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September 25th, 2008 @ 07:50
We got us a key. We played the beta. Found out what we thought of it after the break.
We’re going to keep this one pretty brief: we quite like LittleBigPlanet. Well, what we’ve seen of it so far, anyway.
It’s been quite a while since we’ve been charmed to this extent by a videogame: it made us smile at its cute characters, zany ideas and Stephen Fry’s jovial voice-over.
In fact, if you don’t happen to like Stephen Fry - is there anyone? - then you’re in trouble, as a large portion of the beta is him telling you what you need to do and how.
Speaking of tutorials, there are many; like one every few minutes. But to be fair to Media Molecule, they’re very well presented and leave you in no doubt as to how to use your new found skill, a refreshing change from titles that lavish a hundred different moves on you in five minutes.
The first thing you do in the beta is customise your Sackboy. We won’t bore you with the details as there are countless videos and descriptions already out there showing you how. What we will say is that it’s very accessible and good clean fun. Your wife/girlfriend/child/whatever will all want a say in how it should look, and the menus are as well thought out and as easy to understand as the tutorials.
The levels themselves, while fun, do feel a little slow-paced. Media Molecule has assured us that this is an old build, so hopefully the final version will be a tad more… zingy. What doesn’t help is the feeling that Sackboy isn’t really doing as you ask: he feels (ours is a man: he wears trousers) kind of off kilter, like there’s a tiny delay between you pressing the button and the reaction you get on-screen. Which is a shame.
LittleBigPlanet is a 2D platformer with a 3D bent, as in, you can move in and out of the screen in order to navigate around objects or to get yourself in line with them in order to interact with them in some way.
However, we found that far too often we were changing depth without actually wanting to, or thinking we were in line with an object when we just weren’t. We also found that sometimes we could move in and out of the screen as we liked and other times we couldn’t, with no obvious indication as to why.
The story of creation
Rather spiffingly, the beta allows you to create and upload levels, whilst giving access to others created by the community. The amount of options made available to you is staggering, and whilst the idea of painting on an open canvas is appealing, we recommend using some of the templates and build from there: keep it simple at first, and make sure you save often and switch to test mode, which allows you to try your level and check if it’s going to be crap or not. You can tell we’re talking from experience here.
If we were to list all of the LittleBigPlanet beta’s features, we’d take up half of your day. There’s so much going on, so much to see, so much to try, that you’re either going to be like a child in an empty sweet shop or simply hide in the corner and feel overwhelmed by it all, looking for someone to take you by the hand and show you where to go.
Summing up this brief encounter with Sackboy is rather difficult. We definitely enjoyed the experience, but at the same time we are left with some doubts. After the initial glee of the level creator, we realised it certainly wasn’t a cake walk and as our levels were turned out to be pretty pants, we’d thought we’d break it up a bit and try out someone else’s.
Disappointingly, they were pretty rubbish and uninspiring too, so it’s difficult to say how the game will hold our interest in the long run as when the game is unleashed on the Sackboy hungry masses, the amount of user created levels will most likely reach millions of levels in no time. Let’s hope the rating system helps sort the wheat from the chaff.
You can consider us divided right now. This is only a beta remember, and Media Molecule has promised a full campaign which we must admit we can’t wait to play: we did have lots of fun navigating the pre-made levels, even if movement did feel clunky at times.
The jetpacks are definitely worth a special mention due their inclusion being simply awesome. Let’s hope there are many surprises like that come release. Roll on October 24.
By Mike Bowden
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I would pay up to €10 (but only if...
September 25th, 2008 at 8:45 am
“In fact, if you don’t happen to like Stephen Fry - is there anyone?”
/raises hand
He’s smug middle-class England personified.
September 25th, 2008 at 8:52 am
the fact the controls are iffy really puts me off this all together. As much as I would like to believe the full version will be different I just get the feeling it will be just as iffy in the long run.
September 25th, 2008 at 9:10 am
I think there are a few problems for me.
Firstly, I think the questions about the core game are valid. It does feel a bit clunky. I’m saying this after playing it for literally about an hour, though, so maybe it’s a grower.
Secondly, there could be an intrinsic problem with the user-creation bent, in that we’re about to be looking at literally millions of user-created levels, the gigantic majority of which will be rubbish. I hope their starring system works well, or it’s going to be a bit pointless.
