LittleBigPlanet

Do you like map packs? How about free ones? Released every day? If you do you might just love Little Big Planet, Sony's first foray into the world of Game 3.0 and a truly revolutionary step in game design. In one fell swoop Media Molecule has revolutionised the platforming genre, and its traditional competitors will have a hard time keeping up.

For those who've somehow missed the insane amount of buzz revolving around LBP, this is a side scrolling platformer with a strong emphasis on user created content. Not only is a set of around thirty levels included in the game's 'Story' mode, but players can also create their own levels and share them online through an intuitive user interface that's very hard to find fault with. In this way users have access to hundreds of user-generated levels to play through, and if Sony play their cards right, this should be true many months from now.

If you were to completely ignore the online portion of the game you'd still find a huge amount of enjoyment on the little big planet. Media Molecule's levels are without a doubt the highlight of a game, every one of them creative in an entirely unique way. Each level introduces a new gameplay mechanic more inventive than the last, and as a result no two levels ever feel the same. Levels are divided into sets of around three, called 'worlds' - created by one of the fictional game's creators) -and these basically amount to different themes. Each of them manages to make the game visually interesting constantly. As soon as you start to get bored of a certain theme a new one rolls along, and you fall in love all over again.

The game isn't without its issues though. When you die in a level you're returned to the last checkpoint you past. This in itself is a well developed system, when throughout the entire game checkpoints are frequent enough to avoid frustration. What wasn't a good idea was the inclusion of lives. The game only allows you to spawn at a checkpoint a certain number of times, until it decideds you've had enough fun and forces you to restart the level. Such a system is archaic and stupid, and has no place in such a forward thinking game.

The art design in the game is a sight to behold, yet it's very hard to place. The best possible word for it would be "homemade." The levels are all designed to look like they've been created out of a variety of materials such as sponge, wood, or felt and this gives the game an interesting aesthetic. For once you're not simply running through one metallic corridor after another but over felt upholstery designed to look like rolling hills, grabbing on to sponge to have yourself pulled up to the next area. Overall the game possesses bucketfuls of charm, which will appeal to audiences universally. Little Big Planet is most definitely a game to show off to a non-gamer, Sackboy's undeniable charm should win anyone over instantly.

The control scheme reflects the accessible nature of the art direction. You can run, jump, and grab hold of items, and if you ignore all the aesthetic gestures you can make sackboy perform these actions will be all you need to play the game. A light tap of the jump button will send sackboy on a little hop into the air, whereas a firm press will send him much higher. It's very intuitive and easy to get hold of on the easy levels, but when the level design gets more hectic you may find yourself cursing the control's imprecision. It's very hard at times to gauge the distance you'll jump, and add to this the fact that you always float forward a step when you land, and you'll find yourself throwing controllers at the game's hardest moments.

All of this without even going online.

Signing in to the Playstation Network unleashes a tornado of creativity onto your PS3. People have created the most amazing things online, there's the standard platforming levels to play for a more traditional experience, but then there's also calculators, old arcade game clones, pinball machines, basketball, and even lightsaber battles. With the intuitive system built by MM it's very easy to find the best levels online, so you'll rarely come across untested levels unless you go out searching for them.

When you go looking off the beaten track however, the quality of levels is all over the place. The game ensures that the technically in all these levels is proficient, but level design can still lack intuition. Often I've come across levels where after passing a certain point the path behind you will be destroyed, but when you die you're left with no chance of reaching the level's end. Problems such as these are unavoidable when you give anybody the opportunity to create levels for the community, but hopefully over time people will learn level design etiquette, and quality will improve.

So you play a few levels, and then you decide you want to create your own. Thankfully this is as easy a process as it can be, with the biggest limits on your designs being your own creativity. Every design tool comes with its own tutorial complete with narration by Steven Fry, so it's rare that you'll find something and have no idea what it's for. A reference guide would be helpful though, as at times I found myself trawling through lengthy tutorials looking for the most mundane of information.

Overall though Little Big Planet is everything it was promised to be by Sony. It may have a few small rough patches in its design but these are minor blemishes on what is a truly incredible game. Best of all though it will only get better over time, as people become more and more adept at using the level editor to produce some insane creations. Hopefully a year from now the creativity still won't have ceased, and we'll still be discussing the latest levels published.

Since it was first announced at the 2007 Game Developer's Conference, LittleBigPlanet has become Sony's poster boy for the company's next-gen offerings. Media Molecule's charming creation, Sackboy, has also become Sony's first gaming mascot since the fabled days of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro The Dragon. A lot of hope has been pinned on this title and thankfully it looks like the risks have paid off in spades.

