Second Game Beated of the Year
LBP 2 jumped the queue. It came out on Tuesday, I bought it on a Wednesday and was watching the credits by Friday.
So yes, the "main" game is a bit short.
But, this is a game that never ends. It just goes on and on. With friends.
But the Create Share portion of Little Big Planet 2 is stuff for future scribbling. I'm here to talk solely about the single player experience.
It is good. It is quite good. It is very quite good.
Almost everything is improved. Right from the start of the first level, you can see the improved graphics, lighting, camera angles and creative tools that underpin the whole endeavour. Soon after that, you get introduced to the grapple gun which opens up all kinds of new possibilities. Later on "vehicles" are introduced.
This is a game that keeps on giving. It may be short, but that may well be a blessing and not a curse. Because it is joy distilled. It is creativity simmered and reduced to its most potent form. Tired of platforming? Play a button mashing minigame. Tired of that? Jump on a rocket hamster. Tired of that? Put out fires with your water helmet. Tired of that? Here's some platforming. In zero Gs! Tired of that? Speed run through this grapple course. Or play this side scrolling shooter (that turns into a vertical shooter halfway through).
All these new play styles are great. Great additions. All these great additions are great. Another great addition? The jump pads. Touch them and they send you flying. These, along with the grapple gun may be the best additions to the game. Because the jumping still ain't right. I don't care about the 'float-i-ness'. Any good gamer parses a game's grammar in no time at all. It's the physics, man. It's the fact that my character sometimes doesn't jump on a decline. Or an incline. Or any time his feet aren't fully on a flat surface.
The levels are much better designed, the flaws of the platforming are covered up with grappling guns and jump pads, and the fact that most important jumps happen from fully flat surfaces. But the creaky bones poke out every once in a while. Especially in fan made levels (which I am not going to talk about right here and now).
It is telling that this game is flawed in the most fundamental way; it is a platformer with wonky platforming, but it is still great. There is so much other stuff stuffed in here that the platforming can almost be overlooked.
Almost.
And the music isn't quite as awesome.
So yes, the "main" game is a bit short.
But, this is a game that never ends. It just goes on and on. With friends.
But the Create Share portion of Little Big Planet 2 is stuff for future scribbling. I'm here to talk solely about the single player experience.
It is good. It is quite good. It is very quite good.
Almost everything is improved. Right from the start of the first level, you can see the improved graphics, lighting, camera angles and creative tools that underpin the whole endeavour. Soon after that, you get introduced to the grapple gun which opens up all kinds of new possibilities. Later on "vehicles" are introduced.
This is a game that keeps on giving. It may be short, but that may well be a blessing and not a curse. Because it is joy distilled. It is creativity simmered and reduced to its most potent form. Tired of platforming? Play a button mashing minigame. Tired of that? Jump on a rocket hamster. Tired of that? Put out fires with your water helmet. Tired of that? Here's some platforming. In zero Gs! Tired of that? Speed run through this grapple course. Or play this side scrolling shooter (that turns into a vertical shooter halfway through).
All these new play styles are great. Great additions. All these great additions are great. Another great addition? The jump pads. Touch them and they send you flying. These, along with the grapple gun may be the best additions to the game. Because the jumping still ain't right. I don't care about the 'float-i-ness'. Any good gamer parses a game's grammar in no time at all. It's the physics, man. It's the fact that my character sometimes doesn't jump on a decline. Or an incline. Or any time his feet aren't fully on a flat surface.
The levels are much better designed, the flaws of the platforming are covered up with grappling guns and jump pads, and the fact that most important jumps happen from fully flat surfaces. But the creaky bones poke out every once in a while. Especially in fan made levels (which I am not going to talk about right here and now).
It is telling that this game is flawed in the most fundamental way; it is a platformer with wonky platforming, but it is still great. There is so much other stuff stuffed in here that the platforming can almost be overlooked.
Almost.
And the music isn't quite as awesome.
posted by Tyler at 8:06 AM
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