Video Game Review: LittleBigPlanet

In a world overrun with first person shooters and hack-and-slash games, comes one title that dares to be…different. That is to say, Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet is perhaps the most fun game you’ll play all year that doesn’t involve gunning down bloodthirsty aliens or taking on the role of an easily agitated non-descript Eastern European man on a violent quest for revenge.

LBP throws you into seemingly psychotropic induced re-imaging of the world, which looks like it was pulled from the most creative recesses of Tim Burton’s brain. You take on the roll of a “Sackboy,” an androgynously charming creature who hops, jumps and plops himself into precarious situations. LBP’s single player campaign clocks in at about seven hours, and is best enjoyed playing with up to three other friends.

But it’s the online multiplayer component where this quirky little platformer truly shines. Playing through the single player campaign, you unlock elements from throughout the game, which allows you to build your over levels and customize your Sackboy in a variety of different ways. Utilizing the level building tools, LBP allows anyone of any skill set to pick up a controller and create a level as complex or as simple, as they’d like. From constructing seesaws with real world physics applications, to platforming levels, and including enemies with surprisingly smart AI, creation is the cornerstone of LittleBigPlanet.

Once a level is created, it can be uploaded to the PlayStation Network, where it can be played and rated by other users. LBP allows level customization to the Nth degree with the ability to add music, respawning points and use templates to build upon or strip away and reinterpret. Which means that one can create a level completely from scratch or build a classic, well known setting – like a level from another videogame, setting in a movie, or the set of a music video.

Ultimately, LittleBigPlanet is a breath of fresh air in a market that’s oversaturated with more-of -the same-games. Despite the short single player campaign, it does benefit from an well-executed online multiplayer option, making it one the best games you’ve ever put into your PlayStation 3.