Developer Media Molecule's motto for LBP is "Play, Create, Share" and the game itself is very clearly divided into sections based on this philosophy. But before you even get this far you're treated to one of the most imaginative introductions in game history. The opening credits sees you running through a level as the names and photos of development staff pop up to form the obstacles and background, while the legendary British comedian and intellectual, Stephen Fry, teaches you the basics of control with a sublime voice over.

 

From there you arrive in your "Pod" - a small cardboard room containing only a giant Dual Shock controller. The space, like the rest of the game, is fully customisable with stickers and decorations so you can cater the space to your own style. By pressing the action button near the controller you can access the game's menu which is made up from 3 planets. The middle planet is LittleBigPlanet itself, where you can progress through LBP's 50+ story levels. On the right is "My Moon" where you create your own levels using items unlocked in the story. On the left is "Share" where you can access your PSN friends list in game and play levels that other people have uploaded to the LBP servers.

 

The story mode seems to have been designed with inspiration in mind. All of the levels could be built with the in-game tools available on My Moon and have been created to show players the types of rich and detailed environments they could build themselves. From simple acts like riding physics-enabled skateboards down a hill, the game gradually escalates in difficulty and complexity and eventually reaches a conclusion offering beautiful level design, much of which seems to pay homage to the first Sonic The Hedgehog game, including a boss which is very reminiscent of the "Final Zone" level from Sonic Team's classic. You can also play these levels and every user-created level with 4 players, locally or online.

 

For all of this praise though, LBP is not perfect. The controls can occasionally become infuriating. The jumping in particular is very floaty and the level layouts often demand a level of controlled precision that is very difficult within the restraints of the controls. Add to that the strange checkpoint system which gives you 5 attempts at each section and then makes you restart the whole level and you have a recipe for some serious controller throwing. The other issue is that the game is somewhere between 2D and 3D, meaning that, though it is a side-scroller, there are 3 plains of movement which you can switch between. Most of time the game moves you between the plains when it necessary, but sometimes you will find yourself stuck behind some scenery with no option but to restart the section. Online play also lags gratuitously, despite several upgrades to servers since the game's launch and the camera struggles to frame the action once you have more than 2 players.

 

Luckily, LittleBigPlanet's design flaws are often saved by some of the best presentation the industry has ever seen. The subtle differences between materials will make you want to reach out and grab them. Everything from felt to glass has been painstakingly created and also work just as you'd expect in the robust physics engine. For instance, you can grab onto felt, but not metal, or slide around on glass floors. The level of customisation of Sackboy is great as well. You'll collect hundreds of costume pieces which can be mixed and matched to create a unique look and new costumes can also be downloaded (often for a price, though many are free) from the PlayStation Store to keep your wardrobe expanding.

 

The core of LBP is the My Moon section where you can use any of the assets and tools you have collected in Play to build your own objects and levels and make them as simple or as complicated as you like. This mode very clearly takes its cues from Source Engine sandbox, Garry's Mod, but it has been helped by the inclusion of very detailed tutorials (again voiced by Stephen Fry), which do a great job of reducing the barrier to entry. Once you've spent some time learning the various tools you really are only limited by your own imagination. Or in my case, immaturity, as I spend most of my time in Create mode covering my friends' carefully made masterpieces with ROFL stickers. Most people though will revel in messing around with all the pulleys, switches, objects, emitters, decorations and stickers. Personally though, I've had much more fun with the Share aspect of the game.

 

In "Share," the third planet, you can search for, rate, heart and comment on levels created by other inhabitants of the LBP Community. Many of the levels appearing so far are homages to other classic franchises like Super Mario Bros. and even Mirror's Edge, or levels designed to help players unlock the more difficult trophies. Sharing is what excites me most about LBP. Though I'm sure I will mess around with Create, seeing what kind of crazy business the community will come up with next is always going to be a great voyage into the unknown.

 

Though LBP has its fair share of problems with lag and controls, it is redeemed by the ease of use employed by the creation tools, the gorgeous presentation & sound and even Sackboy himself. It's certainly a contender for game of the year and, with MGS4, is a definite reason to own a PS3. If nothing else, it's a stark reminder of the days when Sony took risks and brought us memorable classic franchises out of obscurity. Great credit must go to them for having the courage to do so once more in an increasingly risky climate.

