Beta | Little Big Planet 2
Media Molecule revisits Little Big Planet with a host of new features and gameplay tweaks in the sequel coming later this January. We sat down with the LBP2 beta to see what the game’s new features and refinements had in store.
The original Little Big Planet was very much an experiment. It was an exercise to harness and cultivate the compounding creativity and ingenuity of online communities. Media Molecule did so by enabling players with in-game toolsets to create their own levels and share them with the world. LBP’s community of ad hoc game designers would collaborate and coordinate together on levels and art assets outside the confines of the game. With the ability to rate levels and content, the very best user created levels would rose to the top. After a few months, the LBP community had embraced what the game industry is now embracing a new side of the gaming industry: bite size gaming experiences that are inherently viral in nature.
LBP2 takes the creation tools and expands upon them in some very surprising ways. The sandbox toolset now supports the users’ want to create content for a multitude of genres. LBP2’s beta community has already created fascinating versions and interpretations of the first person shooters, top down adventure, kart racer, and puzzle games. Media Molecule supports the inclusion of genres by including the ability for users to program functions and effects for enemy or NPCs. In the hands of some talented creators in the community, these new tool allows for a bevy new gameplay options not possible before in the previous game. The spirit of LBP is in its celebration of imagination, and LBP2 has this spirit in spades.
While Media Molecule made some huge additions to the level creation portion for LBP2, the studio also made some nuanced changes in the game’s mechanics. The previous game was maligned with control issues, partially due to how the physics engine affected player movement. Jumping with Sackboy never really felt right. The apex of a jump would last a bit too long and was noticeably analog in its feel. Tapping on the jump button would only result in a mere hop, while holding down the same button all throughout the avatar’s jumping animation would make for a moonlike leap of faith. The game’s platforming suffered as LBP was without a reliable and intuitive jumping mechanic – something that is arguably a must in a platformer – LBP’s. Media Molecule, for the most part, has made great strides in making the movement Sackboy feel more intuitive. While playing LBP2’s beta story missions, I rarely had instances where I died because the eccentricity of the game mechanics.
Story missions are a delight. I do not use that word all to often, but LBP2’s levels – created by Media Molecule – are shockingly imaginative and whimsical. One stage in particular made me smile and curse out loud in glee, “You have to be f**king kidding me.” Upon obtaining a segway-like vehicle in a sci-fi inspired level, I had to navigate through a maze as I hit triggers that would inverse gravity for my Sackboy. The variability in gameplay, level to level, is a testament to Media Molecule’s overt willingness to experiment with what a LBP2 level can be and should be.
While it was sad to see Little Big Planet 2 get pushed back from its November release date to January, it has been encouraging to see Media Molecule take steps to improve the mechanics of the game as well as the user experience in creating community levels and genres.
