Hands On Impressions: LittleBigPlanet

Developer: Media Molecule
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Also on: N/A [PLAYSTATION 3 Exclusive]
Console Played On: PLAYSTATION 3
Rating: PEGI 7
Release Date: October 21st in US, October 22nd in EU, October 24th in UK, October 30th in Japan

Our preview of the game is from the beta code which was released on September 23rd 2008.

LittleBigPlanet.

If you had have heard of this before it’s unveiling at GDC 2007 and said that it would be one of the biggest games of the year alongside stuff like Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto IV, Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Resistance 2, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and more, people have laughed in your face and disowned you right there on the spot, family or friend.

But in the end, it is one of 2008’s most antcipated titles alongside them big guns and it’s been said to change our entire perspective of the industry which is now set on First Person Shooters and Repetitive Games.

The question is, will it change the industry?

The answer is, it has a very big chance of doing that.

You may remember back in February we awarded LBP No. 1 as our most anticipated game of 08 for it’s concept of PCS.

Play. Create. Share.

And Media Molecule has done a sterling job with it so far.

If you haven’t been living on Mars for the past year and a half and have only just come back and don’t know what LBP is, don’t worry, here’s a brief overview of the game.

The whole concept of the game, like I said, is Play, Create, Share. You Play through pre-made levels by Media Molecule as the adorable Sackboy but you also get to play other levels made by the LittleBigPlanet community which is where Create comes in. You can create your own levels throughout the game to whatever you see fit and once you have it spick and spam and ready to go, you can Share it to the LittleBigPlanet community to play.

And as for the beta, while it ain’t a final representation of the game, it’s the main gist of what you can expect from the game when it’s released on October 24th in the UK.

As for helping with a creation, if you don’t know what to do when your creating a level and your stuck, don’t worry, you can go to tutorials whcih is voiced by famous comedian, Stephen Fry who will also be talking to you through out the game as various points throughout the game as well as the beta and he does make you giggle a fair bit so it was a good move on MM’s end as well as Sony’s.

As for Sackboy, you can control his every movement. Make him happy (Up on the D-Pad), Angry (Right on the D-Pad), Sad (Down on the D-Pad) or Scared (Right on the D-Pad) as well as holding L2 with the left anologue stick making him move his left arm and vice versa for his right arm and use the SIXAXIS to make your Sackboy move around as if it’s hula hooping somewhat.

While in the beta, there are only 4 levels made by Media Molecule, the beta is largely based on levels created by only one person, the gamer. It’s you who base a majority of the game and while Media Molecule will have 50 pre-made levels in the game’s release in a month, it will be the gamer which will form a large base of levels for the game when they create them.

And so far, from what has been in the beta, there are some serious creative juices waiting to be flowing. And before you get worried about LBP becoming a somewhat Spore for porn or stuff, there will be moderation in the game so don’t worry, kiddies are in good hands and wont see any stuff in the game they shouldn’t but if there is a blind spot they haven’t seen, you can give a Grief Report by using Select and marking the offensive content before tagging what the offensive content is before sending the report button.

And a quick point, it does have a great soundtrack led by The Go! Team’s Get it Together which was in the trailers just to point out.

Overall Impressions: While the PLAYSTATION 3 does have some very big titles coming over the coming months like Resistance 2, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift and more, Sony are laying all their eggs in the one basket for LittleBigPlanet to be the big game for the PLAYSTATION 3 this Christmas and while it ain’t wise for a big company like Sony to do such a thing, right now, it’s paying off.

LittleBigPlanet is without a doubt a game which charms it way with you and will make you smile the minute you boot it up, it is without a doubt a contender to be GOTY for the PS3 at least but in it’s own right, is a GOTY contender on all platforms.

Come October 24th, the industry, as we know it today, may change forever.