Little beauty

It's obvious from the second it boots up, that LittleBigPlanet is an extraordinary game. There are no dull menu screens or flashy movie sequences. Instead, you're whisked straight into the richly idiosyncratic patchwork environment where you are introduced to the game's many quirks and controls by the gentle, soothingly familiar voice of Stephen Fry. Before you know it, you've customised Sackboy, the achingly cute lead character, and got to grips with the game's 'Popit' system, a beautifully simple pop-up menu that provides access to all the bizarre and wonderful features. Now, what you do is really, completely up to you.

Let's get physical

At its heart, there's no getting away from the fact that LittleBigPlanet is a scrolling 2D platformer. From the game's main navigation area - known as the pod - you can select one of the 50 or so ready-made 'Story' levels (although you'll need to unlock these as you go along). Each is an intricately designed system of teasing physics puzzles involving see-saws, rolling balls, swinging ropes, bridges, waterwheels and vehicles. There are plenty of hidden objects too, with giant keys providing access to extra bonus levels where you can rack up your score in crazy mini-games.

If you're having trouble attempting LittleBigPlanet alone, up to three friends can join you in a level - either online or on the same machine - all of you working together to solve the ingenious tricks and traps. There are key areas spread around many levels, which can only be unlocked when two or more players co-operate - these are never central to progression, so you can finish the Story mode alone, but they provide bonuses and are fun to figure out.

Sackboy is a wonderfully versatile presence. He can push and pull objects, he can leap - heck, using the D-Pad, motion controls and shoulder buttons, he can even pull facial expressions, look around the environment and do a funny little dance. In fact, he could be the most expressive and intricately controllable character ever to grace a videogame. If your heart doesn't melt at least once every ten minutes in LittleBigPlanet, it is colder than the surface of Pluto.

Handicraft heaven

The game's creators, Media Molecule, have said they wanted their game world to look homemade, and it does, in the best possible way. Cardboard stars with string attached hang over worlds built out of cushions, sponges and house bricks, all cobbled and piled together in a universe that's part Blue Peter part Monty Python. There has never been anything that looks quite like LittleBigPlanet, and time and time again you'll stare open mouthed at the screen as giant robotic animals dance by or some amazingly elaborate mechanism is tricked into lurching life by your touch.

And then there's LittleBigPlanet's Create mode, an incredibly powerful map editor that lets you re-design readymade levels or start from scratch on your own, using materials, blocks and shapes collected and stored in your Popit menu. You'll probably start by randomly lobbing stuff on the screen, but slowly you'll learn to build your own puzzles and vehicles, and to develop a unique visual style using the many colours and textiles on offer.

Really, 'map editor' is the wrong term, because this isn't a nerdy construction kit - it's a joyous creative toy, that gradually offers more and more opportunities as you become more experienced. And when you've finished, your masterpiece can be uploaded to the web to share with friends. There are already hundreds of user-generated LittleBigPlanet levels online, many of which provide totally new experiences, far beyond the 2D scrolling platformer at the centre of the original game.

If you were to be really picky, there are some slight issues with the controls. In LittleBigPlanet, environments can have up to three levels of depth, and navigating from one to the next is tricky at times - the developers themselves have admitted this. Also, while the game is being marketed as something for the whole family, there will be plenty of less experienced players put off by the at-times challenging nature of the platforming set-pieces.

A planet for everyone

But they'll learn - and they'll have some wonderful times in the process. Because LittleBigPlanet is a triumph - a game that truly deserves the term 'essential purchase'. It is so visually creative and so riddled with great little ideas and touches, that what you're paying for is a masterclass in next-generation game design. If you have a PS3, you must have LittleBigPlanet to go with it - there's really nothing else to say on the matter.

GAME's Verdict

• Incredible visual style.
• Endless creative possibilities.
• Amazing physics engine.

• Can be difficult to move between planes.
• Tough puzzles for platform newcomers.
• Oh I give up, just get a copy!

Review by: Keith 'Rabbit Ears And A Moustache' Stuart
Version Tested: PS3
Review Published: 07.11.08

Little planet, big game!

Last March, Sony went to the famous Game Developers Conference in San Francisco determined to make an enormous splash with a brand new game concept. But they didn't reveal a big, noisy first-person shooter or a trendy gangster adventure: they showed this. And it stole the show.

In some ways, LittleBigPlanet looks like an extremely cute, but rather old-fashioned platform game. You control a character called Sackboy within a series of two dimensional worlds, solving puzzles and avoiding dangers. The visual style is what first grabs you - every object in the game is created from a recognisable texture, such as wool, brick, metal or sponge.

One we made earlier

The designers say they want LittleBigPlanet to look like a Blue Peter creation, something that we could all make at home with some toilet rolls and sticky-back plastic. But it's so detailed and so charming it looks just as astonishing as the latest 3D shooters.

It's also just as clever. LittleBigPlanet is based around an incredibly authentic physics engine, which invests every object in the game with real physical properties. What the heck does that mean in practice? Well, if you drop a metal object onto a see-saw in the game, the other side will shoot up; do the same with a sponge and nothing happens. If Sackboy steps onto a glass slope he'll slide down, but he won't on a brick slope because it's not smooth enough. The game constantly forces you to think about materials and properties in order to solve puzzles - which is many times more fun than it sounds.

Yet the truly amazing things about LittleBigPlanet are its customisation and game creation features. Although there are over 50 ready-made levels available, you're also able to modify any of the environments. You could start by creating stickers to slap up all over the world - there are loads of designs included with the game, but it's also possible to use the PlayStation Eye camera to take photos and turn them into in-game posters.

Science and sound

With more experience, gamers can begin to add objects or puzzles to the ready-made stages or even create whole new levels, placing everything exactly where they like. It's all controlled through a simple interface that brings up menus of objects and items to browse through and select.

Early game testers have already started building quite complex machines - including simple calculators - out of the variety of cogs, switches and wires available. There's even a sound and music editor, enabling the creation of special effects and in-game tunes.

New levels - or 'patches' as they're known in the game - can then be shared with the rest of the LittleBigPlanet community via the PlayStation Network. Players all over the world will be able to review, discuss and edit each other's patches. The game is also fully multiplayer, so you and up to three friends can play through stages, perhaps working together to make changes and additions as you go.

Super My-rio

LittleBigPlanet is Super Mario Brothers re-imagined for the MySpace generation. It's something really quite revolutionary, a communal creative experience that could change the way we all think about playing games. To say it's the most important PS3 game of the year is the biggest understatement since "Hey, that Call of Duty IV multiplayer is quite addictive..." This is where gaming is going - and you really need to play it to keep up.

Preview by: Keith 'Sackman' Stuart
Preview Published: 10.10.08