OT: Little Big Planet

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 12:51 pm

I just happened to be at the right place at the right time last night and ended up getting a beta code for Little Big Planet. I've had my eye on this title for a long time but didn't really know too much about it other than it was a platformer and it would be community based. I was only able to play through a couple of the tutorials last night and all I can say is I am blown away with how cool this game is.

Sackboy is one of the most personable characters ever created for a videogame and there are many costumes and features (eyes, mouths, etc.) that you collect in the levels so you can customize him to your liking.

The platforming was pretty cool and in part reminded me a little of Braid in the sense that there are various items scattered throughout each stage and it will take multiple play-throughs to collect them all and you will have to figure out how to reach them all.

This game includes co-op play and online play as well. I haven't been able to try it yet but I have a feeling my daughter is going to eat this game up. If you have a PS3 and a kid this is definitely a title you will want to keep an eye on. The whole time I was playing last night I kept thinking, "Man, I can't wait until Izzy plays this."

The biggest thing this game has to offer is the seemingly unlimited options for creating your own levels and being able to share them with your friends and the world. I have a feeling the community for this game is going to be huge and there will be a large crop of level designers out there that do an outstanding job expanding the life of this title.

One last thing, I don't think I've ever played a game that was this polished before. The production value of this thing is off the charts. Everything from the graphics to the narrator's voice screams quality. I can't wait to get more time with this and I can't wait to see my daughter's face when she sees it.

If anyone else gets in on the beta and wants to try some online let me know.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 12:56 pm

I'm really looking forward to this one.

fanatic · Post by **fanatic** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:01 pm

Yeah, I've been fully expecting to be blown away by this game. Looking good so far.

I've also seen a lot of user created levels online - quite amazing what can be done (i.e. replicating super mario bros., etc..) I'm sure there will be some really dedicated gamers out there who go the extra mile.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:05 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:The biggest thing this game has to offer is the seemingly unlimited options for creating your own levels and being able to share them with your friends and the world. I have a feeling the community for this game is going to be huge and there will be a large crop of level designers out there that do an outstanding job expanding the life of this title.

You can design using the eyetoy, right? How many levels are we going to get that are textured with nutsack?

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:40 pm

Slumberland wrote:
ScoopBrady wrote:The biggest thing this game has to offer is the seemingly unlimited options for creating your own levels and being able to share them with your friends and the world. I have a feeling the community for this game is going to be huge and there will be a large crop of level designers out there that do an outstanding job expanding the life of this title.
You can design using the eyetoy, right? How many levels are we going to get that are textured with nutsack?

Well he is sackboy after all.

I know there is eyetoy functionality but I don't know if it extends to the sharing process or not.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:43 pm

I recently preordered this game at Gamestop. I still don't fully understand what the game is about but Scoops explanation helps quite a bit.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 3:54 pm

Rodster wrote:I recently preordered this game at Gamestop. I still don't fully understand what the game is about but Scoops explanation helps quite a bit.

It's just a platformer where the user can create their own levels and characters. Oh ya throw in some co-op play.

If there's going to be an anchilles heel to this game it's going to be how easy it is to get levels from PSN. I think the game is going to be on the shallow end of developer content. So then it's really up to having great user content within weeks of release.

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 3:56 pm

Thanks for the impressions, Scoop. I can't wait for this game to come out.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:42 pm

there are a bunch of videos of user-created levels up on Youtube.

Looks like pretty standard platforming action, with hidden places where you can collect items.

There are suppose to be 50-60 levels which come with the game but not much in the way of a story line?

I think the co-op online could be the unique idea which LBP brings to the genre, especially if you need other players to help reach certain points or finish levels or do these things faster.

Looks like it's all based on leaderboards.

It would have been cool if instead of just 4-player co-op, you could also have 2 vs. 2 competitive play, where you try to collect items before the other team or race or block other team from reaching certain places -- like maybe taking a shortcut and then closing it off so the other team has to take the long way.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:53 pm

JRod wrote:
Rodster wrote:I recently preordered this game at Gamestop. I still don't fully understand what the game is about but Scoops explanation helps quite a bit.
It's just a platformer where the user can create their own levels and characters. Oh ya throw in some co-op play.

If there's going to be an anchilles heel to this game it's going to be how easy it is to get levels from PSN. I think the game is going to be on the shallow end of developer content. So then it's really up to having great user content within weeks of release.

There's supposed to be 60 developer levels and each level requires multiple playthroughs to get everything. Thread...too positive...must reel...it...in....

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:03 am

Was able to play last night for a little bit with my daughter and she loved it. She loved being able to customize her character and we had a blast running through some user-created levels.