Little Big Planet is what I like to call, a masterpiece. Since the first initial showing of the game at GDC, we continue to be blown away by the geniuses at Media Molecule. It seems Sony is getting a plethora of original titles like no other this generation. From Pixeljunk Eden and Monsters to Little Big Planet, Sony’s platforms are the home for original titles.

            LBP consists of three options: Play, create, and share. Within the option to Play, you have a robust single player where you can invite players online at any given time. A friend can also join at any given time by pressing the PS button on the second controller, and magically, a second sackboy will drop from the sky to help you. The beauty of the story mode is that Media Molecule made all these levels through the level creator. That’s right, you can make the levels that Media Molecule made, and these levels are truly amazing. You can instantly tell these levels took a lot of time and effort. It would certainly be a daunting task to re-create on of them on your own.

            The single player lasts around six to eight hours, and what an amazing six to eight hours they are. The game has just the right amount of length with back to back genius creations to journey through. At the same time, there are close to forty five or so pods which contain materials for creation are up for collecting throughout almost each level. Some of them will require two, three, or four sack persons to obtain, and instantly gives the game reason to bring a friend over online or off. Certain pods will be tough to get and will have to be thought outside the box to obtain. Honestly, these pods are worth getting because of the fact that you can use these materials. It’s not just thrown in the game just for the sake of having replay value. Media Molecule gives you reason to replay their genius levels and add another six to eight hours beating the game 100%. Quite simply, Little Big Planet is worth picking up for the single player alone.

            Creation mode is the real meat and potatoes of the game, and you can create virtually create anything you want. Before you start creating though, it is required that all the tutorials are completed. The tutorials go very in depth with Stephen Fry narrating the dialogue. Stephen Fry only adds more charm to an already irresistible game with enthusiastic line. While the tutorials are very descriptive, they do tend to drag on and almost every tool has a tutorial. It would help if all of them were optional (which the others after the mandatory ones are).

            LBP offers a robust community aspect where you can upload any level you create for the world to play. While your planet consists of numerous divisions to create levels on, you can upload only twenty online. Of course, you can delete any of them at any given time if you were dissatisfied with a previous one. It’s great to limit the amount of levels you can upload because one prevents spam. Two, it encourages the user to go out of his/hers way to make a worth while level instead of a rushed one. The cool thing about the online play is whenever someone completes a level your list, it shows there score they achieved. This helps spread the world about levels that would normally go about being unnoticed. Each level can be refined/reupload with no stats reset, commented, and users plus levels can be hearted. Each time you play a level, a five star ranking system appears to help sort the bad from the good levels. Tags can also be set to define a level before going in so a user knows what’s to come. While LBP features a robust stat tracking system and a convincing active community, the fact that the hours you spent making a level are nowhere to be found. This turns out to be quite the disappointment, it seems like a natural fit for a game like this and that a random level you played could surprise you with the amount of time that user dedicated his or herself. It cannot be stressed enough that the quality creations you make will take hours and hours to finally get it pumped out into the community. You also cannot view how long you have played this game as a whole, and that goes as another missed opportunity.

            The play, create, and share options within LBP bring out a surprising amount of depth into a game that will keep you playing for a long time to come. One of the many beauties of LBP is also the dedication it demands. It’s not on the level of an MMORPG, but let it be known you cannot create something great unless you dedicate yourself. Of course, it’s impossible to cover everything in this game unless typing out pages and pages of rambling text. In short, LBP is one of the best, if not the best game I have ever played thanks to LBP being like nothing else quite like it out there in today’s market. “Fun Shall Overcome”!

Where to begin? First of all I was not part of the LBP Beta so I really had only videos shape my idea of the game until I at last bought it the Saturday before its official Tuesday release. I have played through basically all of the single player campaign (just missing to get all the goodies) and have mucked around in the online portion now that the servers are on. Let me tell you that this game is phenomenal. I also tried the creator mode and got some stuff (nothing special yet) done. I think I will review this game in 3 seperate parts so that whether you are interested in just the story mode, the creator mode or the online mode you can jsut read that part.

