I downloaded the beta yesterday and have played it for about an hour in total, I've raced on every track available and done a few of the mini games, I am happy to say it's not terrible. I was very afraid it was going to be bad, you see the worst part about the Little Big Planet games is I don't think they play well. Sure they have a great soundtrack and art style, there "Design your own characters/levels is neat too, but the games were never fun to play. This time around they keep all of that but the game is fun to play, it is very Mario Kart but thats a good thing I suppose. When you drift you get boost, if you get a green rocket it will fire in a straight line and a red rocket will home in on the enemy in front of you etc. I think its a cool game and can't wait to get to play the real game when it comes out.

Anybody else have any impressions?

*shakes head*

Sony, why didn't you make UnKarted instead?

@believer258: Its a good game trust me, the charm of Stephen Fry is also back.

While I didn't feel like the controls were too sharp this game will shine once the better tracks are published - just a matter of time.

I tried it a couple times and really didn't enjoy it at all tbh. Felt slow and ... just off. Hard to not compare it to ModNation which I actually like the handling in that game. As far as I'm concerned ModNation is better.

The camera is way zoomed back compared to ModNation which lends to it feeling slower I think on top of it actually being slower from what I can tell. Looks like you can't customize your character to the extent you can in ModNation which is a downer instead opting to the sort of costuming from LPB. Unless there is a section I missed? Also, do the weapons not stack? I only played a couple of levels and then tried a multiplayer game that never started because not enough players would join but I enjoyed the stacking weapons mechanic in ModNation which didn't appear to be present here.

Basically I don't like the "karting" or the customization in the game and thus it's not for me. Really it feels like a stripped down ModNation Racers with worse driving but a less generic aesthetic. Still have ModNation on my shelf so I'd rather play that unless this game changes quite a bit upon release.

I gave it a go a few times. I think it's a pretty competent kart racer. For whatever reason, I've just never been able to get into the LittleBigPlanet aesthetic. Don't get me wrong, I can see why people find those games enjoyable, but they're just not for me. That being said, I loved ModNation Racers and wish another one of those one on the way. The beta has made me want to hop back into MDR and see what the community has come up with lately. Although, I would imagine the community is probably starting to waiver a bit.

As with the first game, I like everything about LittleBigPlanet Karting, except the actual game. The look and style is really great. The menus leave a bit to be desired in terms of actually functionality, but they look suberb. Basically, everything LittleBigPlanet does right the style.

The "karting" though, it was awful. I played through all the regular levels and a couple user ones, and I don't think I ever actually felt like I was controlling my kart at all. Whereas in Mario Kart, I feel like you have absolute control, which is one of the best things about those games, here I just kind of felt like I was sliding everywhere. Half the time I'd try and drift around a turn and I'd go straight into the wall because there was a tiny dip in the road which made me bounce ever so much and the drift button won't activate while in the air. Courses that didn't even look to have ground texture kept bouncing me everywhere. I finally just started using the d-pad, which helped a bit, but still was pretty terrible. It's just... it's really not good.

You'd think that someone there wold have playtested this thing and realizes they might have even a slight problem. Other people who were playing kept saying (they did have headsets, can you believe it?) it felt off too. It really left a bad taste in my mouth.

Sackboy is still cute as hell though.

After giving it a whirl, it just doesn't do enough. We already have Mario Kart, and anyone that is really into Kart racers will already own a Wii for that edition. I feel that LBP-Karting really should have thrown some variety in there instead of sticking to the "green = straight, red = homing" formula.

the art style is good, and what they want to do here is fine, but the karting is boring, the karts go too slow in my opinion, they need to put the class system for the speed, i dont like to drive a kart so slow, give me ModNation Racer everyday better than this.

I have really enjoyed the little time I have spent with it. I think the track tools are a little confusing at first, trying to learn them without a tutorial was a little frustrating but I am getting a handle on them. They are very similar to Modnation Racers tools which isn't surprising at all. As the community learns the tools and starts to really grasp all of the tools available some really great tracks will be made. It handles pretty well and seems like a completely competent kart racing game. I really enjoy playing it and it looks really sharp. Hopefully they can fill out the story mode with some great tracks.

I think it's bad. Creating in this game is a nightmare, as the material tools are too complicated to do anything substential. While people can create amazing things in LBP, the shapes you see around the tracks made by the community are basic or they come when the Beta, because you can't really create anything else. On the other hand, the kart and character customization is a downgrade of MNR, so basically the creation aspect is cruelly lacking. I love LBP, but this is kind of a mess. To be honest, everything I see in the Beta tells me this is not ready for primetime at all, and should be delayed half a year at the very least. It is not a good game.

Also, yes, the camera is zoomed out too much, but since you can change it in the settings, I don't think it's that bad.