Little Big Planet preview

Here’s an interesting concept from Sony. Take a platform game, make the objective just to make your way to the end, make it really open ended and give you the chance to make your own levels and make your way through the game with your friends, giving a helping hand when you need.

That game will soon be a reality. It sounds simple, looks great and is called Little Big Planet.

Having seen the videos of this game, this really is a look toward what the PS3 is capable of after all the launch titles with good but not stunning graphics have been and gone. It has the look of a pre-rendered movie that Pixar would make but it’s all running in real time as you and up to three other friends move through the levels.

Controlling your character isn’t just a question of jumping with the X button and using the analogue. You even use the shoulder buttons to move your character’s arms indepently and the sixaxis function of the controller to move their head. Hold R1 and you’ll grab something and pressing directions on the d-pad effects the emotions the face is controlling.
The world is also a stickler to physics – Isaac Newton would have a field day. If a rubber ball hits a wall, it behaves how it would in real life. If you swing about on a rope, you’ll swing to and fro depending on how much momentum you apply from your character.

Central to creating a level is a control system called Pop It. Here you mix and match what you want and where to put it, and you can even put items together to create new things like vehicles, tanks and skateboards. You can then use these in multiplayer games to find new ways of getting round obstacles. The whole thing looks like an interactive Vauxhall advert which makes you want to shout ‘COME ON’ as you play though the levels. It’s sure to be a hit with gamers and non-gamers alike when it comes out September 2008.