Review: LittleBigPlanet 2

There hasn’t been a truly popular video game mascot since the Mario and Sonic days, but Sackboy looks to be jumping into the arena. LittleBigPlanet’s main character is now synonymous with the PlayStation 3 and his second go-round is set to hit stores tomorrow. With an expanded Story mode, all new gadgets, tools and abilities with which to create your levels and mini-games, LittleBigPlanet 2 is worthy successor to the original.

One major change has taken place in LittleBigPlanet 2: the ability to craft full mini-games and string together various levels instead of just single level platformers. What this means for you is that even more creativity and flexibility are available in the game, which should dramatically extend the already vast replay value. You’ll immediately notice the new gameplay elements in the Story mode, which actually has a story this time around. Sure, it’s not the best tale, but the cute and witty nature remains. You, as Sackboy, need to enter and join the Alliance to save the Omniverse from the evil Negativatron. Right away, the new elements come into play with grappling hooks and the ability to pick up blocks and throw them around by snagging various power-ups through levels. More become available as you progress through the Story mode, which I highly recommend doing whether or not you’re getting into level creation. In the first LBP, playing through the single player mode wasn’t nearly as fun. In LBP2, I had that “just one more level” mindset consistently, even after finishing the Story mode.

The level creator is laid out nearly the same as before, so those of you who make your own LittleBigPlanet levels should feel right at home. The new features such as power-ups, level linking, and full mini-game creation with various game types are all available and easy to use, just as you would expect. I’m not the best at coming up with great levels in LittleBigPlanet, so all the levels I made while playing for review were promptly deleted so you all won’t laugh at how little fun they are to play. Some of you out there are a lot better, and the levels I’ve played already in the game’s expanded Community mode show off some great potential for what will come with LBP2. Searching for levels and getting to the top played, highest rated and newest levels is much much easier than before. One of my biggest gripes with LittleBigPlanet after a while was how to find the cool levels to play, but that’s been completely addressed and corrected.

PlayStation Move support is included out of the box, although none of the Story levels use the motion controller. Sackboy’s Prehistoric Moves is included on the disc (and accessed outside of the game by going to the disc Extras section under Games in the XMB), giving you ten levels of two player Move action if you so choose. Community level creators can use Move motion controls, so having one around should give even more replay value to the game as it gets integrated into various levels online.

All in all, LittleBigPlanet 2 is an exemplary follow up to the original. Sure, the loose physics are still there, but that’s what gives LittleBigPlanet its charm. What really makes this game stand out, to me, is the flexibility the community has to create all kinds of new game types and levels, which should give more replay value than ever achieved with the first LBP. I stopped played LBP after a few months because many of the levels were similar, but I don’t see that happening this time around. Time will tell, but based on the Community levels already created and imported from the beta, I see a bright future for LittleBigPlanet 2.