Updated 14 Feb, 2012, 6:01 pm IST

LittleBigPlanet

12 Dec, 2009, 12:52 pm IST | Avinash Bali | Handheld Gaming

LittleBigPlanet is a deceptive little game. While it looks really cute and charming on the outside it’s a pretty tough platformer on the inside. The game starts off really slow and easy and then BAM! assaults you with some pretty tough levels straight out of hell.

Ok so I may have exaggerated on that last statement but you get the drift right? LBP PSP like its older, experienced console brother puts players in the boots of adorable looking cloth people called Sackboys/girls who’re tasked with traversing quirky environments which by the way aren’t blatantly ripped out from the PS3 version. The PSP version of the game is a brand new game in itself boasting of a new (WTF were they smoking when they came up with this) story mode and a plethora of innovative levels. Once again you’re not restricted to just playing the default levels laid out for you. Using a highly intuitive level creator you can create and share your masterpieces with the rest of the world online (or borrow others if you’re the unimaginative type). Unfortunately you can’t play together with your friends anymore since co-operative play has been axed from the handheld version.

Gameplay in the PSP version has gone unchanged so you’ll spend a good amount of your time collecting bubbles, stickers, decking up your sackboy, collecting even more bubbles, dodging deadly traps and so on. It’s an enjoyable formula that Media Molecule never really needed to fix. What they should have tweaked were the controls that still feel as floaty as ever. This basically means Sackboy isn’t as responsive as you’d like him to be and you’ll quite often fall to an untimely death. Next up is the difficulty curve that like I mentioned in my intro is very erratic breaking the flow of this otherwise pleasant game.

Of course the game’s still heavy on the charm thanks to Stephen Fry’s narration and the striking art style. The transition to handheld consoles has hurt the game visually but at the same time you’re getting smooth frame rates so I guess it’s an even trade off.

Like the PS3 version LBP PSP is a game that can be enjoyed by everyone especially by your kids. It’s not informative nor is it educative but at least you’re not killing people or running down hookers because you can.

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