The regular reader will know that I rarely touch on anything remotely connected to my professional life (i.e. being a geek) on this blog. There are plenty of good reasons for this 'rule' and I'm not about to break it. I do, however, want to say that Gemma and I have been testing the Little Big Planet beta for Playstation 3 and it's absolutely stunning.
At its heart a platform title, LBP features a cute character fashioned from sackcloth (and called 'Sackboy') who you have to guide by jumping, running and grabbing, through a variety of levels which test both dexterity (well, accurate button-pushing) and nouse. The game's graphics are wonderful: crisp, cute and remiscent of childhood (the cardboard cutout castles used as a background in some levels look like they've been cut out by some kid). Stephen Fry (unfairly referred to by some wag as 'the stupid person's idea of an intelligent person') provides the voiceover and guides you through the first few levels, and even the in-game music is good.
But Little Big Planet is much more than a simple platform game. Its motto is "Play. Create. Share." for a reason: you can create and share your very own levels within the game. Gemma and I haven't got onto making our own yet, but the idea is pretty simple. You can create your own level on the PS3, filling it with obstacles, beasties and er.. stickers, then when you're done, you upload it to the Playstation Network, where anyone can try your level, tag it and 'heart' it if they like. We've tried out several designs created by other beta testers (there are hundreds of them) and some have been really very impressive. Apparently, the best level designed at this stage will be included in the full game when it's released in around three weeks' time.
Little Big Planet is one of the first PS3-only titles to really impress me (Drake's Fortune is also pretty good). It's easy to learn but many of the levels we've tried have been tricky. This is a game I'm sure we'll be playing in two years' time. We might have even created our own level by then.
Little Big Planet – Playstation 3 – 1/1