Page 4
Feature
“December 2008
BY ADAM EISENTROUT
Staff Writer
The biggest question I had
in mind while playing into my
first hours of game play in Lit-
tle Big Planet was how did a
game so whimsical, innovative,
smart, inspired, imaginative,
and outright extraordinary get
published by lumbering corpo-
rate giant, Sony? Consider the
past years for Sony's seventh
generation gaming system the
Playstation 3. Its popularity and
success has scored well below
expectations.
ps3-for-free.com
ray compatibility and its selec-
as God of War series and the
exceptionally grand Metal
Gear Solid series, the system.
has still failed to dethrone its
competitors or impress the
gaming community. But, with
Little Big Planet Sony might
have not only saved the Ps3 but
also released one of the most
incredulously remarkable ex-
periences gamers have played
in years.
One could easily describe
Little Big Planet as a 3-D side
scrolling platform game
which is what its main story
mode represents very well. In
the main story mode, you
play as a Sackboy the games
digital avatars designed like a
childhood sock puppet came
to life. You can dress up your
Sackboy in a personal, crea-
tive, or cruel way. While the
Sackboy as a concept is remi-
niscent of the Mii avatars, it’s
indefinitely a better utilized
introduction to Little Big
Planet's creative and open
nature.
The Main Story mode is a
mixture of nostalgic platform
gaming taken to extremely fun
stylized and
won-
drously
fresh
level
design.
From a
Frida
Kahlo/
dead in-
spired
wed-
ding to
a
Ninja’s
train-
ing
course on
how to save a Mas-
ter Sensei’s flame
throwing pet. cat.
It’s hard not to crack
a smile while playing any
of these levels (the interactiv-
ity of controlling your Sackboy
Story mode is just an introduc-
tion (at a short six hours) to
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While to many gamers
the concept of a general crea-
tor mode has been around for
some time now, for once a
game succeeds in perfecting
the concept so extraordinarily
well it’s not only enticing but
overwhelming.
The games creator mode
is extensive to say the least
giving you a large assortment
of tools and items for your
own creative dispense. The
game has a good set of tutori-
als that work quite well at
explaining each own tool.
Messing around in creator
mode is easily accessible
enough for pick up.and play
other hobbyist type skill, mak-
ing your own levels takes
time, dedication, and un-
derstanding of the creator
mode.
Thankfully most
end results are enor-
mously rewarding enough
to keep you building
even several hours
into finishing a
level. Once fin-
ished with a
level, you
can not
only play
it off-
line
Ps with
friends,
. you can share it
online with the games
online community. You can
upload levels, play others,
and download levels to edit
on your console. The shar-
ing capabilities heavily
extend the already hun-
dreds of levels online
and continuously be-
ing created and
shared everyday.
Little Big
Planet is an ex-
perience that does
not restrict itself to
a purely play style of game
play. It celebrates one of the
most important concepts in any
medium of entertainment and
art, which is creativity. The
game is a miracle for Sony but
way beyond that idea by
unlocking the hands and minds
between both gamers and crea-
tors.
In addition, Little Big Planet
hands over a key to players to
an open and almost endless
amount of possibilities where
the only boundaries are our
own imaginations. That is what
makes a great game, and that is
what makes Little Big Planet
an astounding wonder.