The definition of "okay". So much nothing that I really can't even tell if there was a something to begin with. Typically I'd just have a one-sentence review that ends in something like "so it's just a modern sony game" but like let me elaborate, just this once.
I'm a pretty darn big fan of the LittleBigPlanet series of games, as I pretty much gave my entire 11th and 12th year of life playing exclusively LBP2. Doing a spin-off side game where it's just a standard 3D platformer honestly isn't that bad of an idea but the end result is so bland that I hardly can really have anything to say about it. It felt like a lot of the levels were somewhat nerfed in challenge not only to ensure that the little ones can see it through to the end but also to make sure things can still be somewhat parsable with the more hectic multiplayer camera, so I definitely see the thought put behind the design, but it's just so SAUCELESS my dudes! I tried playing both on my own and with randos online and with both I just felt like I was completely on auto pilot the entire time. It's still something that like if you are a kid that only has a playstation and NEEDS to play a mario-like it will get the job done, but that's pretty much the extent of it.
The plot is your typical generic safely-played kids game shit you've likely seen a hundred times by now.
I will say that the visuals are really nice looking, with really good usage of high resolution textures, and lots of well-used lighting and shading to really make the materials of everything look insanely realistic. Obviously different material shading has been done before in other games but the high level of fidelity everything is rendered at here is honestly really impressive and makes things stand out even more, especially if you have a higher-end TV. If there's one thing that I can give this game praise for, it's the visuals.if only the game itself had as much thought put into it amirite
As for minor nitpicks that could only come from a littlebigplanet nerd like myself, I do think it's weird that they gave sackboy a voice for grunts and screams and whatnot when he's been characteristically a mute blank slate the entire time before this game. The way that you could use the triggers to control your characters arms individually is also different and gives less overall expression, though honestly the D-pad being tied to customizable emotes instead of just 4 standard emotions is honestly not a bad idea tbh. Though I will also say that for a game in a series as creativity-focused as LBP, the player expression is very limited. No placeable stickers to color the world or your character plus the lack of connection with any other LBP game in terms of costume parts and DLC just means there's really not a lot to be creative for.
It's just really weird that this game is the way it is. Instead of being any sort of evolution on the LBP series they just made the safest, most shapeless and flavorless blob of goop and put it out as a pretty launch title. It doesn't even have the LBP namesake in its title, too! Are we really just calling this series "sackboy" now??? I mean at the very least getting something wholeheartedly inoffensive in every approachable angle is better than just having yet another sony IP thrown down the drain, so I guess I'll just take what I can get at this point. Near the end of the game, the main villain tries to take over the world by voiding craftworld of all its creative energy by enslaving hundreds of sackpeople to build a machine that uproots the tree that not only serves as a source of creativity but also is the iconic tree in the littlebigplanet logo. For a moment like that to exist in a game like this where the credits scroll through hundreds of names yet the end result deemphasizes creativity in exchange for the most generic 3D platforming with no deeper regards to its namesake though? At least the lack of user-generated content means they can't shadow-kill the servers with no warning, throwing away over a decade of peoples hard work!
PPPLLLAAAAYYYSSTTAAATTIIOOONNNNNNNNNN
I'm a pretty darn big fan of the LittleBigPlanet series of games, as I pretty much gave my entire 11th and 12th year of life playing exclusively LBP2. Doing a spin-off side game where it's just a standard 3D platformer honestly isn't that bad of an idea but the end result is so bland that I hardly can really have anything to say about it. It felt like a lot of the levels were somewhat nerfed in challenge not only to ensure that the little ones can see it through to the end but also to make sure things can still be somewhat parsable with the more hectic multiplayer camera, so I definitely see the thought put behind the design, but it's just so SAUCELESS my dudes! I tried playing both on my own and with randos online and with both I just felt like I was completely on auto pilot the entire time. It's still something that like if you are a kid that only has a playstation and NEEDS to play a mario-like it will get the job done, but that's pretty much the extent of it.
The plot is your typical generic safely-played kids game shit you've likely seen a hundred times by now.
I will say that the visuals are really nice looking, with really good usage of high resolution textures, and lots of well-used lighting and shading to really make the materials of everything look insanely realistic. Obviously different material shading has been done before in other games but the high level of fidelity everything is rendered at here is honestly really impressive and makes things stand out even more, especially if you have a higher-end TV. If there's one thing that I can give this game praise for, it's the visuals.
As for minor nitpicks that could only come from a littlebigplanet nerd like myself, I do think it's weird that they gave sackboy a voice for grunts and screams and whatnot when he's been characteristically a mute blank slate the entire time before this game. The way that you could use the triggers to control your characters arms individually is also different and gives less overall expression, though honestly the D-pad being tied to customizable emotes instead of just 4 standard emotions is honestly not a bad idea tbh. Though I will also say that for a game in a series as creativity-focused as LBP, the player expression is very limited. No placeable stickers to color the world or your character plus the lack of connection with any other LBP game in terms of costume parts and DLC just means there's really not a lot to be creative for.
It's just really weird that this game is the way it is. Instead of being any sort of evolution on the LBP series they just made the safest, most shapeless and flavorless blob of goop and put it out as a pretty launch title. It doesn't even have the LBP namesake in its title, too! Are we really just calling this series "sackboy" now??? I mean at the very least getting something wholeheartedly inoffensive in every approachable angle is better than just having yet another sony IP thrown down the drain, so I guess I'll just take what I can get at this point. Near the end of the game, the main villain tries to take over the world by voiding craftworld of all its creative energy by enslaving hundreds of sackpeople to build a machine that uproots the tree that not only serves as a source of creativity but also is the iconic tree in the littlebigplanet logo. For a moment like that to exist in a game like this where the credits scroll through hundreds of names yet the end result deemphasizes creativity in exchange for the most generic 3D platforming with no deeper regards to its namesake though? At least the lack of user-generated content means they can't shadow-kill the servers with no warning, throwing away over a decade of peoples hard work!
PPPLLLAAAAYYYSSTTAAATTIIOOONNNNNNNNNN
78/100
Got through the first world and realized this is absolutely not a "play this alone" kind of game, so just didn't wanna see it through