Little Big Planet--First Impressions

Little Big Planet (PS3) has probably been one of the most revolutionary games released recently. Instead of just playing prebuilt and preloaded levels, gamers have the option to build their own levels and share them with all the other people in the world online. Also, the sackboys (the name of the cute little characters you play as) are vastly customizable with both items you can obtain in the levels of the game and premade costumes you can download from the PS network.

The level of customizability in this game is staggering. I've seen people with Kratos (God of War) sackboys and I've heard there's going to be a Sephiroth Sackboy (Final Fantasy VII). I've also played levels themed after Super Mario Bros., Mortal Kombat, and Patapon. There are so many different levels to play, you could play the game for 24 hours straight and never repeat a level unless you really want to. And not all of the levels are going to be the same. Some are going to be platformesque levels while others will be racing.

One thing I love about this game is that it's always multiplayer. And it's not that you can play multiplayer, it's more that you'll want to play multiplayer. The game is just so much more fun that way.

The gameplay for Little Big Planet is fairly simple. You move across a level until you reach the judging platform at the end. You can run, jump, and grab onto most things (birds, cars, each other, or monkeys). Each level has elements from different genres of games. You are going to have to solve puzzles, but they aren't going to be the type you wrack your brains about for hours. Some will be as simple as sticking a flower sticker on a branch so that a giraffe lifts it's head to let you into a room. While the controls are fairly simple, some of them add a strange element of fun to the game. You can use the D-pad on your controller to change your Sackboy's expression from scared to angry to happy. You can also use the triggers to control your arms, which allows you to smack other players around. (This is especially helpful when another player won't stop grabbing onto you.)

This is one of the few games I've ever played where the main goal is to have fun, which you almost always will (even when you have to restart a level 3 times). Every time I've played it, I've spent a good amount of time laughing at the crazy yet truly funny things that have happened.

Right now, the game is only available on the PS3, but a version for the PSP is slated for release in the holiday season of 2009. If they keep the PSP version just like the PS3 version, it should do quite well. I'm excited for it for sure.

The good points:

Simple, fun and addictive gameplay make this a great title for anyone with a PS3 to own. The game also has great replay value thanks to people always making new levels for it.

The bad points:

Honestly? The only bad things I can think of in this game is that you have to pay to download some of the costumes and level packs. (Albeit, you don't have to pay very much.)

My score:

5 out of 5. It really is one of the best party games I've ever played. It puts games like Mario Party to shame.