Single-player story mode

The single-player story mode (if it can be called single-player), is completely amazing. I was rather taken aback by the intro movie when the story of little big planet was laid out, I had always taken this to be a purely creative experiment so the idea of a story within the game took me by surprise. The story is pretty simple, on the simpleness of a Mario story, beasically everything that humans imagine winds up on little big planet and there are seven creators which oversee it. You get to visit the seven creators which all have pretty specific problems and help them while they give you goodies. What completely blew me away in this mode was, well everything basically, I did not buy this game for this mode and I did not take into consideration but it is an incredible piece of the game. Each level has a completely different look and style and is situated in a place on the world map, you start in Europe, go to Africa, South America, Mexico, Eastern USA, Asia, India, and Russia/Siberia every single area has a uniqque look and localized music. I am a Mexican and I was compeltely taken aback by the beauty and detail of the latin american levels, they took lots of pieces of my culture and reproduced in a very imaginative way, ahving played American or Japanese themed games all my life this was very special to me personally and made me feel completely satisfied with the game.

If you expect the story mode to be "easy" I can assure you its not, gaining all the goodies and completing some levels, is hard (especially if you want to complete all levels without losing a life for the gold trophy). If I could compare in terms of both length and difficulty in a 2D platformer I would say Super Mario World is an apt comparison. Fully completing Super Mario World would take around the same time as fully completing LBP's Story Mode. In Story Mode you can see how many players are in each level before you join and you can choose to play online or offline. You can join other sackpeople on their adventures and it is in fact encouraged, as every single level has a 2 player zone, and some have 4 player zones. Popping in or out of a game locally is as easy as just turning on the controller.

Creator Mode

Creator Mode is a blast, although not every tool is available at the beginning and you need to complete some tutorials to have all of the creation options open. I think this was a very smart move on the part of media molecule as it allowed them to showcase their powerful creation mode and have the player experiment with all the possibilities that he or she might make, this takes a couple of hours and I would recommend playing this first (once you unlock it), as it gives you a few pointers and stickers that may help you in story mode or online mode. The creator mode is very deep and has a lot of things that can be modified, you also gain goodies in Story Mode that you can take into Creator Mode and place in your creations to have lots of variety in your own levels without having to apinstakingly create every single object.

This mode is not for everyone, although creating a level is pretty simple in order to create something unique or outstanding you will invest a lot of time. Perhaps this will change when the online multiplayer creator mode is allowed. You are able to take in your own in game photos and use them on your creations and if you have a Playstation Eye you can take pictures of yourself or friends in real life and put them in. For all the niceties that are packed in the creator mode, I want to see it expanded as I would like to be able to manipulate certain features or would some more be added (for example there are no power-ups in the game), also I find that creature creation or enemies, tend to be on the clunky side and I would like to create something slim, fast moving and lizardlike, or an evil sackboy.

I currently did not see any option for putting any music or sounds other than the ones that are in-game, which I think should be addressed as well (although there is a large variety of in-game sounds and you can put in in-game music).

Online Multiplayer

This part is really truly amazing and it completely blew my mind how awesome and complete it is. It is extremely easy to find levels about anything (and there are levels about ANYTHING!) and even easier to find good levels depending on your mood to just jump in and play. The online multiplayer is completely unparalled in anything I have seen in the PS3. It is perfect. You are constantly getting updates of all the games that your friends are playing, when they get trophies you are notified, when they get a high score you are notified as well, you are also able to jump into their pods and games (provided they have not passed a "no more players allowed in" point). All of these notifications are done in a completely non-intrusive manner. You can easily see your friends' stats and levels at any time, as well as your own from your planet. Whenever you are playing a game with people and someone leaves you are given the option of following him/her to continue playing together, also whenever anyone wants to join, if you are the host you get a deny/allow button. Protection against offensive material seems pretty high up in Media Molecule's list as you get constantly reminded in a funny way not to post or say anything offensive (this a family oreinted game after all), in fact the select button in your control is used to report offensive material.

Ultimately it is this mode where this game's strength lies, and it is does not dissapoint, it meets and exceeds all expectations thanks to its thriving community. I have already played some batman themed levels and God of War themed ones, they are all imaginative and unique, you will never run out of things to do in this mode.

