Written By: Alex Shaw

Last November I, like many PS3 owners, finally got my hands on LittleBigPlanet. It surfed in on
a wave of hype and outstanding critical acclaim. Create and publish your own
levels, experience content produced by gamers the world over. To begin with it
was just as shiny, inventive and accessible as I’d been led to believe. Then as
the days went on and the mechanics began to grate a little, I joined the
throngs of complainers lamenting the floaty platforming, unexpectedly steep
difficulty curve and twitchy online interface. Half the user-created levels
were just trophy runs and prize giveaways, the other half were taken off the
servers for copyright infringement. Due to an insanely busy Christmas gaming
schedule I put it down for a few months.

I went back last weekend to re-assess. While many of the above problems are still present I
finally realised what was wrong with my perception. I was judging this as a
platformer. A total redux of what we thought that genre was, true, but a platformer
like Mario and Sonic nonetheless.

It”s not.

LittleBigPlanet is a grand art project begun by Media Molecule in November 2008 and added to by
thousands of artists both talented and talentless. Itâs an exploration of what
gamers can do creatively with a console; a machine usually unsuited to this
task. And it simply takes the form of a platform game.

Itâs still annoying, floaty and full of shabby, prize-littered levels whose inept
designers are begging for approval, but crucially the reviewers who gave it
tens on pure speculation that there would be excellent content were absolutely
right. A little digging and patience turns up levels of extraordinary
complexity, beauty and fun. Everyone can find something to love about this
game. You may be muttering “Welcome to last yearâs opinions,â but, you see, I
had to let the hype die down, the deeper content be published and the new purchase
price drop to such a tragic low that this became the brilliant underdog it was
always meant to be. LBP, I misjudged you and I apologise.