RELEASED: November 18, 2014
AVAILABLE ON: PS3, PS4
DEVELOPER(S): Sumo Digital, xDev Europe, Tarsier Studios, Supermassive Games, Media Molecule
PUBLISHER(S): Sony Computer Entertainment
NOTE: This is my first PlayStation 4 review to feature my own screenshots, relayed from Facebook. I know the thumbs are kinda small in this particular review, but you can see them in full size by clicking on them. Feel free to tell me what you think of the _full_ size, and stuff like that, and whether or not I should keep using the white effect frames I've used in most reviews this far. I'm using this information to make the blog better and more fun to read, and as guidelines while I'm working on the new look of the whole thing. Reviews of games for other systems will remain the same as ever for now.
Last month was one devastating set-up of giant sequels to giant games. Apart from Assassin's Creed: Rogue which I already reviewed, a giant game of lottery went through my cortex concerning which of these games I should review first. Suddenly, I'm sitting here weeks later with three reviews already underway, without half a decision made. Well, my senses tell me to start with the simplest game, and a game which I could play for five minutes and know everything about, and how good it's going to be. ...LittleBigPlanet 3 is the closest to that kind of game out of the big three at the immediate hand, but it really isn't that easy to write about, especially not for a fan of the earlier games. LittleBigPlanet 3 was announced from the purest blue, as being developed by Sumo Digital just a few months ago. LittleBigPlanet 2 felt like the tip of this particular iceberg three years ago, and the only experience I've had with Sumo Digital's work is Dead Space: Ignition. Once again there's a personal connection between Dead Space and a new LittleBigPlanet game, but this time, the memory is one I'd like to forget, as Dead Space: Ignition was an all-around horrible and useless take on the Dead Space mythos. Still, creators Media Molecule did assist, as did Supermassive and Tarsier, who both had their hands locked on tight on certain aspects of the previous game in the series - Supermassive worked on the game itself and Tarsier pretty much made the whole of the fantastic, yet poorly advertised DC Comics add-on published late last year. LittleBigPlanet 3 does finally have just enough fresh material to start a new communal cycle, and exciting new takes on the simple platformer formula to keep the casual player entertained for a while... but the thrill just isn't quite there.
Y u hold back?
STARRING
Stephen Fry : Narrator
Hugh Laurie : Newton
Lewis MacLeod : Oleg / Captain Pud
Susan Brown : Nana Pud
Tara Strong : Coach Rock / Vera Oblonsky
Peter Serafinowicz : Dr. Maxin / El Jeff / Papal Mache
Lorelei King : Elena / Felica
Nolan North : Marlon Random
Simon Greenall : Zom-Zom the Far-Out
Robbie Stevens : Larry Da Vinci
Newton, an unskilled creator riddled with mental issues, tricks our old friend Sackperson into releasing the three evil Titans to wreak havoc on LittleBigPlanet. With the world specifically designed to keep Sack from being able to save the day by him-/herself, he/she tracks down the three legendary heroes of LittleBigPlanet's yesteryear - OddSock, Toggle and Swoop - to even the odds.
To boldly go, where I have definitely been before. |
Then, came LittleBigPlanet 2. A game that simply blew the bank with tons of new features, for both the player and the creator; of course, you needed to play through the story mode to find out what you could do in this game, AND discover the tools and items for it along the way. LittleBigPlanet 2 was no longer a platformer - it was a platform for games, as it was not-so-modestly advertised as. With the new Sackbot and cutscene-editing mechanics, you could accomplish anything. Just look at that British guy who remade the whole of Final Fantasy VII using LittleBigPlanet 2's level editor. I've yet to try a decent version of this level pack, and I'll soon tell you why - but yeah, it was perfectly possible, as he proved with this effort that took years to accomplish. Not to piss in this guy's cereal, but it's also been proven the whole thing could've been a real RPG instead of a simple Final Fantasy VII-themed platformer... well, maybe I'll just shut up, having never finished a creation of my own. I do have tons of drafts lying somewhere, though. My point is that LittleBigPlanet 2 was the tip of the whole thing. Especially when the DC Comics add-on came along. It added the final features needed for a perfect LittleBigPlanet experience, from both the player and creator's points of view. If you haven't played that one, it's not surprising; but, if you have, you'll be even more disappointed with what kind of "fresh" and "new" features LittleBigPlanet 3 has in store. This is hardly the next generation of LittleBigPlanet, and as great as the game is in some ways, I really hope the buck stops here. Like I said, we've been to the top. We've been to the creative peak. Creators will reach it here, no doubt - but as players, we were there three years ago. LittleBigPlanet 3 holds back, even with everything that was established a long time ago. A lot.
This spacewalking schtick really ain't that new anymore. At least they figured to leave the sticky surfaces from the Muppets DLC out. |
OddSock vs. one damn ugly fish... pus... man. |
Toggle puts the LittleBig in LittleBigPlanet. |
OddSock the Swift - or Sackdog, as I used to call him since I could never remember these new characters' names before actually getting the game - is very fast, as his name implies. He can run on walls and jump further than anyone else. Toggle - LittleBigFatsack - provides some of the most challenging, physical and most of all, diverse sequences of the game. He can change from pint-sized to a huge pile of mass in the fraction of a nanosecond, which means - among many things - that he can run through tiny shafts and evade large enemies by simply running under them, but at the same time, weigh down huge elements such as platforms everyone else is too light for, or crash through bulletproof glass, with just one press of a button. Swoop - Sackwing - is a bird, so his contribution to gameplay is quite damn obvious. The flight mechanic from LittleBigPlanet 2's DC Comics add-on gets a little tweak here, as Swoop is able to remain airborne after the... well, swoop. You know. Swoop is definitely the hardest character to handle as far as I'm concerned, even after much practice, but luckily, he's also the least used character in the whole bunch.
Swoop comes face to face with the prime evil. Who's a mix between a light bulb and an egg timer, in a suit. This is LittleBigPlanet, after all. |
It's time to wrap this one up and I'm really kind of sad. By no means did I expect much out of this game, 'cause like I already stated a few times, we all saw the tip of the iceberg a long time ago, and it was no longer the small team of brilliant minds behind this game, but a whole group of small studios, led by one who simply... does not have that touch, to put it nicely. I expected a very entertaining platformer, and that's what I got. I only wish it'd been longer and taken more out of the base LittleBigPlanet 2 was built on. Come on, there's a helicopter shooter showing up in the screensaver, where's that level or any of its kind in the game?! A first-person shooter in the God damn launch trailer, where's that? I might not be a huge FPS fan, but that's misleading, really. Creators will get much more out of this game than players. I warmly recommend LittleBigPlanet 3 to skilled level creators, but LittleBigPlanet 2 to players. Not that the first game is to be missed by players either, if some PlayStation-owning minority has still managed to do that.
UPS
+ A massive playground for skilled level creators
+ Fun new characters
+ Fun new gadgets, too, although not quite as fresh as the aforementioned
+ Fun story mode, as long as it lasts...
DOWNS
- ...In other words, a jiffy
- Misses out on the constant surprise factor of the previous game when it comes to level - or more specifically, GAME design
- Severe compatibility issues with PlayStation 3 content, with apparently no remedy in sight
- Pop-It Academy was better as an idea than as an actual series of levels
- I could strangle the localization team; not really an issue to rate the game after, but definitely worth mentioning
< 7.9 >