LittleBigPlanet 2 Review (PS3)

Alice Fisher | Staff Writer

In 2008, LittleBigPlanet took the world by storm with its focus on user creativity. Since then, it has spawned a massive online creator community with over three million levels for users to explore. It seemed like creators were always trying to test the limits of the creation tools given to them, however, LittleBigPlanet mostly focused on platforming. When LittleBigPlanet 2 was announced, developer Media Molecule promised to deliver an adequate set of tools so players could create whatever game they liked. So does LittleBigPlanet 2 deliver or is it just another disappointing expansion?

The game begins with the player’s Sackboy or Sackgirl merrily strolling through the introduction level—the Sackperson can be uploaded with a LittleBigPlanet 1 save, as well as all of the costumes and DLC purchased for the first game. Suddenly, the world below him or her is sucked up into a ghastly machine. The hero is nearly a victim of this fate, when a strange machine comes to the rescue. The Sackperson is then introduced to Larry Da Vinci, an inventor of sorts, who wants the Sackperson to unite “The Alliance” and stop the evil force known as the Negativitron. The story is more akin to a Saturday morning cartoon; it has very little substance, but it’s entertaining for what it is. Children will certainly love it and appreciate the humor. Older players will probably go ga-ga over the gorgeous in-game cutscenes–a new feature to the LittleBigPlanet universe.

LittleBigPlanet looked good with its touchable-looking textures and bright colors. Somehow Media Molecule managed to make the sequel look even better. Colors and effects pop out more than they did in the first game. The visuals make the experience a sheer delight to explore the different planets in story mode. In fact, the entire game exudes a childlike purity, one that harkens back to the days where a simple jump across the screen took players into an exciting adventure.

And LittleBigPlanet certainly is exciting. The 30 levels in story mode are a vastly different experience than the first game. One moment players will be bounding across large gaps and another will have players riding on a laser-shooting camel. Though they are well designed, they’re more like a taste of what’s to come in the user created levels. Right now, most of the levels using the new tools aren’t very good. But you can still play the three million levels that were uploaded from the first game and plenty of those are worth checking out.

Speaking of checking out levels, Media Molecule created a fantastic community website called LBP.me where players can log in with their PSN and check out what’s going on in the LittleBigPlanet community. Here, you can see what others are playing, get the latest news and updates and line up levels to play when you return to LittleBigPlanet 2. Players can access this website on any device that has internet. So if players happen to see a level on the site that they really want to play, it can easily be added to a queue to play later.

Though there is enough “new” in LittleBigPlanet 2, it does suffer from some persistent problems. The jumping mechanics work fine, but they still feel too floaty. The three planes that a player’s Sackperson can exist on still make some of the more difficult jumps a pain. One of the new gadgets–the grappling hook–is hard to control. When players want to swing, the game thinks that you want to scroll up or down, making it my least favorite of the new toys. These aren’t game-breakers, but I wished that Media Molecule had taken the time to perfect this, considering that most of these were the biggest complaints I had with LittleBigPlanet 1.

Another downside is creating a level. The tutorials and everything are fine (all of them voiced by Stephen Fry), but newcomers might have difficulty in figuring out how everything works together. Though everything is easy to use, it’s not easy creating your own masterpiece. A website suggested that there be a workshop where players create a mini level to see how everything is pieced together.

While LittleBigPlanet 2 isn’t exactly a completely new experience, it still manages to be an enthralling one. Media Molecule continues to completely surround us in their blissful world of magic, cake, robots and Sackpeople. In this world, it is believed that a single idea can bring joy and wonder and even inspire a slew of similar ideas. To me, that is the most beautiful message to come out of the LittleBigPlanet franchise.