Platforming and Controls

I almost forgot to talk about how the game plays. It is very fun and easy to pick up, x is for jumping and holding it down gives you a longer jump. Holding R1 allows you to grab things and operate switches and machines. That's basically the end of controls.  Its a good platformer although I think the physics is a little iffy when jumping on springs and on rolling platforms. Since only two buttons are needed to paly the game rest of the controls take on a different role, in the creator they are all important, but in normal gameplay they get pretty fun uses. The d-pad puts some emotions into your sackboy, and the L2 and the R2 buttons allow you to maipulate the arms making you dance or point. A high point in gameplay today was when I was playing online with a stranger and he stopped advancing in the level, he started doing a text chat but isntead closed it, put on a sad face, grabbed me by the arm, dragged my sackboy and pointed with his arm up to a prize which I did not see and required two people to reached, I helped him reach it and got the prize too. Also you may pop-up your pop-it menu at any time with the square button, which allows you place stickers or objects anywhere at all times. The Sixaxis controls are not forced on the player, which is great, in my opinion six-axis controls were put in very late into the ps3 development as sort of a very weak wiimote emulation, however it can truly shine when it is used as an extra gimmick that LBP fully exploits. Your sixaxis controller moves your sackboy's head and upper torso making you do far much more funnier and expressive movemnts, if press L3 the sixaxis moves your sackboy's hips making him dance around, which is totally rad. I still haven't figured out how to smack around other sackpeople as shown in the promotional videos.

Now if you shall excuse me I will give my numerical scores:

Gameplay: 9/10
Music: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Multiplayer: 10/10
Replayability: Lots
Overall: 10/10

In conclusion, if you have a ps3 buy this game, it is game of the year material, has infinite potential through user created levels, a thriving fan base, awesome online support, and is in all honesty quite a lot of fun!

Littlebigplanet is many things; a video game, an interactive art project, an outlet through which creativity can flourish. But the fact remains that first and foremost, LBP is a platformer video game, and while the artistic and creative aspects of the game outpace all competition, the gameplay that holds these aspects together does not. That's not to suggest that LBP is unplayable; far from it, the simple controls and solid framerate should make for a very playable game. However, something about the ways that Sackboy moves and interacts with the environment feels floaty and imprecise, which can make even simple tasks frustrating. Sackboy can never settle on one solid jump length (sometimes he'll make the jump, sometimes he won't, no matter how long you hold the button down. It's only a problem in a few levels, though) and the physics upon which the game is based are unpredictable. Couple that with the schizophrenic difficulty of the story mode, and a playthrough of LBP's built in levels typically ends in annoyance rather than the intended feeling of inspiration. This is especially vexing given the way that LBP is being marketed as a casual/party game. Casual audiences won't get much from the detailed level-editor (more on that later) and many of the story levels will prove difficult for them, and the buggy online performance makes me want to do anything but party. For all of the flair that the levels have, some of the gameplay is just dull.

Player created levels typically fare better, if only because the community as a whole probably expects less from them. These expectations are often proven ignorant. Sure, you're bound to stumble upon some crap in your search for great levels, but there are some real works of genius out there too. Make no mistake, the level sharing aspect of LBP is the biggest reason to purchase the game.

The "Create" aspect of LBP is startlingly in-depth. This is not the easy experience portrayed in the trailers. Sure, it's easier and more intuitive than most other level editors, but creating even a decent level will take a lot of planning and dedication, not to mention lots of trial and error (especially during your first few hours of editing.) Bear with it, and the rewards are great. Actually completing a level, a task that, if ambitious, could take upwards of ten hours, just feels great. Letting other people play on it and reading their positive comments and suggestions feels even better. Overall, the execution is much more complex than initially portrayed but it is satisfying if you have the time.

The audio/visual package in LBP is much more consistant than the gameplay, in that all of it is amazing. The game sports an art style that is unique and fully realized; each realm of the story mode sports a look that spoofs the feel of different parts of the world, but in a whimsical way that captures the imagination. On a technical level, the graphics are amazing and it truly is impressive how much can really fit into one level. The music in LBP is a mixture of liscensed and original, and every song fits its respective level perfectly.

While LBP can become tedious thanks to the sometimes dull gameplay and the amount of effort that it takes to make a unique level, the reward is worth it. But let's be honest, this isn't really a casual game. The learning curve on the level editor is steep at first and the gameplay can be imprecise. Get past all of that, and LBP is a remarkable art project with a fairly entertaining game attatched.

Graphics: 10/10: Amazing art style complemented by superb detail.
Sound: 10/10: Perfect music for every situation.
Gameplay: 8/10: Create? Share? Great. Play? Not so much.
Entertainment: 8.5/10: Floaty and sometimes dull gameplay coupled with a marketing tactic that portrays the game as being much more simple than it really is (thereby making playing the game a bit disorienting) mar what is otherwise a whimsical and entertaining journey. Oh, and don't expect a story out of the Story mode; there really isn't any.