Airdog · Post by **Airdog** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 10:19 pm

I've been trying to get into the open beta (not frantically by any means, but still). Glad to hear that the game is living up to its hype, for now it seems.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 10:31 pm

There's rumors of a PSP version.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6198425.ht ... es;title;1

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:14 pm

I spent a good chunk of time over the weekend playing this game with my daughter and she loved it. Not only that but I am really digging it on my own as well. I was able to mess around with the level editor and I cannot believe what is possible with it.

I was messing around and made a ramp going down towards a bunch of bottles. I wanted to put a stone circle at the top of the hill that you would push down to go bowling. The problem is, Sackboy doesn't weigh very much and this game is totally real-world physics driven. I made the circle out of a lighter material and was able to get Sackboy to push it down the hill but it wasn't heavy enough to move the bottles. I decided to change it back to stone and came up with a different plan.

My new plan consisted of creating a switch that would turn on a piston that was connected to two pieces of wood. The problem was that the wood wouldn't stay in place so I had to change it to stone. The stond still wasn't staying in place so I had to add the stone to the hill instead of just a random block. I was finally ready to test it out so I went into play mode and ran to the switch. I jumped on and the piston moved the block of stone into the stond circle which rolled down the hill and pushed the bottles out of the way.

This is a day-one purchase for me now I'm going to spend the rest of my limited time left with the beta learning what else is possible in the level editor. My plan is to learn that and spend some time actually designing my level before the game comes out.

Oh, there are a lot of very good user-created levels out there already in a limited beta. I can't imagine how many cool levels there will be when this thing is released to the public.

I really am blown away with what this game has been able to accomplish and would love to run through some levels with fellow DSPers who get this game. My daughter and I ended up playing for a little bit with some guy on my friends list and it was a lot of fun.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:22 pm

The 1UP video podcast this week had a lot of good footage and discussion about LBP this week. I was mildly curious but it might have become a buy.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:28 pm

To show you what is possible check out this video of a calculator some guy made. The video starts with him showing it working in play mode and then he switches to edit mode and you can see how he created it. It's truly amazing what he did. Check it out.

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZiRgYBHoAoU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed>

Here's a song from Final Fantasy 10.

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Lf5p4JsXizk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed>

GameSeven · Post by **GameSeven** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:52 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:To show you what is possible check out this video of a calculator some guy made.

Simply brilliant

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:20 pm

GameSeven wrote:
ScoopBrady wrote:To show you what is possible check out this video of a calculator some guy made.
Simply brilliant

I confess to going from "Holy Sh!t, Awesome!!" to "waaay too much time on his hands" before settling on 'Both!'

But, this might be the ultimate 'Because you can' game we've yet seen on a console. In practice, I'm less of a 'because I can' sandbox gamer than I thought I would be (In Crackdown, for instance, I didn't spend too much time stacking cars and whatnot...I just took out the gangs), but this is still the only game since MLB that has me even slightly looking to the ps3 as a possible purchase.

Or, I could just be weak because my 360 is down.

Very, very intriguing game.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:21 pm

I still don't completely understand, but it's amazing.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:25 pm

That's incredible. I don't understand the last part of the calculator video and why the character was climbing up the green strings and what that had to do with the calculator?

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:28 pm

sportdan30 wrote:I still don't completely understand, but it's amazing.

That could be the Achilles heel of this game. Sony needs to market and explain this game a lot better than they've been doing.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:49 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:To show you what is possible check out this video of a calculator some guy made. The video starts with him showing it working in play mode and then he switches to edit mode and you can see how he created it. It's truly amazing what he did. Check it out.

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZiRgYBHoAoU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed>

Here's a song from Final Fantasy 10.

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Lf5p4JsXizk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed>

Those two videos have nothing to do with gameplay. I'm skeptical, ya ya, not because of the game but because the editing that's possible seems to do less with gameplay and more for the sake of creating something.

Maybe LBP will break the mode but games focused so heavily on user created content, leave a lot to be desired in the gameplay department.

We'll see...

The game looks fantastic though.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:55 pm

Well apart from the user-creation, it's a multiplayer online platform game, which is kind of a first.

If the levels are cleverly designed enough where it rewards smart co-op play, then it's a boon.

I think they could have made things more interesting if they had competitive multiplayer modes instead of just co-op, racing against the clock or trying to get on the leaderboard. Like 2 vs. 2 racing to finish the level first or get to certain places in the level first. Maybe there are shortcuts or wormholes which can only be used once so the first team to use it get a big leg up.

Or there are places with items to collect which add to your score or enhance your chances to finish the level first.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:56 pm

JRod wrote: Those two videos have nothing to do with gameplay. I'm skeptical, ya ya, not because of the game but because the editing that's possible seems to do less with gameplay and more for the sake of creating something.

Maybe LBP will break the mode but games focused so heavily on user created content, leave a lot to be desired in the gameplay department.

We'll see...

The game looks fantastic though.

That's main main concern as well.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 3:26 pm

God of War characters for LBP.

Apparently you'll get the code to download these characters if you preorder the game from Gamestop.

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