LittleBigPlanet

Is the game as appealing as Sony's adorable new mascot?

	Version PlayStation 3	Developer Media Molecule	Publisher SCE	Genre Platform

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LittleBigPlanet has been billed as a multiplayer fest above all else, and multiplayer is indeed the best way to experience it. You can tackle a level with up to three mates, whether online, offline or a mix of the two. Scientific teamwork is not a prerequisite, though the game chucks a few optional physics and switch puzzles into the mix which demand more sustained cooperation. A spirit of whimsical, hyper-communicative competitiveness prevails, as the rival Sack people pull inane faces via the D-pad, post up the obligatory lols, rofls and smilies via the slick Pop-It menu, or slap each other around by holding L2/R2 and flicking the sticks.

A couple of points deserve particular attention, in light of the beta feedback. The first is that Sackboy's jump is perfectly serviceable - not quite as precise perhaps as that of a certain moustachioed Italian, but far from the mechanical cock-up some commentators have described it as (often, it appears, on the basis of Youtube footage). On the other hand, movement along the Z axis can be a headache at times, with the game either auto-switching you inadvisably between planes or struggling to place your inputs. It's a minor fault, but intrusive enough to warrant a little finger-wagging.

Even if you'd rather dive head-first into Create mode, seeing out at least a couple of the story levels is essential as it's here that the bulk of the game's gizmos and knickknacks are found, whether tucked away in the foliage or awarded by the Scoreboard on completion. In Create mode, the Pop-It's uses (and abuses) broaden considerably. Components are loosely divided into tools like springs, sound emitters, NPC "brains" and motors, and inanimate materials or decorations such as metals, sponges, stickers and props. A meter on the left fills up as your level gains in complexity: once it's maxed out, you'll have to do a little pruning.

Each and every item has a tutorial - some interactive, some video-only - presided over by the lovable Stephen Fry, and creating something is generally a matter of selecting it from a menu, moving, rotating and scaling it with the sticks and placing, glueing or bolting it into place with X button. It's not exactly a hassle-free process. The editor badly needs some kind of overview feature to let you zip between the parts of larger creations, and the Z axis is again troublesome, with the game occasionally pasting your selections to rearwards objects rather than the floor beneath. Given that the editor allows you to fiddle with the tiniest details - painting eyes and fangs on custom-built monsters, for instance - the absence of mouse support is keenly felt at times.

But once you've acquired an aptitude for a few tools and, most importantly, developed a workable idea for a level, these flaws fade into the background, and LittleBigPlanet's most impressive yet problematic asset reveals itself: sheer, brain-perforating scope. If Media Molecule's powder-keg of potential has no other effect on its audience, it should acquaint us on some level with just how time-consuming and, yes, laborious game development can be, whether the title in question is a cheap linear knock-off or a big budget open-world IP. Few players will reach the upper limits of the Create meter: the levels uploaded to the beta servers are principally instant-gratification affairs, exhilarating trips in a rocket-propelled car or My First Tank escapades through mountains of brittle furniture.

This isn't a flaw as such - more a symptom of the developer's unbridled imagination - and we doubt it will drastically affect the health of the online community. Even laying aside the inevitable official add-ons, a diamond-hard kernel of dedicated Creators will keep the dabbling populace happy: for all the cheap, cheery thrill-rides which cram the servers, there are some which rival those of the story mode for polish and sophistication. Cheeky homages to other games and properties - from Super Mario to Shadow of the Colossus - are commonplace, and even at this early stage there's a tremendous amount of creative dialogue, as leading craftsmen and women borrow, pull apart and reconstruct each other's mechanisms and designs. Apart from anything else, we're confident Media Molecule has guaranteed itself a steady influx of potential employees for years to come.

But strong community support notwithstanding, the fact remains that a hefty percentage of the game's player base will find half of its features exhausting. LittleBigPlanet is simply too big for the average brain - ours included - and when you're hungry for a slice of mass-market pie that's not a good situation to be in. Throw in those aforementioned, mundane little flaws, and we're obliged to dock this breathtakingly ambitious, beautiful experience one crucial point.

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