Little Big Planet 2: Preview

Platform: PS3

Genre: Platform/UGC

Release date: November 2010

The new sackbots can be configured to perform
complex movements. (Synchronised dancing is
inevitable).

Little Big Planet made user generated content what it is today... not too big. However it revolutionised the gaming industry with the ability to create your own levels. It was mainly side scrolling, point collecting, rope swinging fun but after people started experimenting with the Level Editor some amazing things started to appear on the community browser, for example I was playing Bioshock and could even decide wether to harvest or save little sisters, I used a small NES controller to control a giant street fighter character, however in my opinion one of the simplest but smartest idea was the duckhunt game, allowing you to take control of a crosshair (a jetpack behind the background connected to it) and shoot flying ducks. I myself made a few levels, the level editor was one of the deepest and detailed creator tools ever in a game! You think putting that large block on another in Halo 3 Forge mode was amazing? Try connecting grabbable sponge to a rope conected to a lever that when grabbed opened a door via a winch, however if you let go the door would drop back, therefore if another person didn't run through the grab the sponge attached to a rope on the other side you wouldn't be able to get through. All the bolts, winches, pistons, materials, objects, settings, tools, ropes, elastic bands, backgrounds and many more, LBP could seem daunting and in truth it was at first, but with help from the dozens of tutorials (quick and easy) and Stephen Fry's narration. The game prided itself on it's 2.5D platforming and the ability to create almost anything, it was a game that played best with others (in online and offline 4 player coop) but could be played by yourself and still be a hell of fun. Then came Little Big Planet on PSP, squashing the game down and bringing another story mode to the mix, however it lacked any kind of coop and therefore disapointed fans.

All of LBP's levels will be carried
over to LBP2

And now comes the grand-daddy of UGC with it's triumphant return to form, with plenty of new creation tools and costumes and levels and pretty much everything you wanted in LBP 1! The game now features bounce pads, a grappling hook and more fun items to pick up a long with the new direct control seat, this allows creators to assign button presses to machines, for example; say you sat in somebody's control seat they had assigned to a large robotic sackboy (the character you play), if you pressed left the robot would go left and stuff like that, it allows creators to make much more odd designs but easier. The next big thing is something that was heavily needed in the original; decent AI, in LBP you could give robots a brain and set it to follow you or run away from you and a few more things, however LBP2 introduces the new sackbots, you can assign these to do very complex movements, give them the Creatonator (I'll talk about that later) and assign them to shoot you, or your own enemies, you can even design there look and copy and paste there AI to other sackbots, heck as soon as I get the game I'm assigning them to recreate Gamer's 'I've got you under my skin' scene. Next is the Creatonator, a gun that can be configured to fire any object the creator has made (yes even a flaming dinosaur), there is the powerglove that lets you pick up heavy objects and the creator can now use a keyboard and mouse to edit levels for extra detail. The game will also support PS Move giving party players another way of designing levels.

Have a look for your self at the Little Big Planet Wikia.

By Bighead.