Little Big Planet 2: A Whole Lot of Sack’n Around

Game: Little Big Planet 2
Dev: Media Molecule
Platform: Playstation 3

ESRB Rating: E for Everybody

With the PS4 looming around the corner (along with the dawn of new consoles promised in the next year or so), I thought it would be nice to put down a review or two from the limited interactions I’ve had with the PS3.  Granted, my experience is mostly with friends or past roommates.  I currently don’t have a TV/monitor with the correct hookups (or number of ports) to support a Wii or PS3.

I will say that I am not much of a fan of the PlayStation franchise (ever since the departure of the PS2).  It is mostly due to the games Sony has put out for the console and the choices they have made in console development.  The PlayStation 3, for the original price it went for, offered the same thing all the other consoles did, at a lower end function.  And don’t give me the “It had Blu-Ray” argument.  At the time the PS3 came out, flat screen HD TV’s were just coming out.  A Blu-Ray on a standard definition looks just the same as a normal DVD player, so it really didn’t have any real appeal at launch.  The only saving grace being the backwards compatibility that they offered in later incarnations to incorporate that massive PS2 library.   Don’t get me wrong, there were 1 or 2 games that I really enjoyed on the PS3… but a whole console isn’t really worth 1 or 2 games (those games being Little Big Planet 1 and Infamous).

Little Big Planet, the original title, was fun, fresh, and experimental.  It featured a step in a brand new and fresh user driven direction.  It offered unique play with interesting level design and even more interesting music.   Best of all, it was well thought out.  You can feel it in the game play from start to finish.  The amount of love from the developers was planted and grown in this title.

I do have to say I quite rather enjoyed Little Big Planet.  There’s even a couple levels that are my favorite level designs out of all the games I have played (the level titled: “Dancer’s Court” being one of those levels).

The biggest plus that Little Big Planet had going for it, was that most of the titles for the PS3 were incredibly super serious.  I think that is pretty much my complaint against the Sony franchise.  It always seems like there is no fresh comedic relief between all of its usually overly serious library.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing the matter with a serious lineup, but there needs to be a break in between, to keep everything fresh.

Even worse, Sony took a page out of Nintendo’s floundering playbook and pushed old PS1 titles for their comedic relief…  I mean, I love a good Ratchet and Clank as much as the next gamer… but you can only beat a dead horse before it gets a little stale… Or a more recent example, they are re-re-re-re-re-re releasing Abe’s Odyssey for the PS4.  They even toted about at E3 that they got the original dev from the Abe series… But the question that needs to be asked is “If you got the guy who started it in the first place, why wouldn’t you strive for a NEW Abe’s Odyssey“?

But I digress.  Little Big Planet was a wonderful innovation as a side scrolling, platform, total player controlled customization game.  A game that could be generated entirely from user created content.  I think it was one of the first “new generation” games.  It was light, and it was delightfully fluffy.  It promoted teamwork and communication.  And it took FOREVER to guide three other people through an impossibly treacherous and death filled level just to stay alive long enough to complete the four man team challenge and get that impossibly long Chinese dragon style scarf/mask  that I so desired as my prized costume piece.

Little Big Planet 2… for a sequel, felt lackluster in comparison.  The first one was so novel and innovative, it was rather remarkable.  Little Big Planet 2 felt…well… gimmicky.

The music was a little repetitive, the customization of costumes and characters was less imaginative, the levels were much shorter, and worst of all, it felt like the developers were rushed to push the product.  It was a shame really (what’s worse is that it is now becoming par for the course for the gaming industry.  Developers need time to produce quality games, but company execs demand shorter and shorter deadlines.  In the end, it hurts the player’s overall experience by giving out short-sighted and unpolished products.

Now granted, the majority of the game is still mostly user generated, and with that you have the waves upon waves of mediocre game play encrusted with those rare tiny delicious nuggets of pure unadulterated grade A LSD of amazingly designed levels.  Just like everything else human generated, every once and a while something really clever happens.

Now I’m not all negative on this one.  I did like some of the things they added to the “Sack Boy Experience”.  Specifically the boss fights.  That was something needed in the first game.  Something to break up the race from point A to point B.  They added some interesting notions with particle and fluid dynamics by adding water and paint guns for players to play with too.

As far as conveyance, like the first game, it is easy to just pick up and go.  The controls are almost natural, and once you get the hang of it, playing with a group is always a guarantee of nefarious shenanigans.  Lastly, the introduction of gadgets was entertaining.  I had a good five minuet paintball fight with a few friends before promptly falling into a pit of fire (which happens surprisingly a lot).

I do think that this type of community driven game is good for the industry, but it needs more time in development, more polish, more tending to the tree to make it beautiful and zen.

Out of a score of 10, with 10 being a face melting god among games and 1 being a 1990’s AOL install disk drink coaster:

Little Big Planet 2 is about a 5.  It feels a little rushed…  Like a Sack Boy on fire.

As a side note: Little Big Planet 1 would be about an 8. Sack up and get your friends on!