Thirdly, if you don’t buy into the MM “vision,” as such, you’re simply not going to like it. They can give you all the creative “freedom” in the world, but if mushroom trees and little cloth people don’t do it for you, it’s pretty much over.
On the positive side, the presentation is amazingly slick, and I did enjoy playing through the beta levels. It’s a buy for me, because I do want to see the full game and am I intrigued as to how the community’s going to evolve and pan out. I just wish Sackperson’s jump was a little more responsive!
September 25th, 2008 at 9:13 am
There’s a metric fucktonne of rubbish user-created content out there. This will change once a few more people get to grips with the controls, and with the 5-star rating in the final build, it should make sorting out the wheat from the chaff a lot easier.
On the user creation side - once I discovered the Grid tools, I suddenly realised things are going to be a lot easier than I thought. I think you’ll find the tools difficulty and cumbersome if you’re not the sort of person who has any dealings with proper commercial design packages, but as that’s my bread and butter work during every single day at work I actually found LBPs tools a fuck of a lot more friendly than I thought they’d be.
No mention of the multiplayer aspects. They actually work quite seamlessly as long as you’re not lumped on with someone who’s using a piece of wet string as a broadband connection, and it’s a lot of fun just dickarsing about in your pod sticking crap to other people!
September 25th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Pretty much everyone seems to be saying that the user-created levels are all diabolical and that the rating system is totally insufficient, which is a disappointment but pretty much what I was expecting.
The question is this:
As a person who has no intention of EVER making a level, would the core game still be good enough to warrant a purchase, presuming that there will actually be a steady stream of GOOD downloadable levels in the near future?
September 25th, 2008 at 9:18 am
I fiddled with the level creation stuff yesterday, and I didn’t have time to work through all the tutorials so I did find it a bit frustrating. I’m sure there’s a lot more to it, though.
And I’ve yet to play co-op. I’ll try to sort that out tonight.
Need to spend more time with it, really.
September 25th, 2008 at 9:22 am
“The question is this:
As a person who has no intention of EVER making a level, would the core game still be good enough to warrant a purchase, presuming that there will actually be a steady stream of GOOD downloadable levels in the near future?”
That is the big thing yeah. “Roll on the 24th.”
September 25th, 2008 at 9:51 am
A thing I thought was really helpful about those tutorials for Create mode, when I started tippy-toeing into that realm last night; was that they’re all accessible when you want them. I’m still digesting some of what I learned I could do, yesterday. Now, I’m not sure about the player only getting swathes of materials, and items once they’ve been through umpteen tutorials - simply because it’s never explained that there’s a requirement to earning these. It’s probable that the little green question marks that start attaching themselves to curious items would pique interest, but not a guarantee.
Curiosity, that’s a useful facet to bring with you, into this game.
Now that I’ve seen how the create mode works just a little, I feel at least moderately confident of being able to have something worthwhile uploaded, by the start of next week!
BUT, the question is: What WILL YOU have uploaded VG247, by then?
September 25th, 2008 at 9:53 am
The answer is “Yep” but with the caveat that you have to like platform games.
Put it this way - played Klonoa 2 on the PS2? Or Pandemonium? Enjoyed those? Then you’ll enjoy LBP’s actual core game.
Purely assessing the beta-included MM-created levels you’d have to be a moron to judge the entire 80+ levels included in the final version on those but looking at the toolsets alone, the way kinetics work, the way the melt function works, the sheer volume of possibilities for level length and complexity there should be more than enough actual “game” in there to suit people who like platform games. The main problem is that people keep comparing it to the wrong sort of platformer. It’s not Mario-esque because the levels actually require thought and a knowledge of the way stuff works in LBP to progress more often than not.
And it’s nothing like Sonic, because you can’t just blitz through levels relying on speed and swift scrolling to get you through.
So in essence, yeah there’s probably enough core platforming fun in there but you’ve got to really like PROPER platform games to get the most out of it.
September 25th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Actually I’m wrong about the speed thing - there are levels specifically designed to be a speedy gravity-drop from one side to the next. The skateboard level and horse race one are perfect examples of stuff where you could build sonic-like stuff if you wanted to.
September 25th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Good God, who let morriss do a write up?! Only kidding, mozlington.
I understand your negatives about the controls, but after playing it a lot more last night, I started to find I could much more easily control my little Sackboy, including moving in and out of the screen. As I said yesterday - and as peej has pointed out above - the controls are not Mario-like. They’re loose, but this suits the game. It’s not about pixel-perfect jumps or millisecond-accurate timing. You’re a thing made of sack and stuffing.
