Despite its quirks, LittleBigPlanet for the Sony PSP is every bit as charming and creative induced as the PS3 version.
First of all, bringing all the high level of potential over to the PSP is no easy task, but Media molecule have succeeded with few exceptions. Sackboy looks and animates great and the characters and environments look polished and adheres well to the look of the PS3 version. However there are few drawbacks here as there are brief slowdowns occuring during the single-player mode, crashes when creating levels and excessive loadtimes, as starting up the game is a process that takes minutes, but provided you can stomach these gripes, you'll be rewarded with a beautiful handheld platformer. />
In the game's adventure mode, you will travel to many exotic locations and tackle all kinds of challenges. You'll hurl across and over environmental hazards, fight huge monstrosities in form of bosses,operate complicated devices and participate in serveral enjoyable set-piece moments such as time-trial and racing sequences. The reason for all of this is that the series' iconic lead Sackboy, is trying to gather various creator curators and get them to the creators carnival. Australia, China and the snowy alpines are just few of the many different locales you will platform in and the experience remains fun and interesting throughout. One disapointment though, is the lack of any multiplayer. While you can share levels across the globe with a the press of a button, navigating and tackling the many challenges found in the story mode remains a solo experience but the intricate and varied level design goes a long way to make up for this omission.
What still remains very well intact is the ability to create and share your own levels. While the story mode is great fun on its own, it's all the parts and contraptions that you find throughout the levels that will motivate you to beat it, as these objects can then be used when crafting an own level.
While the tools are abit clunky at times, the share amount of possibillites is staggering being that this is a handheld game. Making complex levels with clever design and scripted elements is time consuming indeed, but simple levels and environments are easy and quick to create and most importantly, a lot of fun. You can spend serveral hours just messing around with the tools and there are plenty of ways to use the editor in manners that probably wasn't intended. Levels can then be uploaded to a server, where you are free download and play other users submissions, basically giving the game unlimited amount of content. While not every level is going to be a winner, you can rate levels and browse through entries to find levels matching your own personal liking.
As a whole, LittleBigPlanet is an impressive accomplishment when all the limitations of the PSP are considered. It's a lot of fun play, the tools are just comprehensive enough for anyone to make a level and the presentation found here bares a close match to its older brother. So even though it has its fair share of flaws and there isn't much here to see for anyone who has already played the PS3 version, it's on its own merits a great addition to the shallow platforming library of the PSP.
Pros:
+Joyous story-mode featuring plenty of challenge and variety
+Terrific level creator tools
+Sackboy looks and controls wonderfully.
Cons:
-Long load times
-No multiplayer.
Game Emblems - The Good:
Charming
Sharp Control
Just Right
Game Emblems - The Bad:
Looooooong load times