There's nothing 'little' about this planet

By: Alex Osborn

Posted: 10/10/08

Unless you're not a fan of video games, you have probably at one time or another heard of "Little Big Planet." LBP is without a doubt the most anticipated game coming exclusively to Sony's PlayStation 3 this fall. This ambitious game made by the guys at Media Molecule will revolutionize the side-scrolling genre and create an online community like no other.

"Play. Create. Share."

This advertising slogan has been a tool that perfectly outlines what LBP is all about. The game contains three essential elements, the first of which allows the gamer to "play" through an infinite number of levels that were either packaged with the game or created by another member of the LBP community. "Create" allows the player to construct his or her own levels from scratch using the intuitive tool set provided for the player. "Share" allows the gamer to upload his or her levels online, for other members of the PlayStation community to play.

I was one of a fortunate few who received a beta copy of the game and I must say, "LBP" absolutely delivers on all of its promises. After starting up the game, you gain control of a small stuffed creature, which the game refers to as "Sackboy." You find "Sackboy" in a small cardboard room floating in the middle of space, known as your "pod," which you can customize to your liking.

Directly behind "Sackboy" is a giant PlayStation controller, which your character can then use to travel to one of three locations, the first of which is "InfoMoon." It is here that you are able to share your levels with others and try out your friends' levels.

The second location is "LittleBigPlanet" which contains a "story" mode made up of pre-constructed levels, and a "cool levels" mode where you can play popular levels created by the rest of the online community. Finally, "My Moon" is the third and final location, which contains a number of "craters" that can be occupied by your own unique levels or others' levels that you choose to save.

The possibilities are literally endless with this game. I spent much of my time trying out popular levels created by others currently playing the beta, and each one was drastically different. A number of levels were mockups of other popular videogames. One called "Grand Theft Auto: LittleBigCity" had my "Sackboy" rob a bank and escape from police. Mind you, this is all done from scratch. Others include "Wipeout LBP," "Little Big Colossus" and "Little Big Uncharted" to name a few. The creativity amazed me; from standard platforming to rollercoaster rides, there is plenty of variety to be found here.

The magic of "Little Big Planet" is that when this game hits store shelves on Oct. 21, gamers will only a small amount of its eventual content. This game will continue to evolve as the community begins to develop and the library of custom levels starts to grow. If you own a PS3 you would be out of your mind to pass this one up; it really has something for everyone.