With regards to the user-created stuff, the rating system should go a good way to sort that out. There’s the possibility of sorting by tag, of searching for names and, if a awesome level is found, it’s easy enough to jump to the creator’s planet and see what else they’ve made. Finally, I can see that communities, like EG, would provide another filter mechanism for picking out the good levels.
There may be a million idiots making shit and a handful of genius designers, but the other side of that coin is that there’s a million eyeballs all making judgements on what’s good.
Anyway. I’ve not smiled and wooped and laughed and woah’d whilst playing a game as much as I did last night. I barely touched the creator, but I can’t wait to put into action some of the plans I’ve got swirling around my head. Wheeee!
September 25th, 2008 at 10:49 am
/hugs Truk
I think the controls are a lot more analogue than people give them credit for. As you said, if you’re used to Mario or Sonic - which used digital controllers to control the action back in the day, then you’re probably all at sea using something like a Sixaxis to get the hang of the nuances of how Sackboy is controlled. F’r instance, I didn’t realise that the reason I constantly look at my toes as I progress through a level is because of the angle I hold the Sixaxis at.
Jumping “into” and “out of” the screen does become intuitive after you’ve played some of the depth-based levels a little more, and the game actually over-compensates and tries to help you a little too much if anything.
As a footnote, this game’s made me happier than any other game this year bar GTA (which also similarly caused lots of grinning and smiling at first).
September 25th, 2008 at 11:02 am
“So in essence, yeah there’s probably enough core platforming fun in there but you’ve got to really like PROPER platform games to get the most out of it.”
No. I don’t think the game is elitist in the slightest and I’m sure it’s not what the game intends to be either.
“Purely assessing the beta-included MM-created levels you’d have to be a moron to judge the entire 80+ levels included in the final version on those but looking at the toolsets alone, the way kinetics work, the way the melt function works, the sheer volume of possibilities for level length and complexity there should be more than enough actual “game” in there to suit people who like platform games.”
Have you seen the other levels? Have you played them? Have you got the full game?
Your posts read like you’ve already made your mind up only after playing a fraction of the game because you’re “a designer” and you know “REAL platform games” when you see them, which says that this game is for about 10% of the population.
Not very good news for us mere mortals who don’t “get it” like you do, eh?
September 25th, 2008 at 11:09 am
I think you just need to enjoy smiling and being a bit silly.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:17 am
The issue with user-generated content is always about the filtering. 99.99% of the stuff on YouTube is utter tripe but I bet you all use it every day. I’ve played some pretty good user levels myself, give it a week or two and there will be some great stuff. The tools are both powerful and accessible, to more people than say, PC modding tools are. That’s not to say everyone can use them like a pro, the point is the barrier to entry for those who want to be creative as been lowered *enough*
I don’t particularly agree about the control issue either…I didn’t find it to be clunky at all though that of course doesn’t mean the issue isn’t there.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Morriss you are hell bent on picking on every positive thing I say about this aren’t you while upstaging yourself. I’ve played a lot of really crap user content, I’ve played a lot of really fantastic official levels but carry on your tirade, you’re actually doing exactly what I’m doing, only from a “my LittleBigPlanetGlass is half empty and not half full”
I’m done apologising and kowtowing to you. You’ve set your opinion single-mindedly and the last person who could change your mind is me, so I’m not even going to bother any more.
If you’d like me to stop coming here and being positive about LBP, just say so. I’ll more than happily stop shitting in your lovely pond full of adoring acolytes.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Star ratings alone are not enough, your level’s exposure to the masses is dependant upon how the first few people rate it. If these initial people just don’t ‘get’ your level then your effort is all for nothing.
Good community tools will allow you direct your designs towards the audience you want. Adding tags works for web-hosted content (when not abused or incorrectly used). LBP could use this and a few hidden ones dependant upon the content you added, like jet-packs.
This will allow clouds of like-minded individuals to share content organically and impersonally but wouldn’t it be great if there were the tools in place to set up formal groups or channels.
