Published By: SCEA
Developed By: Media Molecule
Genre: 3D Platformer
Release Date: Jan 18, 2011
Platforms: Playstation 3
Rating: Everyone
Little Big Planet 2 is the sequel to the award winning console defining video game centered around creating, sharing and playing. Keep reading this review since I’m sure you want to know if this game is truly better than the first. Little Big Planet 2′s overall atmosphere and presentation is solid. The familiar voice of the narrator is back. The opening presentation with children and quirky Little Big Planet music is in tact. It really feels like the first game regarding the atmosphere and presentation which to me is a good thing.
Single Player Campaign - The single player campaign is improved in Little Big Planet 2. Its more fleshed out, better looking the story is better and more entertaining than the previous game. The story revolves around your sack person becoming a member of the Alliance and destroying the evil Negativitron who threatens the existence of Craft World. I enjoyed the boss fights in the single player campaign and the platforming was fun as well. The level design in various single player worlds were unique and used a plethora of different weapons, gadgets and other accessories. The single player campaign will last you hours if you decide to collect every prize bubble.
Visuals: Little Big Planet 2 does look improved over Little Big Planet. The MLAA, fabric, elemental effects and overall textures on every object is improved. You do see some MLAA flickering on your sack person depending on how he/she looks (most notably hair). Its no doubt Media Molecule did some work on the engine or just busted their asses to make a better looking Little Big Planet game. All thanks to Media Molecule’s work on making the game look better visually.
Sound: The sound design, narrator and music are all top notch. I would go as far to say the sound design as a whole is better than Little Big Planet. Most of the sounds are quirky and reminds you of what you might hear in children’s cartoons. The perfectly delivered writing describing tutorials was great. Music that users added to community levels was really good.
Gameplay: All fun. Little Big Planet 2 at its core is a 3D platformer. You jump and traverse platforms, grab objects, use weapons and accessories. Collecting prize bubbles and objects that you can use to create your own levels with is addicting. What you collect you can also share with other Little Big Planet 2 players. You fight boss monsters but that isn’t even a quarter of Little Big Planet 2′s gameplay experience.
Community Levels – This is the mod community of Little Big Planet 2 and where i spent most of my time playing. I have played so many great games within Little Big Planet 2. Let me give you some examples. Keep in mind most of the community games aren’t full games and most times not super difficult. Some are labeled “difficult” however. I played a twin stick shooter very similar in gameplay and visuals of Super Stardust HD. I should have kept track of the publishers names to these levels since they were really impressive.
I played a tower defense game that featured multiple tower upgrades and separated levels with different maps and difficulties. Did i tell you there are over 2 million community levels in Little Big Planet 2? There are and with that there will be good games and bad games. But lucky for me all the best games are on the first page and rated really high. You have categories in the community like “MM Picks” which is Media Molecule’s favorite community levels they hand picked. You have “Cool Levels” which are highly rated levels that span every type of gaming genre.
I played a first person shooter level that had a Vietnam vibe. You shoot, reload there are enemies shooting at you. Attack Huey’s firing at you. The music at the end was great. My point is, you can practically play any type of video game in Little Big Planet 2 and they are actually good. You can search games by labels or text searches to narrow down what you want to play. I played a racing game that was similar to Wipeout and F-zero. Full 3d effects, shooting, the works. Some of these guys and gals making these community levels are really talented.
I played sports games, co-op games, multiplayer zombie shooter games, fighting games. And like i said for the most part they are all pretty good games. If you don’t feel like playing anything you can watch people’s films they created using Little Big Planet 2′s tools. I watched remakes of short films of The Pirates of the Caribbean, Back to the Future and many others. I could be here all day writing my experiences with the community but i need to move on. Know this, the games within this game is filled with unlimited experiences for you as a gamer to experience.
Creating your Level - The tutorial uses voice dialog and videos to get you started in creating your own Little Big Planet 2 level. The tutorials are great and there are over 50 separate tutorials you can watch that show you simple techniques from opening up your Pop-It and gluing objects on surfaces to creating your own ai monsters and music. Its deep but very well designed and doesn’t make you feel like your taking advance MIT classes to create these levels. When its all said and done if you do every tutorial and practice you could make a great video game on Little Big Planet 2. Hell, i even made a level its nothing special compared to the popular ones i played though.
Connection Issues - No real glitches, bugs or any gameplay destroying elements to report regarding Little Big Planet 2. I do have a problem with the online system. Connecting to other players in-game or while playing in-game needs to be fixed. In general it takes way to long just to connect to a community level. Its just an inconsistent online connection or net-code being used. This game is a first party Sony game and it always had connection issues. Even the first game had that problem. Media Molecule or whoever runs the online portion of Little Big Planet 2 needs to implement a connection option for all gamers so they can choose which region and connection strength they want to play with. Considering many thousands of gamers are playing this video game every second i’m surprised it hasn’t been done yet.
Replayability: Practically limitless. Little Big Planet 2 is about creating, sharing and playing. You can spend years playing all of the levels. The single player lasts some hours as well but its not the reason to own this game. Plenty of interesting trophies will also keep you playing for a long time.
Final Verdict: More genres equals more games. The talented community will make sure great games keep coming. Improved single player story campaign. Better graphics and sound design. Little Big Planet 2 is improved upon the first game in almost every aspect. The connection issues still persist however. Still with that said, not many console games have done what Little Big Planet 2 did and continues to do.
9/10
