Here’s a first look at Sony’s ambitious new project, “Little Big Planet” by our intern Hudson Lockett. “LBP” is due out Oct. 21. — Omar More social than “Spore” and more sandbox than “Crackdown,” “LittleBigPlanet” is a gamer’s playground. I had a chance to play with the beta for a few hours, and while I could easily just write “SO AWESOME” and walk away with a clear conscience, it’s more fun to share — a theme “LittleBigPlanet” takes to new heights. The centerpiece of “LBP” is the Sackboy. Specifically, your Sackboy. More adorable than a Mii and less generic than Sony’s upcoming Home avatars, Sackboy (or Sackgirl) shows a lot of his personality through the controls the game has devoted to personal expression. Holding down the left or right triggers on the PS3 controller gives you control over your Sackboy’s respective arms. You can wave, point, and with enough force even deliver a good smack to one of your friends. The motion controls of the Sixaxis are put to unobtrusive use here, directing the head of your idling Sackboy via tilt. You can click in the left stick to make the tilt correspond to his body instead, making for hilariously suggestive dance moves. Mapped to the D-pad are four expressions: up for happy, down for sad, left for nervous and right for angry. Part of the fun is playing with other people, and I played with two other people in the room. The balance between cooperative play and competition is expertly handled — ...
Anytime
Here’s a first look at Sony’s ambitious new project, “Little Big Planet” by our intern Hudson Lockett. “LBP” is due out Oct. 21. — Omar More social than “Spore” and more sandbox than “Crackdown,” “LittleBigPlanet” is a gamer’s playground. I had a chance to play with the beta for a few hours, and while I could easily just write “SO AWESOME” and walk away with a clear conscience, it’s more fun to share — a theme “LittleBigPlanet” takes to new heights. The centerpiece of “LBP” is the Sackboy. Specifically, your Sackboy. More adorable than a Mii and less generic than Sony’s upcoming Home avatars, Sackboy (or Sackgirl) shows a lot of his personality through the controls the game has devoted to personal expression. Holding down the left or right triggers on the PS3 controller gives you control over your Sackboy’s respective arms. You can wave, point, and with enough force even deliver a good smack to one of your friends. The motion controls of the Sixaxis are put to unobtrusive use here, directing the head of your idling Sackboy via tilt. You can click in the left stick to make the tilt correspond to his body instead, making for hilariously suggestive dance moves. Mapped to the D-pad are four expressions: up for happy, down for sad, left for nervous and right for angry. Part of the fun is playing with other people, and I played with two other people in the room. The balance between cooperative play and competition is expertly handled — ...