Little Big Planet 2 Review: Does More Mean Better?

Little Big Planet blew our minds. It took platform gaming to a new level, and introduced to the gaming industry the idea of Play Create Share. The original levels were spunky, exciting, and challenging in a way games seem to be straying from as they search for realism. But the game went further. We never imagined that creating new levels and sharing them would expand a game's potential to such an extent. I spent more hours creating and sharing levels than I spent on all my other games combined, well, except for Fallout 3. Is it possible that Little Big Planet 2 could live up to the awesomeness of the original? I think it does, but I'm not sure it's as good as the original.

The Look: They've upgraded the graphics completely. The characters are more detailed, the costumes more active, and the hazards look more real. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the crispness of LBP2. It looks damn good.

Unfortunately, it seems like they may have gone a little too far. These upgraded hazard graphics look awesome, but when too many of them are on the screen at one time, the game takes a major performance hit. It can lag your system to the point that coordination with online players can be near impossible. Don't hope to ace any of these levels online with your friends, as your lagging will not be synced together. I've wanted to throw my controller down in frustration many a time as my poor Sackboy has fallen to his death in a bout of lag.

I found myself missing the spontaneous artsy feel of the first game. LBP2 has the distinct artistic feel of trying so hard to have the same fresh look as the original. I never find myself smiling about cute crazy characters, rather I felt kind of let down by the weird step they took in the main story characters. I have no idea who thought a notepad styled character was cool. I really don't get it, and I'm not sure how it fits. I actually thought the story characters were too polished and less genuine. I could never go into the level creator and make the same characters myself. I find that upsets me.

Gameplay: All of the new items in LBP2 are simply brilliant. You will find yourself smiling ear-to-ear as you swing from sponge to sponge with your grappling hook. Your jaw will drop when you complete new puzzles with objects created at will from a gun. Your mind will be blown when you find yourself in control of the cutest creature vehicles you've ever seen. The possibilities with the new tools are endless, and Media Molecule certainly manages to stimulate your brain in great new ways.

I thought the main story started out slow for a veteran LBP player, but I am sure that new players will appreciate the time to master the controls. I started to worry after the first levels failed to excite me as much as I had hoped for, but don't worry! Keep playing. The game play gets so good. Even better are the mini-games, which reach a level of fun I don't think the game's predecessor had.

The story itself seems very forced and is completely uninteresting to me. I found the Metal Gear Solid pack's story line to be more interesting. Oh well, it doesn't really matter in the end, because the levels themselves are so fun. You will play them all multiple times.

I am very disappointed that all the items are now ridiculously easy to find. You will not have to play any of these levels 10 times before you see the missing item. It isn't even a challenge in many levels to find all of the items the first time through. If you play the levels multiple times, your goal will be to ace them, not to find that one group of items that evaded you.

Overall, the story line is way more fun and exciting than any other platformer out there.

Level Creation: You will find yourself sketching madly on scratch paper coming up with crazy ideas to create with the new tools in the level creator. Once you do all of the tutorials, you will truly understand that the options are endless. You can really create almost anything. The new tools are so complete and complex, you will probably have to sketch out your ideas before you start creating, but you are in control of so much more. User created levels or more polished than ever before.

The only bad part of this is that some of the tools are so complex the average user may not really get it. They try as hard as they can to explain it in the tutorials, but I had to watch some of them multiple times before they sunk in. Also, I think it would be hard just to jump in and start creating without an idea in your head.

They brought in all the old online content from LBP into LBP2's world, so you can still play your favorite shark attack level. This is great, but I wish you could sort in game to find the new LBP2 levels more easily. They've created a new browser-friendly interface to find levels on your computer instead of your ps3. This is great, but I kind of wish they had streamlined the in-game search tool too.

Overall the game is amazing and is a must-have. You won't regret this purchase, and you'll recommend it to all your friends so you can play together.