Review: LittleBigPlanet PSP
Sackboy goes portable, and it's all rather yummy. Related stories (more)LittleBigPlanet PSP Gets Create Patch
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First Level: LittleBigPlanet PSP
Article written by nofi in Featured Stories, PS3 News, PS3 Reviews, on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 9:00.
Cutting no corners, Sony Cambridge have managed to cram almost everything that made LittleBigPlanet such a loveable, charming game on the PlayStation 3 onto the PlayStation Portable. Visual polygon shifting limitations are one thing when porting in this direction, but the supremely talented developers have not only managed to overcome the PSP’s notably weaker graphical prowess but have also retained the wonderful sense of character that the PS3 version had, the same level of audio and, for the most part, and most importantly, the notion of Play, Create, Share.
Really, this is stunning stuff. Sure, Sackboy now only has two planes to move in and out of rather than three and the lower pixel resolution means you won’t get quite the same feeling that everything’s built from natural materials but apart from the surprising (and disappointing) lack of multiplayer, this is basically LittleBigPlanet 2, only on a handheld rather than a console. It’s a new story, with brand new levels, there’re new objects and clothing, new music, re-done voiceovers (again with Stephen Fry) and even a few new features of its own.
It’s hard not to be impressed, then.
There’s no smarmy quip here, no hidden negative – LittleBigPlanet PSP is great. From the very off, the production values are through the roof and the rotating menu structure, which gradually reveals itself as you progress through the story so as not to overwhelm, is smart and sophisticated. The story, which forms much of the single player experience, is just as good as the PS3 version with levels loosely based on locations around the globe and doesn’t shy in ramping up the difficulty level as you make your way through Australia, China, Egypt and so on.
If you’ve played LittleBigPlanet on the PS3, you’ll know exactly what to expect here – on screen principal characters deliver tasks to Sackboy, the cute, customisable pile of cloth, and you’re left to bound around increasingly convoluted levels trying to find the goal. Along the way are countless hazards, loads of secret areas, masses of bonus bubbles and piles of collectables, which include stickers, items of clothing and, crucially, various building materials for when the game’s wonderful Create mode presents itself to you a couple of levels in.
So, apart from a stupid issue with jumping vertically near an object, which normally results in Sackboy only leaping half as high, the platforming’s actually rather brilliant. Capturing the essence of its big brother almost perfectly, LittleBigPlanet PSP’s single player story mode is great fun to play through, and repeated play is essential if you want to collect absolutely everything the game has to offer. It’s a shame it’s a solitary experience, though, because the PS3 version really came alive with friends, but it’s single player only so there’s no point dwelling on it.
Where the game really shines is in the Create mode. Echoing the PlayStation 3 version would have appeared to be an unsurmountable challenge, but Sony Cambridge’s grasp of the PSP technology has meant that the portable version offers almost exactly the same level of user-created freedom as last year’s title, and in some cases there’s even more bits and bats to use when building your level. Some elements are a little confusing at first (the basic building blocks are tricky to size, for one) but the essentials are the same: if you can imagine it, you can create it.
From slabs of wood to complex mechanical machines with pistons, wires and switches, we’re hopeful that the community will be responsible for some incredible level designs. Sadly, at the time of going to press the online portion of our review code was disabled, so we’ve no idea what’s already out there (and we couldn’t upload any of our own creations) but it appears that community levels are stored locally once downloaded on the PSP, as opposed to having to connect live to the servers each and every time you wanted to play an amateur level.
It’s all rather splendid, if I’m honest. I’d be happy enough to recommend the game if it only shipped with the Play portion, but the comprehensive level designer really is the icing on the cake and Sony have clearly pushed the boat out with what’s just as important a PSP game as anything from the publisher, and that includes Gran Turismo, Motorstorm and Loco Roco. In the absence of a true sequel for the PS3 version, LittleBigPlanet PSP deserves to be a massive success and will hopefully help shift a few PSPs in the process. Great stuff.
Pros:
- It’s LittleBigPlanet, in your hand.
- Looks great, controls well enough.
- The Create mode is stunning given the host platform.
- You can make Sackboy look like the Prince of Persia. Or Crocodile Dundee. Or…
Cons:
- There’s no multiplayer.
- Some of the later levels needed a tiny bit more playtesting to smooth out the bugs.
- Load times can grate a little, even off the memory stick.
This time last year the PSP was starved of decent, AAA games. Twelve months later and the situation is very different indeed, and with LittleBigPlanet the portable PlayStation has changed from something that played Everybody’s Golf into an absolute must-have games console. Tremendous fun, with literally endless potential if the online community picks up on the game – sure, there’s a few bugs with the bigger, more complicated levels and it’s a shame you can’t play locally with a mate, but this is brilliant stuff, and essential for fans of the genre. 9/10
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
DeforMAKulizer | 17/11/2009 09:06
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168 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
Come on Thursday!!! I need to buy you!!!!
Loco Roco, Jak and Daxter, and GTA chinatown Wars have been eating me up alive!
Awaiting this and Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines!!
Personally, getting the PSP Go has been one of the best electronic ventures i have done in quite some time!
Radboud | 17/11/2009 09:08
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899 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
Excellent piece of work there Nofi!
Im very very very tempted to get it….
When is it gonna be on the PSN Store? (Or am I being a noob and is it already there?)
nofi | 17/11/2009 09:09
Wants a custom tag.
