Reviews// LittleBigPlanet 2

It's the addition of these tools that set this sequel apart from its predecessor, and this is most evident in with the levels featuring what one might call "vehicles". You’re first introduced to RoboBun, a kind of fluffy robotic rabbit mech. While riding it you can jump and perform a "slam" to destroy beasties and destructible level elements.

Next is the RoboPup, a doggie device whose super bark sends nasties on their way. Last of the robotic pet parade is RoboHamster, with which you can roll around and perform boosts that can either send you flying from ramps or smashing though walls or the baddie horde.

League of its Own
The game’s armoury of new additions doesn’t stop there. Following you cluelessly, Sackbots must be corralled through levels and led to safety. The head-mounted Splash Cannon douses burning platforms and halts the spreading firestorm, or provides nutritious water to growing vines. Anti-gravity pods let old Sacky get all Lionel Richey on your ass, and go dancing on the ceiling.

These gadgets and robo buddies bring a variety to LBP2 that sets it in a completely different league to the original game. That isn’t to say that the game relies on these novelty features to make up for mundane levels and settings. LBP2 offers even more in the department of ingenious level design and visual stunnery.

These gadgetry additions simply provide more latitude, and it’s with the introduction of the Bee2.0 that the game shifts from platforming roots into the realm of the scrolling shoot ‘em up.

A Shooter?
Just like the platform element, as a shooter this mode is as polished and accomplished as any old school 2D shooter. The view smoothly switches from horizontal to vertical scrolling and from all-out combat to dodging and weaving through channels. No shooter would be complete, of course, without the final boss battle, and here again the game delivers - I’m taken straight back to the rose hued days of R-Type or Armalyte.

Not happy with having ticked the boxes against the "platformer" and "shooter" genres, a top-down mode comes in the form crazy caterpillar race up a tree and a Fantasic Voyage/Inner Space battle within one of our creator curator’s guts, firing grabbable white blood cells at the infecting critters.

This mode is probably the least exploited, featuring in only two story mode levels and a handful of challenge mini-games. Yet for me if feels that this is the mode that can offer the most interesting level opportunities next to the platform mode.

Construction News
The possibilities of what the community creators will do with these new modes are pretty exciting. Just as LBP was awash with homegrown homages, recreations and renditions of classic 2D platformers, I’ve no doubt there’ll be a share-a-thon of R-Type, Defender, Gauntlet and Super Sprint clones in the days after LBP2’s release. A bit predictable, yes, but it’s far from a Bad Thing(tm). While a bit rough around the edges and lacking in originality, you know their creators will go on to produce levels of far greater quality.

Make no mistake, LBP2 isn’t so much a game with editing tools thrown in for free. It’s a full-on game construction kit with a bunch of really great levels thrown in good measure, and more to come for free. I can hardly wait to see what’s going to come out of LBP2 community.