Media Molecule on a LittleBigPlanet

Just like at last Thursday's Gamers Day, Sony gave the cream of European media hands-on opportunity with LittleBigPlanet a couple of weeks ago.

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The first thing players do in a demo of LittleBigPlanet we played - the same predefined level that was used to debut the game back at GDC - is customise their character with quirky and bizarre Halloween outfits or bits of snorkel gear. The customisation is one aspect that was emphasised here more than had been revealed at the game's previous showing.

The Media Molecule guys say not everything is what it seems in LBP

Customisation works using the same kind of user-friendly tools (with Square and d-pad) that we saw at GDC to design the levels themselves - and you can be as creative as you want. Why put a cardboard box on your character's head when you can go ahead and draw a silly face on the box as well?

You can move your character's arms and head around and also 'emote' him using the d-pad, which is amusing to look at. "We don't ever want this game to be a complicated, level building customisation game," Pete Smith, Senior Producer on LBP, told us. "It's really easy to use." And it's just as easy in-game as well, as four players co-operate through a level (whether designed by Media Molecule, themselves, or another user and uploaded through the network). Although players will inevitably get stuck at times, much to the frustration of the three better players (thankfully the build we played had a debugging option to warp lagging players ahead!), playing through is simple with the basic functions of jumping about and grabbing onto things (objects, fabrics, the other players) - something you can pick up in seconds, and the physics-based world you play around in feels natural and compelling.

The world itself is charming - and not always as it seems. Because there's this physical, tangible feeling to the world, Media Molecule has had fun experimenting with materials and textures, but the impact is not just visual: "One of the things we're trying to do is, although everything is made of materials, it's not made in the material you would expect - we've got trees with branches made of metal or cloth - and this is a recurring theme." And although the material texture work throughout the levels is detailed and realistic, they're not what you may be expecting when you leap onto it, which can lead to some interesting emergent play scenarios.

It's a shame that only some dull placeholder music was in this build, because we loved the funky, inspirational track from GDC, so we hope there's plenty more where that came from chaps.

But be warned: while LittleBigPlanet is easy to pick up and play, pulling off the co-operative tricks like that skateboard finale with your team mates, as seen at GDC, is not always as easy as it looks - even for the game's senior producer! We can't help but wonder if their on-stage demo from a couple of months back might have been pre-recorded? Hey, it's cooler than being pre-rendered.

LittleBigPlanet has buckets of potential, though. Our demonstration and hands-on time barely scratched the surface of the delights that are going to be possible as players get to grips with level building, customisation, sharing their creations with the networked community, and seeing where things go next.

Added May 22, 2007:
• NO PLACE LIKE HOME - Pete Edward Interview
• MEDIA MOLECULE - Hands-On with LittleBigPlanet
• LONDON STUDIO - Paulina Bozek talks SingStar
• RAVN STUDIO - First real details on Snakeball
• SUMO DIGITAL - The inside story on Rub'a'Dub
• DAVID REEVES TALKS - What it all means to SCE
  
  Added May 17, 2007:
• DAVID JAFFE - Talks about Calling All Cars
  
• DYLAN JOBE - The facts about WarHawk PS3
  
• COVERAGE INDEX - Gamers Day / ThreeRooms
  

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