Little Big Planet 2

A new year has started with a bang for the Playstation 3 and the first big game out of the traps in 2011 has to be Little Big Planet 2. The sequel to ,surprisingly, one of the most popular games to hit the PS3 to date, LBP2 promises to be bigger and bolder than it it's predecessor in every way. I played LBP the original and loved it because it was a great platformer, something you rarely see nowadays, that was difficult but not frustratingly so, and threw in a whole bunch of imagination. But of course, this game was never designed for it's story and single player modes, the real magic has and remains in its world builder mode, that allows you to create your own levels. Levels that are supposedly only limited by your imagination.

However, if I'm going to review a game I should really review the game as a whole in front of me and so I'll start the with the "Story Mode". The story in LBP 2  firmly beats it's predecessors in that it actually has a recognisable story. You (now labelled "Sack Thing" instead of "Sackboy" in what seems a fairly unflattering nod to political correctness) as the newest recruit of "The Alliance" are tasked with taking down the Negativitron, an evil hoover like being that sucks up and destroys all that is great in the world, namely all the imagination. Just exactly why this is happening doesn't seem to figure at any stage, but there is a nod towards philosophy - suggesting that negativity is present and necessary within all of us.



The nefarious Negativitron, hoovering up the goodness!



The process of the story is basic and follows the following procedure. Level 1 - introduce new item that Sackthing can interact with. Levels 2-5 - gradually build up the use of this new item to show off all the clever things you can do with it. Level 6 - Boss Fight, usually relying on effective use of said item. Rinse and repeat for 5 different sections and then at the end throw all the techniques in together for one final showdown. I don't mean to be disparaging, it's a really simple basis of a game but it really works. The work that has gone into creating these levels is truly great and the new items really add to the amount you can do within the framework of the game. The grappling hook is a firm favourite, in tandem with all the usual tricks of a LBP level, allowing you to fling yourself about the levels with abandon.

The best thing about Story Mode in LBP2, as in its original, is the collectibles you unlock along the way. Each level has a host of items liberally sprinkled across it and your challenge is to collect them all. These items unlock materials and items for you to use in the world building part of the game and they serve to add spice to the single player mode. It's often a great challenge to discover and collect all the items in one level and you're further rewarded for achieving the feat with bonus items (and the same if you survive a level without dropping a life). The best items still remain the outfits that you can unlock for your Sackthing, allowing you to customise your avatar with any manner of wacky items, from tentacle arms to Panda Bear hats!

I have to admit that I found LBP2 a lot easier than the original. I'm not sure whether that was because I knew the basics of the game or if it had just been made easier. I can't imagine why the makers would want to lower the difficulty. I found the original challenging but not impossible. Whereas LBP2 was a breeze in comparison except on the occasional boss fight. Was this perhaps a move to make the game just a little more accessible to irregular gamers attracted by the cute graphics the game shows off?



Use your imagination, Dummy!



And so onto the 2nd half of Little Big Planet 2. It's much vaunted "Creation Mode" in which your only limited by your imagination! And there the problem presents itself to me. Put me in front of a canvas and ask me to paint, I'll draw you a stick man. Put me in front of a blank LBP level and I'll gape like a fish and then run back to Call of Duty before you can blink.  It's not a matter of difficulty, there are dozens of tutorials on hand that guide you through the basics and the advanced things you can create and from what I can see, realising your idea is very doable. The problem, or at least my problem, is that I haven't got any ideas! Never fear though if you, like me, are creatively challenged, because the LBP2 community is still available to you whether you choose to contribute or not (joke about governments and benefits here!).  This time around it has been made a lot easier for the cream to rise to the top. The best and most played levels are given the thumbs up by their players and their ranking rises accordingly. There are some generally inspired levels about and all the new tricks that the makers have designed are being used to their fullest effect in ways I'm sure even the developers weren't aware of. Some clever clogs have even recreated a level of early FPS Wolfenstein 3D.

However good these user-created levels are they often lack the polish of the fully developed story levels. It's definitely an unfair criticism, given that the story levels have had months of work poured into them but it's true nonetheless. Furthermore, I get the feeling that the community around LBP2 is based more around creating and rating levels rather than creating and then playing them. The amount of times I've asked to be paired off with people to complete a level and been refused is fairly high. As a result, a lot of these great levels are not being appreciated properly as they've been designed to be multi player. It's a shame in an online community that is clearly thriving that I have to rely on people I actually know to pick up the 2nd controller when all these level designers could be out there playing each others levels with each other.

So I really enjoyed this game, but can't shake the feeling that I'm missing out on half of what is on offer because I've not really bought into the creation mode of the game. The story mode is clearly not worth its £40 price tag on it's own, it relies on it's community to make it the game it is. I feel that as a game LBP2 will continue to grow because of this. In a few months time we'll have community levels that match up to Story levels, and with DLC being continually released the ideas will definitely keep on flowing..

8/10