VideoGame Fantastic level editor, bland platforming mechanics
When I first got Little Big Planet, it was a lot of fun. I hopped online and quickly played other levels that other people made, and created a few of my own. I jumped into online multiplayer games whenever possible, hoping to find good 4-player groups.
Later, I got New Super Mario Bros Wii. It lacked the incredible level editor of Little Big Planet, its physics, and even the online play. But I kept coming back to it and playing it with my brother, although I felt that it was a royal injustice how it managed to sell more copies than Little Big Planet, a game with far more features, a robust level editor, and online level sharing. How could Mario outsell a game that represents what Mario should become?
When my brother and I attempted to return to Little Big Planet, even playing other people's levels, we just couldn't get back into it. It just wasn't that fun anymore.
My younger brother explained the reason to me, and I'd been thinking the same thing: "You know, the platforming mechanics just aren't that good." I soon remembered that my older brother, when I tried to show him the game back at the time I was still enthralled with it, had said: "This game looks like it'll impress people who like to make levels, but the gameplay doesn't look that good."
Sadly, I now have to agree. There's plenty of platforming challenges, puzzle-based levels, vehicle driving levels, and tons of other ideas created in the community by players. There are also amazing levels designed simply to show off, putting players in fun situations like shooting at dinosaurs with a paint gun and riding a train through a city to escape. But the actual jumping and movement mechanics just don't have the polish of a Mario game. And the coolest levels out there are largely such because of scripting and flash, not because of the high quality of their gameplay.
Don't get me wrong, Little Big Planet represents a huge step forward in giving creative control to the player, and truly amazing things have been done with its editor. And the ability to share levels online with the community, and play with total strangers in either your levels or theirs, is a stroke of genius.
But sadly, the core gameplay could use some work. Fix that, and you'll have an undisputable masterpiece.
VideoGame Short Reviews of the LittleBigPlanet games I've played.
LBP 1: After having played the newer games, I feel like this one is a bit stale. Granted, it was made in 2008. However, when it was still relatively new (read: 2010), I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, with the new things introduced in the second game, there's no denying this game's oldness. If you want to try the classics and get the prizes legitimately, play it. 6/10
LBP 2: I really loved this. I borrowed it from a friend in December 2011 and didn't want to return it. I later got it for Christmas, and I was really hyped. Just the prospect of the Controllinator allowing completely new control schemes and entirely new games was enough to get me hooked, and when the best creators put in their time to make something amazing, there was no way to get me off the PS3. Definitely the best one in my opinion. 10/10
LBP Vita: I got this game around April 2014. Although the Vita couldn't quite handle the things that the second game could, people still tried their best, and the results were still well done. The Controllinator returned, and you could download community levels to play offline. Also, it's a portable LittleBigPlanet game. I give this a 9/10.
LBP Karting: I first played this game when it was free on PS Plus in June 2013. The game was a somewhat interesting kart-racer starring Sackboy and friends. I enjoyed a large number of online races with friends and strangers, often winning. A few bugs got in the way of my enjoyment occasionally, but the game was still fun for a long time. 8/10
LBP 3: As a fan of the LittleBigPlanet series, I was really excited when my brother showed me the E3 Stage Demo in June 2014. I prowled around the LittleBigPlanetCentral forums, hoping for any new info to suddenly show up. I got the PS3 version in November 2014 (and the PS4 version in December 2015). There's no denying that this game had a buggy launch, but I didn't experience any Game-Breaking Bug or crash, although I did manage to easily break some parts of the game, as did many others. Hackers and glitchers also found many things that seemed like they were supposed to be implemented, but weren't due to time constraints. I'd give the launch a 7/10, since some of the bugs were hilarious. 2 years later, I'd probably give it a 9/10 for expanding the potential for level creation both figuratively and literally, and making things easier to create for budding people like me.