 seconds. This problem gets frustrating on multi-tiered levels.

So it is a great game, but is it a must buy? The answer to that will differ from person to person, if your PS3 is connected to the Playstation Network then the unlimited levels should keep you occupied for a good amount of time. If you like playing with people online again, LittleBig will cater to your tastes in this respect. Frustrated creative type needing an interactive outlet? Sure it’s got you covered. But if you don’t connect your PS3 online and you don’t usually play games with other people, and you don’t like creating things then LittleBigPlanet is probably not for you. For everyone else though I would consider this the best value title on offer in a long time.

LittleBigPlanet is not going to be everything to everyone, what it will be is a few great things to a lot of people. The core gameplay is simple enough for most people and the aesthetic appeals to all but the staunchest bigot, there isn’t a lot (or rather anything significant) you can fault the game for and the simplicity belies the pure entertainment that can be had with such a simple set of skills. No boobs, no blood, just Sacks that romp around a fantastic little fabric clad world.

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Tags: Games, Sony

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