I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with LittleBigPlanet 2.
Moreso than the first game, the campaign this time around is much more fantastical and imaginative, which, while fun, kind of robs the game of some of the quaint feeling its predecessor had - the original LittleBigPlanet is a globe-throtting adventure told through an arts and crafts project, this is just a full on sci-fi fantasy video game.
And that's like, fine.
All the characters are still demonstrably either dolls or made out of papercraft materials, we've just moved into a much more anthropomorphisized world.
It has its advantages and disadvantages, the game has a far greater focus on character writing with companions that follow you around the world and dedicated cutscenes between levels, your character is a part of a big ensemble cast which, while one-dimensional, is still suitably entertaining.
Do I kind of miss the tourist-y feel of the original game's campaign? Yeah, it lended itself better to the customization aspect of it all with your character being able to use the different outfits of the places they were visiting (a whole decade before Mario Odyssey did it too!), but this kind of goofy parody mixture between Star Wars and Ocean's 11 works well enough here and makes the game feel distinct from its predecessor.
As far as the actual levels are concerned they're often both very long and also have a tendency of feeling like tech demos more than anything, the game's more preoccupied with showing you all the cool ways in which you can use the new creator tools than it is in having a good coherent campaign, which results in more than a few dud levels across the campaign with gimmicks that maybe could have been left on the cutting room floor.
That said, it's hard to deny how much more fleshed out the customization and level creation in this game is, there's stuff here that's just outright coding language presented in a way to be easily understood and utilized by a kid and that's something to be commended - there were user-created levels in this game that would put some actual professional projects out there to shame.
Now did -I- use any of these amazing new tools that would let you take your creations to the next level? Well... no, I was a bit too dumb to wrap my head around it all and ultimately I just kinda wanted to make levels where you jump on stuff, which is where my bigger problem with the game arises: it's a bit TOO complex.
I realize that's kind of a nothing complaint, but I think there's some merit to it - LittleBigPlanet 2 increased the complexity of level creation to such a degree from the first game to the point where it stopped feeling like you could just pick the game up and make a fun level, anything you could make in a few hours with friends would just feel inadequate next to the gargantuant projects that smarter and more dedicated players could put together - is that a big of a skill issue on my part? Sure, but I think a game that's all about promoting creativity making it feel like your ideas aren't as good as other people's isn't exactly ideal.
Still, all of that said I had a grand time with this game as a kid and that's something I just can't brush aside, I can't think of a game since this one that allowed me to make so many friends and have fun all within the game itself with no outside input - it's likely that there'll never be anything quite like this again, and I'm glad that, despite the faults, I was there to experience it.
Moreso than the first game, the campaign this time around is much more fantastical and imaginative, which, while fun, kind of robs the game of some of the quaint feeling its predecessor had - the original LittleBigPlanet is a globe-throtting adventure told through an arts and crafts project, this is just a full on sci-fi fantasy video game.
And that's like, fine.
All the characters are still demonstrably either dolls or made out of papercraft materials, we've just moved into a much more anthropomorphisized world.
It has its advantages and disadvantages, the game has a far greater focus on character writing with companions that follow you around the world and dedicated cutscenes between levels, your character is a part of a big ensemble cast which, while one-dimensional, is still suitably entertaining.
Do I kind of miss the tourist-y feel of the original game's campaign? Yeah, it lended itself better to the customization aspect of it all with your character being able to use the different outfits of the places they were visiting (a whole decade before Mario Odyssey did it too!), but this kind of goofy parody mixture between Star Wars and Ocean's 11 works well enough here and makes the game feel distinct from its predecessor.
As far as the actual levels are concerned they're often both very long and also have a tendency of feeling like tech demos more than anything, the game's more preoccupied with showing you all the cool ways in which you can use the new creator tools than it is in having a good coherent campaign, which results in more than a few dud levels across the campaign with gimmicks that maybe could have been left on the cutting room floor.
That said, it's hard to deny how much more fleshed out the customization and level creation in this game is, there's stuff here that's just outright coding language presented in a way to be easily understood and utilized by a kid and that's something to be commended - there were user-created levels in this game that would put some actual professional projects out there to shame.
Now did -I- use any of these amazing new tools that would let you take your creations to the next level? Well... no, I was a bit too dumb to wrap my head around it all and ultimately I just kinda wanted to make levels where you jump on stuff, which is where my bigger problem with the game arises: it's a bit TOO complex.
I realize that's kind of a nothing complaint, but I think there's some merit to it - LittleBigPlanet 2 increased the complexity of level creation to such a degree from the first game to the point where it stopped feeling like you could just pick the game up and make a fun level, anything you could make in a few hours with friends would just feel inadequate next to the gargantuant projects that smarter and more dedicated players could put together - is that a big of a skill issue on my part? Sure, but I think a game that's all about promoting creativity making it feel like your ideas aren't as good as other people's isn't exactly ideal.
Still, all of that said I had a grand time with this game as a kid and that's something I just can't brush aside, I can't think of a game since this one that allowed me to make so many friends and have fun all within the game itself with no outside input - it's likely that there'll never be anything quite like this again, and I'm glad that, despite the faults, I was there to experience it.