LittleBigPlanet – Game of the Year Edition Playstation 3 Reviews

First off, you should know that my husband and I are casual video gamers so we are VERY selective about the games we purchase and play. In general, we like games that do not take themselves too seriously, have clear goals or steps to follow, include puzzles that require some thought but are not overly-challenging, can be played in front of children without worry of the content, and are more enjoyable than stressful to play. We also prefer games with the multi-player option so my husband and I can play together and work on teamwork/communication. At first we felt Little Big Planet met all of those criteria and played a few levels before purchasing the game, however we got so frustrated partway through the game that we never finished it.

PROS:
What we loved about the game was its creativity, unique game play, tons of silly/fun elements like stickers to outfits, multiple lives for each portion of the level, and very very enjoyable to replay. In fact, my husband and I have never laughed so much in a game… or had so much fun outside of playing levels. Some days all was did was simply create new characters.

CONS:
The game goes from enjoyment and reasonably challenging levels to EXTREMELY frustrating and unreasonable levels. The Mines (11 levels into the game) was the first level that really gave us trouble. Every time we played the level we died in some new way and when playing as a team we never were able to pass the level… parts of the level would render slightly different each time or areas just were not designed to have two players play it at once. In my opinion, if the programmers just cut out the running from a burning boulder at the very end of the level… we could have beaten the Mines in a far sooner time frame while it still being a reasonably challenging level. Eventually, I had to play the Mines level by myself over 25 times to beat it without dying and earn the prizes…. Also, the side mini-game that came with the Mines called Roller Run was very difficult to figure out, let alone master, and I still have not been able to beat the medium or hard levels. My husband only beat all three Roller Run levels after extreme frustration and stress. At that point, my husband and I had hoped the Mines and Roller Run were the only levels in the game that were needlessly difficult to beat and stressful…. and for a time we were having fun again with the game. But then… we reached Sensei’s Lost Castle (16 levels into the game). No matter how hard we tried, we died climbing those roller wheels up and down the walls with fire on both sides to kill us. Each time we restarted the level is took us a great deal of effort to return to that point in the level and most often we died before reaching that point… so after only like 1 in 8 attempts would we arrive deep enough into the level to die on the roller wall withe fire yet again. We were unable to beat this level at all and move forward, so we took a break and returned to the Endurance Dojo (the previous level) in the attempt to complete it without dying (to earn prizes.) However, we were not able to beat this level without dying and that was after quite a number of tries. With the impossibility of earning all the prizes in level 15 (even though we were able to do so in all of the previous levels) and the impossibility of even passing the halfway mark in level 16 (the end was never in sight like with the Mines)…. my husband and I realized the game no longer had any fun for us and we decided to pause from playing it entirely. At later dates, we tried to come back and finish the game, but each time we became so frustrated at level 16, that even when my husband finally beat it months ago…. we have never returned to the game. Instead we have played LEGO Lord of the Rings and LEGO Marvel…. and are replaying older video games that we enjoy.

Overall, I give this game a 3/5 and do not feel it is worth buying. If a game is clearly aimed at children it should be completable by children and their parents. If a game is too frustrating and destroys the joy of playing the game… then the game is pointless and a waste of your money.

In my opinion, programmers need to create children’s games that are dobable for the whole family, because a happy family enjoying the video game together will buy sequels and add-ons to keep the fun going. This game failed on all of that…. Therefore the LEGO games like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings will far surpass Little Big Planet in longevity and fan base.

I bought this new, excited because of the good reviews.
Disappointment and frustration are what I feel. The design is overly cute to a fault. At first it seems charming and idiosyncratic but soon becomes frustating and repetitive.

Let me start with the least of my issues, the look and feel/design. Everything looks like a toy and there are alot of wacky sound effects but after hearing the same monkey howl 20 times and having to hit a button to dismiss the same non-essential narrative caption because you can’t bounce just exactly right off a flexible platform in the middle of a level, you might get annoyed like I did.

That brings us to the fatal flaw of this game, the mushy controls and physics. I like platforming games, I grew up in the 80s with the first Mario Brothers stuff. With LBP, I have decided to sell my copy after getting through only the first three levels.

In those first 3 levels, it is explained that there are three levels of depth in this horizontally scrolling platformer. This mechanic is not intuitive at all, and you will find yourself jumping into spike pits due to it.

The fourth single player level features a springboard mechanic that I tried and tried to work through many, many times. After dying 4 or so times, the game reset me to the beginning of the level, where I had to endure the same animations and play over and over and over.

Apparently alot of people have had no problem with the mechanics and timing here. Kudos to them. I just don’t have the skills/patience to get through that challenge, and the game is not motivating me with graphics or story enough to care- it feels like a design flaw (too difficult, maybe on accident, maybe intentional) to me. It’s not intuitive what I should be doing nor are there enough cues to clue me in to the timing of actions. This was a control-throwing level of frustration for me.

Rayman Origins offers more appealing graphics / design for me, there are time limits to levels which make playing feel more intense, and the mechanics and physics are rock solid. Rayman was a hard game for an older, casual gamer like me that offered it’s own frustrations, but the main storyline levels are a pleasure to get through and the graphics are beautiful compared to the pixelated LBP SP3 look.

I love the attitude of cooperation this endears in its players. Some levels can be completed on one’s own, but many of the levels require at least one other player to cooperate with grabbing, dragging, jumping and other maneuvers. This can be a strategy game, but it’s also skill. It’s charming to see the little prizes one can win and what one can do with them, and the fact that authors can create new levels is nothing short of kewl! As I don’t have a playing partner at home, I often find the random person online to play with… knowing nothing about them, but soon finding out what we can teach each other. It’s hours upon hours of adorable fun!