LittleBigPlanet PSP Review
Played on:
PSP
Everyone loves LittleBigPlanet; the customizable sackboys and girls are adorable, the world is charming and full of whimsy, and you can theoretically let your imagination run wild, provided you’ve got enough of it. After numerous game of the year awards, and more recently, a spiritual play-create-share little brother in the form of United Front Games’ upcoming Mod Nation Racers, the clearest thing left to do is expand the series.
Say hello to LittleBigPlanet PSP. Media Molecule has been pretty vocal about downplaying any interest in a true sequel to LBP, as it could potentially destroy the fan-based community around which the game revolves, and I would be hard-pressed to call Sackboy’s new portable iteration a sequel. LBP PSP is instead pretty much exactly what you’d expect—a LittleBigPlanet you can carry around in your pocket (at least if your pockets are deep enough to hold a PSP). It’s not a straight-up port, but you don’t really get anything that new in terms of gameplay, mechanics or presentation. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Clearly, Sony Cambridge went for an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. This is fine; LBP’s tendency for short levels makes the series a good fit on a portable platform. Unfortunately, the results aren’t quite up to par with Media Molecule’s original. Sony Cambridge simply doesn’t do enough to make their own iteration of LBP feel very unique in its own right, giving the game the feel of portable-only DLC for the PS3 version.
This is sad. The spirit of the series is all about imagination, but LBP PSP seems content to merely follow a very specific set of guidelines set by the first game. To the developer’s credit, it’s impressive how well they got it to perform on a less-powerful portable system. But frankly, unless Sony is simply trying to win new fans over in an attempt to sell more PS3’s, this portable LittleBigPlanet won’t hold much appeal for those that have already played through the original, not to mention the die-hards that are actively involved in LBP’s robust and vibrant online community. It’s a disappointment to see something with such an emphasis on creativity follow the exact same formula as its predecessor—it’s not like Sackboy needs to have a dozen new abilities or anything drastic like that, but at the very least Sony Cambridge could have done something different than have Sackboy move through a series of nationally-themed worlds. Cohesion is nice, but couldn’t they have at least tried to take a new, unique approach? Maybe similarities between the two versions of the game were mandated by Sony—I don’t know. But regardless, you may feel like you’ve played this already.
Granted, if the game were as polished as the original was (for the most part) this probably wouldn't be much of an issue, at least if you’re comfortable with the already-established LBP game mechanic. And the game does give you a pretty complete LBP experience. It’s just one that’s shorter and more designed for pick-up-and-play gaming. Unfortunately, Sony Cambridge seems to lack some of the level-design finesse of Media Molecule. Most levels aren’t really anything to write home about, and worse, often suffer from poorly laid-out objectives that require counter-intuitive (and un-emphasized) backtracking, and often may leave you wondering what you should be doing to progress. This could’ve easily been fixed with a little more game-related signage at key points—even a few more arrow signs every so often would be helpful in getting you to notice some of the game’s more out-of-the-way paths mandatory for level completion. Although the core mechanics of LittleBigPlanet are relatively simple, I was often struck with a sense of wonder, or at the very least, respect for all the different ways Media Molecule was able to create any number of innovative scenarios—whether through straight-up gameplay, environmental interaction or the use of scripted events to drive a level forward. When playing LBP PSP, I didn’t feel much of anything most of the time.
Unless, of course, I was getting annoyed from the various bugs in the game. LBP’s mechanics were certainly not perfect, but for the most part, any problems arising out of having to switch perspective planes or, say, ending up with your sackboy or sackgirl stuck next to or between object or objects were kept to a minimum. This will happen far more often in the PSP iteration. I’m not sure if this is just a sign of the game being rushed or the developers just not paying as much attention, but when you have to go into your pop-it and self-destruct your poor little sackperson more than just a handful of times in a single playthrough, it starts to grate on your nerves. The lack of the paintenator, which extended the life of the original by quite a bit, doesn’t help spice things up any, either. Also, if you happen to get the UMD version, prepare yourself for 12-15 second load times every time you want to do anything. Finally, the customization to your sackboy or girl is sadly kind of wasted since the character models are so tiny on the PSP’s screen—a gripe I had with the original that could’ve been fixed by allowing you to zoom or out a little at any time.
If it seems like I’m being overly critical on Sony Cambridge’s efforts, it’s only because LittleBigPlanet’s pedigree seems to demand more thought and innovation. It isn’t that the PSP edition of the game is bad (although the bugs are an unfortunate oversight). The game is fun enough, most of the time, if made up of content that’s a tad more forgettable than the original. The soundtrack is generally a noticeable improvement over the original, introducing an eclectic set of pop-indieish tunes to the previous game’s catalog of world music. The level editor is still pretty easy to use (your creation don’t even take up that much room on a memory stick), despite the PSP’s control handicap.
LBP PSP isn’t a bad game by any means—long-time residents of PS3’s LittleBigPlanet, however, might want to check their imaginative expectations at the door.
