Media Molecule and Sony deliver an intensely creative game that no PS3 owner should be without.
It's a word we don't use often enough in the gaming industry, and this isn't just in reference to game developers. Gamers have also let their creative muscles go soft. We sit, we play, we talk about whether the game was cool or not, and then we move on never really getting involved in the game-creation process.
Then along comes Little Big Planet, and suddenly that mentality goes away. It would be very easy to go on and on about all of the outstanding aspects of this game such as the superb graphics, sound and music that are a perfect fit, or the fantastic presentation, but the star of the show here is the ability to create your own levels and how easy it is to share them with the rest of community. You can literally create anything the developers can come up with, and more, and put it out there for others to play, and this is where the game's longevity comes from.
All of this isn't to say that the campaign isn't great, as it is a unique and extremely fun ride through seven differently-themed worlds. It's just that it doesn't take long to figure out that it's a tool to teach you how the play the game, as well as a way to show off what the game engine is capable of. And if the campaign were all there was to it, you'd be done with it in about six hours. Thankfully, you get six hours of campaign, another few hours going back through said levels to collect all of the hidden items that can be used in your own level creation, and then untold hours creating your own levels and playing the levels of others. Value simply isn't a problem here.
For all of its glory, there are a one or two minor problems that need to be addressed. The first issue is the jump mechanic, which can prove to be intensely frustrating in spots. Your character, Sackboy, doesn't "stick it" when he lands, and it's sloppier than it should be. Sometimes you find yourself overshooting a jump simply because Sackboy keeps moving after his landing and slides right off the edge as if it were coated with Vaseline. This is okay in the earlier levels as they're more forgiving, but when you're trying to reach some hard to obtain object, or earn an extra prize by running the entire level without dying, it's almost enough to make you wing your controller at your television screen.
It also suffers from the same issue that every other Platfomer suffers from: the multiplayer camera. In single player there are no issues whatsoever, but when you have two to four players on screen at the same time, things get very stretched and hard to see as it tries to accommodate everyone at the same time. This is especially difficult during lengthy jump sequences where you have four Sackboys bouncing around like ping-pong balls because no one can see where they're going. And while it's funny to watch them bonk heads, bounce off the walls, and then get fried in an electrical grid, it makes finishing the level nearly impossible without all but one player killing themselves off and going solo until you reach the next checkpoint.
But believe me, all of these issues are mostly nitpicking a game that no PS3 owner should be without. Don't let the "kiddy" appearance put you off on this title, as the accessibility, fun, and high value of this game will have just about everyone coming back time and again.