LittleBigPlanet 2 (PS3) (From Daily Echo)

LittleBigPlanet 2 (PS3)

in Game Reviews By Ian Crump

Genre: Play, Create, Share

Platform: PlayStation 3

Publisher: Sony

Classification: 7 (PEGI)

Play, Create, Share – three little words with such big implications.

When Sony and Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet was released in 2008, it took the gaming world by storm, offering its players not only a bundle of fun platforming levels, but simple and easy tools to create their own. Once created, they could then share it with other gamers by publishing it online, thus creating a user perpetuated and ever expanding universe.

Back for a second outing, Sackboy has returned and brought with him better graphics, more complex character animations, better lighting and backwards compatibility for the levels and download content of the first game. Each level is enhanced visually by the power of LittleBigPlanet 2.

In despite of the fact that players have the on-disc levels created by Media Molecule and a back catalogue of over five million user created levels, what people really want are new tools and features. Although the following may seem complex and daunting, Stephen Fry is back to offer up his soothing voice as the guru and teacher of the many tutorials that will get players creating their own levels in no time.

Firstly and probably most importantly is the creatinator, a device that enables the player to take control of user created or pre-made objects. This opens up opportunities for players to create levels or games without sackboy and therefore create something in a completely different genre to just the platform game it was before.

Sackbots are new, and are user programmed AI versions of Sackboy. Acting exactly how the creator makes them, they will follow, run away from, be friends with or hate certain players or objects.

Microchips can be placed on objects, including the prior mentioned Sackbots, to give them their own characteristics. These chips create a tidier way for objects that require plentiful programming to be stored.

No game would be the same without a cutscene, the very reason why creators now have the option to use cameras to pan, fade, zoom and cut to wherever and whatever they like. This essentially means that not only could part of a level be a cutscene, but the whole level. A whole movie could even be made without any gameplay at all.

With a powerful and diverse toolset that's easy to get to grips with and use, the promise and potential of some of the early user created games that are already blossoming is huge. There are role-playing games, top-down shooter, real-time strategies and more.

It's difficult to see LittleBigPlanet 2 do anything but rise in popularity and content to an extreme level over the next few years. LittleBigPlanet saw the early bubbling of a gaming revolution but LittleBigPlanet 2 will no doubt see it erupt and explode.

SCORE: 9 / 10