As corny as the title is, all truth behind it. A brief look back at the past, will show how important I feel this game is to the industry and it's future. When I was a youngling, roughly around the age of 7, games like Spyro and Crash Bandicoot pretty much owned my childhood and became my icons. For my friends? It was Mario, and even - dare I say? Pikachu. The gamer generation before had Mario, Sonic, Donkey Kong, etc. Their have always been video games that connected with children, and kept them into the industry till they were in their 20's, 30's. In my opinion, even before I get to this review, Little Big Planet is that game, and is their to replace children's icons in Call of Duty and Halo. Solid games, but not for 7, 8, 9, and 10 years olds for obvious reasons. The Sackboy has the ability to be a childs icon like Mario, Crash, and Sonic were for the older generations. IF. If everything goes as it should...
Onward to the review.

Play
Gameplay wise, their are some noticeable kinks that need to be ironed out. Jumping from one plain to another can be troublesome. The game does a good job at automatically doing this for most situations - however, complex areas make this a nightmare. However, with practice this obstacle can be easily overcome. Grabbing is also something that has it's technicalities and errors, especially for moving objects, such as cars - which can be a hassle. But, these are just extremely knitpicky points, Little Big Planets controls and gameplay is completely solid and easy to use with quick practice.

Create
Creating is a huge part of LBP. Once you start, you start of with minimal amounts of stuff to create your sackboy with, but overtime - with playing the game thoroughly you can get a WIDE variety of clothing, all are extremely unique and help everyone create something unique that identifies with themselves. One of the best points about little big planet, no doubt.

The Creation tool is a bit more.. complicating. You start off my going to your moon and get started in a slew of mundane tutorials. However, half way through they start getting interesting and you realize that these are the key tutorials for actually enjoying Little Big Planet. You get a basic tool to shape your level. Take a basic shape, size it(the grid aspect of this is a god send), move it, place it. Simple as that. Simple designs and levels are easy to do on the fly. The old saying rings true here, "Easy to play, hard to master." That could not ring truer, but it just adds to the insane amount of replay value.

Share
At the day of release, the online aspect was extremely glitchy and slow - but that seems to be fixed. The ability to jump into games with friends, invite them into yours and both collect the objects and stickers is a huge plus, and.. after day one - works smoothly and easily.

I have found however, that if you get invited to join a game when it ends, the points count for you as well - which doesn't make much sense to me.. But I guess it could possibly get fixed later on. With expception to that, the online play is smooth, and feels just like playing with a person next to you - which is a huge plus in this kind of game.

Overall
Ever since I got this game on day one - I have been wandering forums an a fluery of game sites - I've found something weird. Something I know Media Molecule wanted, happened. It's already sprouted a unique online atmosphere. It's different then Halo, Gears, and Call of Duty. It's even different then sports games. Theirs a genuine appeal to embrace the community of Little Big Planet more so then ever before for other games. Upload a level, everyone comments with great crit., very few negative comments. And after playing Call of Duty for months - that was a weird feeling.

It's already developed a friendly atmosphere which will really entice parents to put their kids to this game - and imagine, not just the hardcore gamer making levels - but non-gamers like children and women making levels as well, such a wider variety of possibilities could be enabled if this atmosphere continues.

Overall, I have to say - on of, if not the best game of this generation, and of the past 8 or so years. If you have a Playstation 3 - get this game. It's not just the gameplay, the story, the presentation, the online style or even the innovation. It's this entire package that makes me give this game a 5/5 (something I have never done since Final Fantasy 7 and Metal Gear Solid). Will it change video gaming forever? Or fall onto the shelves of gamers? That's up to you.

Wow. My first review really is on a very positive note. Ok. Lets get the important things done first. LittleBigPlanet is the best game on the PS3 at the moment. Graphically, it's amazing, with colourful cartoon graphics, awesome lighting, shadows and the most important - a great, smooth consistent frame-rate, making gameplay a blast. Basically the aim of the main story in the game is to play through about 40 levels made by Media Molecule, the games developer. These levels really show off the title's amazing graphics and really make the game stand out. Each level that you visit is themed closely to the area you visit in the world, so a level in Japan is samuarai based etc. In the game, you control a character called Sackboy. You can heavily customise Sackboy's appearance to suit your own personal ideas. Then after playing through a couple of the story levels, you can drop into the games' extensize level creator to try to create your own masterpiece. The game does this really well, with tons of stuff to unlock and place into your level. Overall, LittleBigPlanet is a must have title for the PS3.

Playing through the single player story is absolutely fantastic, and you can play through it with friends at any time, if you want to change it up, everything is multiplayer as well, it's great! The levels in the game get continually more and more complex, all while the game play is incredibly simple, and fun.