Let's be honest. There's very little I could say to expand on what has already been said about LittleBigPlanet. There are hundreds of previews to read, comments from thousands of beta users, videos on YouTube and elsewhere, and some marketing from Sony. It's enough to convey what LBP is and what it isn't. But that doesn't mean GAF doesn't want to add our voice to the mix. Even so, I'll keep this short. Anybody who knows me knows how impossible a task like that is.
To be able to talk about LBP, I need to define what it is. Some view LBP as a single thing: a creation tool, or an application that allows the user to make something, be it a level, a game, or some random thing. I view it as that plus a campaign mode, or the levels that come packaged in the game. As a packaged retail product, many will purchase LBP and dig right into the levels that come with the game. But despite that, I won't be talking about the levels that come with the game here, only LBP as a creation tool. My upcoming review of the now recalled retail version will include a full write-up of everything that is LBP.
For my adventures in LBP as a creation tool, I solely used the public beta. It comes with many of the creative tools, costume parts, stickers, and features that are coming in the full retail release. After playing through the four levels that Media Molecule packaged with the beta, I jumped over to the level creation area.
Instantly, a new world was opened up to me. While playing through the included levels was very fun, the level creation mode is daunting. Suddenly, I'm being told that the world is a blank slate and I have limitless control over a variety of tools to shape the landscape, create the creatures, set up the machinery, or whatever I see fit. It's somewhat like jumping into Photoshop and trying to make a visually stunning piece of digital art or going into Final Cut Pro and trying to make a movie. You have so much control that you may not know what to do.
But this lasts mere moments as Stephen Fry, the charming English narrator of LBP, chimes in to help you on your way. He narrates the plethora of tutorials that bring you from LBP novice to LBP master. Each of the tutorials combines humor with helpful tips and examples to teach you each and every tool at your disposal. Each time you get a new toy to play with, you get a new tutorial to learn how to use it. This is absolutely essential to our enjoyment of LBP. Imagine opening up some deeply hidden menu option in Photoshop and having a video pop up to show you how to use it rather than experimenting for five minutes, searching for a tutorial online, and then giving up and once again chiding yourself for never quite being able to make anything of yourself.
Within minutes I could create a variety of shapes and landscapes with enough skill to make a simple platforming level. There are so many tools that it could take a while to get through them all, but within a couple hours I could create moving parts, machinery, sound effects, music, and AI-powered creatures. In the end, what levels you create will be limited only by your imagination. The tool set is incredibly flexible. I was mainly interested in coming up with vehicles. I made cars and rockets, launchers and crawlers. I also did what every LBP user on the planet has done and will continue to do: I made a motorized phallus. Don't worry, Sony; I didn't upload it.
But what I made isn't important. I'm not going to be one of the top LBP creators. You are. There are many thousands of users out there that will make entertaining levels. Of those, hundreds will rise up to be considered the best. These don't rise up by Media Molecule hand-picking them. You vote on them and tag them with phrases like "fun" or "boring" or "gears." I'm not stating this as a prediction of the future, but as a statement of fact. It's already happened with just the beta users. And today I'd like to highlight three videos that show some of the most interesting levels I've seen or played.
First, the below video is a take on Shadow of the Colossus. It's the only "traditional" (as in a winnable game) level I will show and it is far from typical of all LBP levels. It does show some of the basic platforming elements, but I highlight it because of how accurate it replicates the atmosphere of the source material. You will find a lot of Mario, Sonic, and Mega Man levels on LBP. Many of them will be highly rated, but that isn't necessarily because they are fun. LBP doesn't emulate those types of platformers because it is a different beast. But this Colossus level captures the original very well, from its look to its sound and even the techniques to take out the enemies.
The next video I've chosen is the Little Big Calculator video. It's a perfect example of something I doubt Media Molecule expected to see you guys create. It's a working calculator that does addition and subtraction. That doesn't sound like a lot, but LBP is supposed to be only for making side-scrolling platform levels, right? Not so much. This calculator is one of many examples of users doing whatever the heck they want to in LBP and breaking the mold before the mold has even been released to retail.
To end this last minute preview, I wanted to give you some light music. Unfortunately, LBP doesn't include a music composition mode. Or does it? Media Molecule supplies several pieces of music to use as background music and that's what you will have to use for most levels you create. But that isn't stopping users from making levels that are music synthesizers. My personal favorite is the below video, Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X.
I hope this gives you a good taste of what's to come with LBP. It's going to be hard to review what is basically a digital set of LEGOs but my review will be out closer to LBP's release. If you have any videos or names of levels you think we should see or play, please post them on the forums.
Platform: PlayStation 3
