John Schmidt Juice Gamer

In 2008 a puzzle platformer called Little Big Planet made my childhood dreams come true by allowing me to rekindle levels from old ideas I had when I was a young gamer. It’s sequel Little Big Planet 2, copies the first, and overfills it with many more features that add to its overall artistic integrity and entertainment.

Story/Background:

Published by the British company Media Molecule, LBP1 revolutionized the way platforming games are played by having the users create their own levels and publishing them online for other players to judge. But if you want to have to coolest, most awesome items: you have to play the story mode and collect various items while your little sackboy travels through the land, helping Larry Da Vinci and his super secret group called, “The Alliance” stop the Negativitron in his attempt to destroy their world.

The story to this game is pretty straightforward, however it includes creative and clever design of the levels. The four-player co-op mode and the straightforward classic platforming style make the story tolerable.

Gameplay:

While putting the blu-ray into my Playstation 3, I am full of excitement. I started thinking about how happy I was when I played the first one and how amazed I was seeing it win several “Game Of The Year” awards from different gaming publications and websites. I suddenly recollect all the fun times I had creating content and the joy of letting others have as much fun playing it, as I did making it.

LBP1 had mostly just platforming aspects of gaming with very little shooting involved. But now in LBP2 there are first person shooting games, fixed shooting games, real time strategy games, and almost any other genre of game you can think of. On one storyline level I was platforming normally, and then suddenly it would switch to a fixed shooter where you have to hit all the targets as they appear.

The game can switch from straightforward platforming to more unique ways of platforming. My little customizable sackboy was just running along then I would be on a robotic bunny, jumping over electromagnetic floors and dashing into enemies. Then I would be flying around on a giant bee that shoots cakes out of its stinger.

There is some difficulty in the gameplay- mostly when maneuvering through particular jumps or getting timings right. This is a common problem with user created content. The creator can make rather difficult parts, or parts that are unplayable whatsoever. While playing, you can hit the select button and report the level for having inappropriate or unplayable content. This grief-reporting mechanic is a quick fix for problems that you find in online play.

Controls:

The controls are extremely straightforward for gameplay. They’re your simple run and jump controls, and more advanced things for other items you pick up during the game, like a cake shooting hat or a grappling gauntlet. But mastering all the controls for the creation part of the game is rather tedious. There are many things you can tweak in creation mode (anti-gravity, friction) on items you use; so understanding how everything works is the best way to maximize enjoyment.

Graphics:

The graphics are high end for the platform of the game. It has rather simple graphics for the generation it is in, but giving the paintbrush to the user offers many ways of adding detailed graphics to the game.

Overall:

The ability to create your own levels, the new styles of gameplay that users can put in their levels, and the overall flow of the game makes it brilliant. The only flaw I find is the rare issue of playing a particular level. Giving artists the ability to create their own visuals on levels makes graphics easy to look at, and the easygoing platforming genre provides ease of controls. It’s another hit by Media Molecule.