Little Big Planet | a Review
originally published on 16/04/2021;
Hello everyone, I am the flesh-bag, G.E.M.Simov, a man with no zipper on his chest, and I’ve come to tell you about Little Big Planet for the PSP!
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it. Also, I am a gameplay designer and a writer so I got the credentials to talk shit.
Gameplay
First things first - this is a feel-good puzzle game for everybody. Almost everybody, actually, but it’s still 7 and up, so we’re cool. This game is a 3D with a ‘from the side perspective’ platformer, which usually goes hand in hand with puzzle games.
The game has a few issues, which get more and more pronounced the further along the campaign/story player goes. There are occasional enemies, who are invulnerable half the time, but then, when they aren’t invulnerable, they don’t actually get hit by the thing that’s meant to be able to get rid of them.
There is an issue with the jumping mechanic (which involves just pressing the button X). The issue? Not jumping while running. It’s quite a nasty thing, I’ve had it happen to me a few times, and I pressed X more than thrice on both occasions - though, to my dismay, I ended up DEAD. Having that kind of issue in a platformer game is not good.
Then I present to you the grabbing mechanic which doesn’t quite work, half the time. Pressing the Right trigger/bumper has the player character trying to grab a hold of an object in the vicinity, IF there is a grabable object in the vicinity. If not, the character does nothing. Now, the issue here is that sometimes, while holding onto something (and still holding down the Right Trigger), the player character will suddenly let go. That, oftentimes, results in death or other general annoyances.
Collision detection, and Collision in general, sometimes don’t work. If the player is going too fast, they can phase through supposedly solid matter, which is not intended and is not good, to be fair. Other times, the player gets hit by something that should not have hit them. In short, this game feels clunky, and the movement itself is somewhat sluggish, which would not have been an issue, safe for the fact that the further along the campaign/story the player gets, the faster they need to be when reacting to things.
HOWEVER, this game has AMAZING level design. The first level itself already shows that this game was made by people with brains in their heads - the way it is designed is incredibly good. A situation, if you will - a short video with a tutorial concerning a mechanic - Stickers - plays, and then ends. The tutorial ONLY tells the player that they can put stickers on things, and how to do so. There is no prompt to “put a sticker on things like this!”
Then, the beauty of this game starts to demonstrate itself. As soon as the player is done with this little video, they might notice something falling from the ceiling - a big ID-card, with a blank spot where the photo of the person on it ought to be. There’s also a tiny little icon in the center, but no text telling the player to do anything. The player, having just been told how to put down stickers, might decide to see if they have a sticker that will fit in there. Conveniently, they do - so they put it in there, and SOMETHING HAPPENS!
This is an incredibly good way to teach the players the rules of the game and also how to play. Because, now the player knows to look for spots where they can place stickers, and they know that putting stickers on some things can make events occur. It’s absolutely superb!
And, with that, there’s little left to say. The game has some issues that are very detrimental to the enjoyment a player can receive from it, but the concept and the ideas for the puzzles are great. 2/3
Presentation
First thing I thought when I saw this game? 9. If you know, you know. If not, look up “9 movie” on Google. Tim Burton, sack people, Post-Apocalyptic. Absolutely sublime piece of media, very cool. BACK to Little Big Planet, though...
This game has amazing visuals. It is stylized, it is cheerful, it is relatively calm and it’s very relaxed. The voice acting (done by a narrator who sounds like a very nice grandpa) is absolutely sublime, they really did get someone good.
Now, how do you know a game has a bit of soul in it? How do you know a game has set out to REALLY do something special? I think it’s easy to tell through the opening of the game, and this one is no exception. After a short loading screen, and a shorter, still, Intro sequence, the game starts, and the player is already there.
Then, they are told how to play, by the soothing voice of cadavreless grandpa, and, as they move about, they get the logos to appear in a most intriguing fashion, right in the level. Other good things? This game is very minimalist in its UI. They’ve done a neat attempt at implementing Diegetic interface, and it’s not bad at all, though it has some more to be desired… Then again, this is a game that came out in 2008.
Now, even though all those good things are present, there are a few bad things. Namely, the way the camera moves - sometimes it does not show the player what they need to see, and that’s problematic, because it gets in the way of Gameplay. In addition, the Music in this game is very Hit or Miss. There are some really pleasant and nice pieces, but then there are also some really grating, even annoying ones as well.
All in all, the presentation is good - for a PSP game, it’s one of the better ones - but I just can’t give it the highest rating, because it does have these perceivably small, but actually reasonably big, problems I mentioned. 2/3
Story
The story goes, as follows: YOU go to Little Big Planet, the place where ideas go after people have had them. And then you start preparing for a Carnival.
At first, the beginning was absolutely fascinating and captivating, it appeared as though it had the potential to go into a direction that I would have loved. The whole concept of a place where ideas go to really tickled my fancy - after all, Plato’s Theory of Forms has something almost exactly identical to that, and that’s philosophy - which is superb.
I didn’t want nor need an actual philosophical dive into this, but I would have been pleased if there was something else to it… Instead, I got a globe trotting adventure, helping people deal with their problems, so that they could go to the Carnival. It was a tad disappointing.
But, hey, it is a kids game, so I should not be that disappointed. 2/3
Legendary Point
Does this game get the legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time? Alas, the answer is no. Games for kids hold a relatively special place in my heart - because they are relatively difficult to make, and are far more difficult to make properly. I didn’t get a single flashback to the nightmarish LocoRoco, so I’d say that’s a fail. 0/1
Conclusion
6/10. This game is above average, and I’d say it’s even good. It has a lot of charm and I’d recommend it to anyone who has a PSP, or has kids and would like to see them maybe develop their brains a little bit.
I tuck it under my belt, another achievement that I display with a measure of fondness.