LittleBigPlanet
Media Molecule
PlayStation 3
Five stars (out of five)
Review by Hayden Meikle
LittleBigPlanet is hard to describe but what I do know is this: you've never played anything quite like it and it may be the most darn fun you will get on a video game console for some time.
Forgive me for gushing but at 31, having seen and played most games on most consoles, I always welcome something so new, so fresh, so BRILLIANT.
And LittleBigPlanet, hereafter to be known simply as LBP, ticks all the boxes.
Courtesy of Sony, I got an early look at the game in Auckland about two months ago. It looked interesting, different, intriguing.
Now, having delved into the full version, it can be reported that the PS3 has the blockbuster game it has been waiting for.
LBP is a cross between a kids' game, a classic platformer and a puzzler.
Set in a series of scrolling levels, it features a character called Sackboy (or Sackgirl) whose task is to get from the start of the level to the finish.
No weapons.
No obscenely difficult button combinations.
No confusing mapping system.
No horribly difficult boss battles.
Sackboy runs, jumps and holds on to stuff.
That's about it. It's gaming for dummies and it's brilliant.
The game starts with the most entertaining credits list I've ever seen in a game, followed by tutorial-type stuff delivered by a voice that I guessed was British actor and writer Stephen Fry.
Hang on, just Googling it. Yep, it is indeed Mr Fry.
Then you dress up your Sackboy, in what limited gear is initially available, and get into the levels.
It's hard for me to describe things from here on.
LBP looks vastly different from other games, sort of a hybrid of a Hanna-Barbera cartoon and a Tim Burton film. Things are larger than life and vivid.
Sackboy can vault boxes, hang on to flying birds, scale walls, catch a lift on toy horses and do hundreds of other simple actions, most of which only require one button.
One of the best parts of the game is finding inanimate creatures that must be bought to life - generally to break down a wall or clear a path for you - by placing stickers on them.
The early stages are powderpuff simple but later in the game the difficulty level ramps right up and will challenge even experienced gamers.
But playing the levels is only part of what makes LBP special.
There is an extraordinary creation mode, far beyond anything I've seen in gaming, that gives you all the tools the designers had and encourages you to let your imagination run wild.
Finally, you can go online and share your creation or download others to stretch out the life of the game.
LittleBigPlanet is cute, compact, sweet, brilliant. Special.
Don't just take my word for it:"It's a marvel: a high-res, low-fi animated sketchbook that never fails to delight and astonish." (Eurogamer.net)
"There simply isn't anything else like LBP on any system, anywhere." (PlayStation Magazine UK)"
LittleBigPlanet is like a magic trick, and in that respect it feels less like a video game than an incredible concept executed perfectly." (Gameplayer)
"When it's at its best, LittleBigPlanet offers excitement and the thrill of discovery in ways that no other console game ever has."(Giant Bomb)
