LittleBigPlanet (PSP)

Well, that was my first question. I don't own a PS3, and so hadn't played LBP before, but was of course aware of the hype. So I bought it to find out.

LBP is a platform-style game, where you take "sackboy" and have to overcome a series of challenges and obstacles (mazes, lakes of fire to swing across, electric plates that kill you on contact, etc), to reach the end and finish the level. Along the way, you collect bubbles which accrues you points, and also contain goodies (like new items of clothing to change the appearance of sackboy, and stickers, to change the appearance of everything else. The levels are regionalised, so you start in Australia to complete several "Australian style" challenges, before progressing through South Asia, India, Africa, etc. It has a superb sound track, great in game sound effects, fantastic graphics, and of course the expert narration from Stephen Fry.

Is that it?

No, not by a long shot. The included levels are great fun and would form a good game by themselves, but after that, you can play levels created by others by going online. And if that still isn't enough, you can even design your own, using all the stickers and objects that you picked up along the way (and I assume with future DLC?).

So it is vast, vast, vast product and will keep you going for a long time.

If you played it on a PS3 and liked it, I am sure you will like this (portable) version. If you haven't, you owe it to yourself to give it a go!

I love this game, it's different, original, exciting, interesting and funny in many places.

The game begins with a short introduction to the world of Little Big Planet, how it came into existance, who your character is and what their purpose is. Narrated by the brilliant Stephen Fry from the very outset this game really appeals to creative people.

You can fully customise your 'sack person' as you unlock different clothing and items during the game, you can even choose what emotion they are feeling from the choice of; happy, sad, frightened and angry.

You can design and build your own levels as well as complete a story mode.

I'm sure as I continue to play the game I will unlock even more, I ordered another game at the same time but I haven't played on it yet because I can't stop playing Little Big Planet

Buy it now, you won't regret it

"Come in and make yourself at home"

LittleBigPlanet on the PS3 was my game of the year. No questions. Some saw it as a simple platformer, nothing more. But anyone who took the time to really master the level design tools would have found a whole new genre of gaming. There's nothing quite like seeing one of your levels appear on the cool levels page and being played hundreds of times a day - a unique thrill in a market dominated by first-person-shooters. So when LittleBigPlanet was released on the PSP I jumped at the chance to flex my creative muscles once more, this time on the bus or train.

For anyone who's never played LBP before the basic premise is this: You play the role of Sackboy, a small stuffed creature who never talks and you can dress up like a woman. In fact, if the finale of this game is anything to go by I suspect Sony is setting their mascot up as something of a gay icon. Anyway, you travel through the world of LittleBigPlanet, a world of imagination and wonder if the opening sequence is to be believed. You collect points, jump on creatures heads and generally have a great time. The difference comes once you have completed the game and you can used all the objects that you saw in the game to create your own level. Anything is possible. If it's in your brain then you can make it. Brilliant!

Ok as this is PS3 to PSP port the developers have been forced to make a number of concessions from the original. Before I get to the game itself I'm going to deal with some of these changes and reflect on how they affect the overall experience.

1. Lack of multiplayer support - You will never see two sackpeople on screen at the same time, not even if you have two PSPs. It's a real shame and one of the highlights of the original game. On the plus side this does allow the game to feature the same physics engine. So objects and materials will react in the same way. Given the choice I would have prefered both but as it is you are getting an almost identical single player experience for your money as opposed to a watered-down static platformer.

2. Space - The levels consist of two 3D planes rather than three. This means there is less detail in the story levels and the complexity of your own creations is also reduced.

3. Decorations - No longer exist and as far as I know you can't upload your own pictures. You can also only put stickers on the front of objects now rather than all over. So no putting stickers on the floor for example. Most of these problems are cosmetic and you tend not to notice them too much.

And the game itself? Firstly it looks beautiful. So similar to the ps3 version that you can barely spot the difference. The gameplay has transported well, possibly more than any other ps3 port due to the nature of the side-scrolling gameplay. However, the level design leaves alot to be desired. A lot of effort has been put into ensuring that the create tools are exactly the same yet there is little or no inventiveness in the story levels. Having seen the ingenuity on display in user-made content I might have expected a little more in the way of spark. But the devs have created more simple platform levels which are a tad boring and don't really show off the expansive nature of the create tools. Most of them are cheap imitations of the original's story level, in particular the section where you fly a magic carpet mimics the hot air balloon of LBP PS3.

In create mode the game comes to life. All the tools remain and you can do pretty much anything. I've attemped to create a scaled-down version of a PS3 level I have made in order to test out the mechanics. Everything I was able to do on the PS3 version is possible on the PSP - which makes the mundane story levels seem even more surprising. It remains to be seen if the online community will be as strong on PSP and this will ultimately affect the quality of user-made content - but for £25 an infinite number of levels is a bargain.

Overall LBP PSP is a success. If it had been released as a handheld game first it would be lauded as a masterpiece and I guess that is how we should look at it. Not as good as the PS3 version but it does a damn good impression.

If you wish to play my PS3 levels my ID is jabomb69. For my psp level search "best level ever pandas"