Content will get an initial peer-review from the people who are interested in it before being allowed to soar or sink among the masses.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Aye I think the key will be effective use of the search stuff. As with YouTube, you wouldn’t go there looking for comedy clips and rifling through page after page of political speeches. So hopefully if people start properly tagging their levels and the whole thing starts to get a little more bedded in, it’ll work out OK. It’s true that someone could just go and shitcan your levels for shits and giggles, and I’m not sure how MM / Sony are going to deal with that. We’ll see though. As I say, three days on from the beta I’ve not seen much WRT ill behaviour amongst the existing beta community but all bets are off once the thing goes properly live.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
As for abused tags, I’d like to see content ranking systems in general allow people to score the tags too and also flag up misleading or misspelt entries.
So if someone tags their creation with ‘puzzle’ and the level did indeed provide a bit of cognitive thought then I can rate the level on its own terms. This in turn weights searches for ‘puzzle’ towards levels that score well on that tag.
If however I felt it deserved a tag that the creator didn’t give it, I could add it, score it and that tag will then be rated by everyone else.
The system could also create channels based upon tags that people score on a lot, good or bad.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I think channel creation would help - and good use of the password / private stuff for people who don’t want the general populace buggering about with their levels and ratings but want their friends and family to see their meisterworks.
All in all, it sounds like MM and Sony have a hell of a lot of work on their hands once this does actually go public.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
LOL! And there goes EG again.
Link to key giveaway in the LBP thread NOT a good idea whoever did it.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
LOL
September 25th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Have they got more?
September 25th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Could be - or its that link as I said.
October 13th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
It wasn’t long ago that EG was accused of shit-stirring for clicks.
Yet here we are. The biggest shit-stirring 360 fanboy gets to write up his LBP beta hands-on.
Apples still not falling far from the trees that bare their fruit eh?
Too stupid to work out the depth control, or the SIMPLE rules that govern when sackboy automatically shifts in the z-axis. Somehow this is MM’s fault.
Too stupid to find one of the most straightforward level-creation toolsets ever written for end-users? Somehow this is MM’s fault too.
People didn’t invest a hell of a lot of time fine-tuning and polishing levels because it was a beta and it was assumed the levels and assets created wouldn’t go into the full game. You complain that the beta didn’t give you enough quality levels. And that’s MM’s fault?
I feel dirty that I’ve given you another click for this shit, and I’m amazed at you Pat, for allowing this on your site. You’ll never be able to claim the high-ground on anything now.
Sad day for this site.
October 13th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Wow.
October 13th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Jesus Carlo. What the hell?
October 13th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
I didn’t know he had it in him, tbh. I’m impressed.
October 13th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
3 words:
What.
The.
Fuck.
October 14th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Carlo makes a number of fair points, and in the end it comes down to “SIMPUH GAME MAKE SIMPLUH REVIEWAR ANGEE!”. I’ve become desensitised to this though, given the pedigree of the average games journalist. I just tend to look at the good of the review and brush away from my mind the parts that should’ve been left on the cutting room floor.
I don’t feel the comments about EuroGamer in general though were deserved, or perhaps I’m usually just too kind to them. I don’t know. I guess I’m forgiving because everyone makes mistakes, and unless they continue to compound those mistakes loudly and with arrogant vigour (as some do), I’m willing to gloss over certain things.
Speaking of mistakes, I do believe Carlos posted this in the wrong comments section, the mroe recent article citing the EuroGamer review would’ve been more apt, and would’ve given more strength to the post.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:16 am
Yeah.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:27 am
Did this article hurt your feelings Carlo you know its just a game just because someone didn’t like it doesn’t mean you have to go off on one. The article does point out a few things I can see without the need to play it at all.
I guess I’m in the minority for my opinion of this game same as I was with halo game’s. I don’t get the hype or the reason why people like it. I look at LBP and it just looks boring and not just boring mind numbingly boring. Sitting there for a few hours creating a level that lasts all of 5 minutes. Downloading other peoples levels that last all of 5 minutes or even less.
I don’t get it and I guess I never will. I’m getting sidetracked Carlo take a chill pill not everyone is going to like this game. Not every ones going to see it as the savour of the PS3. Its not because Joe Blogs isn’t going to buy a PS3 for it. The Average Joe doesn’t even know about it.
In short its just a game and to discredit a site like this is sad. Its one of the best news sites around.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:31 am
I’m sure the article actually reads as though the game is really good but there’s a few niggles and concerns that need to be ironed out for the full release in order to make it great.
I’m sure of it.
October 14th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
LOL
October 14th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
It could be worse.
Just imagine if it had scored 8.8 in its first reviews??