3870 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Friday, I’d imagine, if not Thursday. I honestly don’t know, sorry. It’s about 1.3GB, mind, or at least my review build was.
Radboud | 17/11/2009 09:12
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899 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
Okay, thanks.
Well, that is as big as a few of the other games… I still have like 14 GB free on my PSPgo, so no problems there….
Radboud | 17/11/2009 09:09
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899 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
Ok, thursday it is……
piekat | 17/11/2009 09:30
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74 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
great review!
the only thing I may not agree is on the load times, I had the (beta) UMD-less version and the load times were ok, maybe it’s a different story with the UMD
minerwilly | 17/11/2009 09:33
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556 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
I thought this was out last week as one of the lads in work had this on his PsP (hmm i always thought he was dodgy) . It looked and played fantastic and even though I didn’t particularly love the PS3 version I think I may pick this up for the handheld as it seemed to suit it better and I could get into maybe the creating side of it on long boring journeys .
Its had fantastic reviews all over the place .
superjag86 | 17/11/2009 09:36
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631 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
Been looking forward to this for a while. I’ll be buying this and MGS come Thursday.
Quinlank | 17/11/2009 09:36
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661 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
No multiplayer seems like a massive omission as that was one of the key features of the PS3 version. Even a little 2 player Ad Hoc would have been something.
Probably won’t bother with this one anyway.
jimmy-google | 17/11/2009 10:13
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1281 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
If I remember rightly Sony Cambridge said that multiplayer requires at least 25% of the CPU to be dedicated to it so they would have to sacrifice something. For a hand held game multiplayer on a platformer is probably the least important.
Kevling | 17/11/2009 09:44
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1849 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
As I’ve said before, I’m tempted to buy this from the store so it’s always on my PSP… Hope they don’t shaft us on the price compared to the UMD version (yeah, right, who am I kidding?)
jimmy-google | 17/11/2009 10:05
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1281 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
It motorstorm, gran turismo and ghostbusters are anything to go by then it should be between £17 and £24 as a download. UMD in shops will probably be £30 but you can pre-order it online for £17.99
If you’re goign for a download I suggest getting some psn cards off zavvi to save you about 20% on your downloads. I have a stack at home waiting for this weeks PSP releases.
flatspikes | 20/11/2009 21:40
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483 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Very sensible advice, I’m a big Zavvi shopper now and the PSN version works out at £17.59… My PSP Go is costing less to run than I thought!
BadBoyBoogie | 17/11/2009 10:25
Let There Be Rock
2516 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
I still haven’t gotten around to playing the PS3 version yet, but I’ll be getting this for my PSP as I can see me having a lot of fun with it each morning on the train.
Aitrus | 17/11/2009 10:34
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1253 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
Great review. Sony have really done a lot to get quality games to the PSP this year.
baconsarnie | 17/11/2009 12:27
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937 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
I haven’t bought a game to play on my PSP since FF7 and the last UMD I got was Crisis Core but going to have to get this. Played it at the EG Expo and was really impressed, can’t wait!
carlosfilippsen | 17/11/2009 12:35
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1313 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
Great review guys. I still need to get a PSPgo. This and Gran Turismo PSP will be the first 2 games I will get for sure.
iNsAnE_gAmInG | 17/11/2009 16:16
* Banned *
-1930 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
Cool. I will probably get this for either Chrimbo or my Birthday or when it signifcantly drops in price as it will never match the brilliance of the PS3 version (obviously) so I would only want it for a time-waster.
Seems an impressive title though.
Alex_Assassin_08 | 17/11/2009 18:10
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735 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
am heading to new york for a week tuesday so will pick this up for the flight
Morphweasel | 17/11/2009 18:16
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30 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Nice review guys, although I think the 9 is a bit too high for this game. I gave it a 8,5 out of 10 on a Dutch website where I did the review. The story mode mode is less fun (only unlimited life checkpoints, less action/bossfights, kinda lame story) compared to the one on the PS3 version, and the lack of a multiplayer feature is a shame when it comes to this party title. Besides, why dress up your Sackperson when you can only play the game on your own? Ah, well… the game runs smooth on the PSP and the level editor works out quite well (there are some bugs in it though; sometimes it won’t rewind correctly for example). Overall it’s a nice title, but not as nice as the PS3 one.
davidjmclare | 17/11/2009 22:23
always on easy
894 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
surely dressing up sackboy is for your personal amusement.
everything else you say is fine tho
Morphweasel | 18/11/2009 19:13
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30 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Of course it is, but I noticed I only dressed up my Sackboy one or twice during the entire game, while I dressed my Sackboy like fivehundred times in the original game. That’s because it was a fun thing to do when you were playing the game with more people, and besides, you could use it to mark your own Sackboy during the multiplayer sessions.
It’s fun Studio Cambrige didn’t remove the feature to dress the little guy up, but imo it’s not that attractive to do anymore, especially on such a tiny screen and with a lack of multiplayer…
freezebug2 | 17/11/2009 19:28
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1120 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Great review but I think I will struggle with the controls as I can not do the Bunker level yet with a proper controller on the original LBP…without dying that is, let alone trying to master a PSP. Looks stunning though.
Morphweasel | 17/11/2009 20:32
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30 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
LBP is much easier on the PSP. The story mode that is. I’m sure you won’t have any problem with it
And why would you want to ace all the PSP levels? There are no Trophies to win this time! 