A Visit to Charming LittleBigPlanet

Got a call on Friday that Gamestop would have LittleBigPlanet available sometime Saturday afternoon. After a Saturday morning walk-through of a potential new house (the first so far, very exciting), I stopped by Gamestop right as it opened. As we were walking up to the front door, a UPS truck pulled up, and I had a sneaking suspicion that this delivery held LittleBigPlanet disks. I was not disappointed. We were the only ones in the shop and got the first game out of the box.

Again, with the game, I was not disappointed. The game is just pure joy. Unless I'm failing miserably at simple jumping puzzles, and that's my fault, isn't it? The entire game looks like a patchwork quilt, something you can reach out and cuddle up with. It's a competent platformer with novel level design and exciting action elements. The single-player story is excellent and narrated by the hilarious Stephen Fry who provides excellent instruction to the game's mechanical methods of world-building and avatar-dressing.

Speaking of world-building, the tools in this game could be the best -- and most fun! -- of any creator tool I've used. The Company of Heroes builder is a great program, having spent a great deal of time in it. And the Spore creators are simple and you can create adorable creations. But they can hardly compare to the toolset of LittleBigPlanet. Although you can go in so many different directions, the excellent tutorials provide jumping-off points and allow you to create mundane and magnificent levels. I have great hope that the community is going to make memorable levels that easily match what the game developers themselves have created.

In short, if you have a PS3, you must get this game.