Little Big Planet 3 Review
Developer Sumo Digital
Publisher Sony
Platform PS4
Release Date Out Now
Sackboy is back for his third adventure as once more the very existence of Craftworld is threatened. This is all very familiar territory but so what? I never wanted it to change. The lovely Stephen Fry returns to narrate, the three panel platforming is back (and just as unnatural as always) and the world is full of all the love and charm you would expect.
Among the new additions is the introduction of three new playable characters Oddsock, Toggle, and Swoop. Unfortunately all dreams of a big four player Co-Op adventure were dashed early on. The new characters are not selectable from the start, but are built into the narrative of the campaign. Unlocking them, unlocks their special abilities. Swoop a bird has the ability to fly and reach high ledges, Toggle can toggle between very large and very small to crawl into tight spots or to swell to use his extra mass to sink platforms, finally we have Oddsock a kind of sock dog, he has incredible speed and is able to climb walls.
The characters themselves offer different ways to tackle tasks, which would have been a brilliant mechanic throughout the campaign. Again another huge opportunity was missed here, not giving the player that choice but rather limiting it to set locations takes all the fun out of discovery.
Perhaps unfairly players had been led to believe this was the direction the game was going but despite this omission there are some great new additions to Sackboys collection my favorite being the boost boots. A helmet that can travel along rails and the pumpinator which is great just for the name alone.
Of course the game does include the option of playing the community made maps, some 9 million levels await you. Way too much to ever play all of them but plenty that will blow you away with the skill the community has.
It is hard to knock the game outside of missed opportunities around Co-op. This is the first time Media Molecule were not in charge, as long running franchise port specialists, Sumo Digital, took over the design and development. They have a tough task to follow LBP 1&2 and fall a little short, it is still a brilliant game when you look at it on its own merits.
Overall: What’s to say? It is Little Big Planet and it is really good. The design is excellent, the story is solid and while some early levels will fail to task you too much, Sumo more than make up for it by including some of the best LBP levels you will play near the end of the campaign.
Score: 4/5
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