Reviews// LittleBigPlanet (PSP)

So all in all a good translation (or re-imagining in Hollywood terms) of the original game then? Well, not quite. Like I said above, some things have been lost in the move to the PSP. The changes to the controls are not too intrusive and the screen resolution issues can be lived with, but the big changes are to the networked side of the game.

OK, lets cut to the chase; the big loss on the networking side is multiplayer. In fact there is no multiplayer, on-line or otherwise. There! I said it. Lets take that as read and move on shall we?

Well, no, let's not. The greatest thing about LittleBigPlanet on the PS3 is the multiplayer. Four friends gadding about LBP, jumping, pulling, pushing and having fun is one of the best experiences I've had in gaming since I first flicked the on switch of my C64.

No multiplayer? Not even "needs to be organised, sitting next to each other, ad-hoc, local wireless" multiplayer? That's very disappointing.

And while I'm in gripe mode, lets get back to the other side of LBP's longevity - the level creation tools. Changes to the controls aside, there are a few alterations to the way the tools behave that are a bit annoying.

For example, you have to choose if you're creating a static or dynamic object each time you go into your goodie bag. Rather than relying on sticking things with glue or hanging them by string, you can have objects that you place that then can't move. Useful, yeah, but do we have to choose that feature each and every time? You can change the setting from the tweak menu, so why not default to the normal dynamic objects when creating them? One fewer click for what has to be about 90% of all objects created seems like a good idea to me.

Another gripe with the creation tools is that you can't rotate or scale your "brush" when drawing objects. You can only rotate and scale the final object. This means you have to leave paint mode and take your cursor, select the object, rotate and scale, then go back into paint mode to continue drawing your object.

It's all a bit fiddly and I think it'll put a lot of people off the level creation side of the game. This, along with the lack of multiplayer, will affect the longevity of the game, which is a great pity because the main game mechanics are superb and demand more content.

Conclusion
Make no mistake, LittleBigPlanet on PSP is an amazing game. It's a pitch-perfect platformer of the sort to make old-schoolers grin wildly. However, it's let down by some clunky controls in the create section and an unforgivable lack of multiplayer in the main game. This means that once you complete the main story and get all the collectibles, there will be little incentive to go back to it.

SPOnG Score: 84%