OK, let me get this out there right off the bat: no, I'm not going to say that the controls are the serious flaw. In terms of precision, the controls can take some getting used to. Sackboy jumps high or low depending on the pressure with which you push down on the button. He feels "loose" while in mid-air, but this is a result of the ability to change the direction of his jump while he's up there. The jumping in this game is dependent, very heavily, on momentum. A little momentum means a little hop, more difficult to change direction in mid-air. A lot of momentum means a giant leap, which is actually much easier to manipulating the direction of the leap in mid-air. Eventually, you'll get used to the mechanics of momentum and be able to jump with the most precision you could expect from a platform, but it isn't without a little need for practice, that's for sure.
No, the biggest flaw with this game is that it is very short, with absolutely no replay value once you've collected all of the prize-filled bubbles (of which there are many). Most bubbles are easy to get, and I suspect that in the course of the game's 25 levels (or around that), you'll acquire 75% of the prizes without going much out of your way. There are a couple of challenging ones, a couple of brain-twisters, and some that require multiple players to work in tandem. As you acquire the prize bubbles, you get more items with which to decorate your character and your user-created levels.
The level designs are nothing short of brilliant. What they've done with the tools (apparantly, all levels within the game are created with the same tools they've provided for the players to create their own levels) is nothing short of astonishing, and at times simply mind-blowing as you try to figure out how you could recreate some of it into your own creations. You'll travel the world and see some beautiful sites (the entire game is rendered with gorgeous 2.5d graphics, mixing realism and cartoon qualities) and you'll hear some great tunes along the way. I found myself humming or whistling many of the game's songs long after I'd stopped playing.
The entire experience is charming, light-hearted fun, but it's all over much too quickly, and unless you're going for the gold trophy that requires you to beat each level without dying, the game is largely devoid of challenge. It's one of the easiest games I've played in years, except for one single level in the last world which took a few attempts.
The biggest problem is, again, the game's length. And once it's all over, the only incentive to go back is to get the rest of the prize bubbles. Some of them are near impossible to get in the game's current state. Even over a month after the game's release and several patches later, at the time of this writing the game still has trouble connecting me to a multiplayer match without being insanely lagged to the point of it being nearly unplayable most of the time. And some of the game's prize bubbles require you to play this multiplayer mode in order to acquire them. But even when they get it all fixed, once you've played through and taken care of all the prizes to collect, you'll have little to no reason to go back for more.
In terms of the game's online, user-created content, I'm quite frankly very disappointed. There's yet to be a single user-created level that matches the charm and quality of the material the game ships with, as created by Media Molecule themselves. Some of the levels are a bit fun and can be challenging, some have sparks of creativity, but there's really nothing there that makes me go: "Yes! This is brilliant fun!" All of those moments are relegated to the levels the game shipped with, and we may never see a truly great level from the community.
For the first few times you try user-generated levels, you'll notice the effort that went into it, you'll appreciate the creativity and the fact that you're getting to play a level you've never played before, but for the most part, it gets rather boring because there's just nothing special there. The game can only support the textures and backgrounds that Media Molecule provides, and after a while you start to get pretty sick of the same music, the same sound effects, the same backgrounds, etc. being utilized over and over again. And for every decent and semi-enjoyable level you play, you'll find incomplete levels that you can't finish or that are seemingly designed for the sole purpose of messing with would-be players.
Now, on to the actual creation tools. First, you must endure the tutorials. The voice of Stephen Fry makes the tutorial segments of the level creator seem like a breeze. He's charming and fun to listen to as he teaches you the tricks of the trade. After a couple hours of tutorials you'll be thinking in terms of the game's specific mechanics and how you'll accomplish the things you dream up, but don't expect it to be easy or quick. If you see yourself as a would-be game designer, then by all means buy this game and go to town. You can do a lot with the tools, but for the most part you'll just be tickling your own fancy. For most other gamers, you'll love it at first, then it'll all start to wear thin.
Verdict: Play It.
* My final verdict is based on a three-tiered scale:
1/3 Forget It
2/3 Play It
3/3 Own It
It turns out that many moons ago, Microsoft once had its eye on the Sony published LittleBigPlanet series.
Project Spark idea was decent but they quickly gave up ..
LBP was wonderful
Microsoft in a nutshell. Always tried to poach Sony employees, games, 3rd party games and devices like the depth camera that was turned into Kinect but was running on PS2 before Xbox 360. Wouldn't be surprised they wanted LBP. Just like they worked behind the scenes pushing the MLB to bring Sony's baseball game to Xbox instead of making their own.
https://www.playstationlife...
They didn't spend years trying to develop their own baseball game. They wanted Sony's game.
They're scum.
Microsoft didn't force MLB on Xbox. MLB gave Sony 2 options either go multiplat or risk losing the license.
Totally ridiculous comment.
The only exclusivity Sony had was to their own creation of The Show. Microsoft could have paid the MLB for the license just like Sony did and made their own baseball game.
Microsoft instead, groomed MLB for years in trying to poach Sony's game and bring it to Xbox. They're worth 3 TRILLION dollars. You think that's not enough money to make their own baseball game? Don't be delusional.
Microsoft spun it like they always do and told the media that they had to trust Sony with their hardware. After they put Sony in that position of not having a choice. Either go multiplatform or stop making one of their successful games. That's a no win scenario.
And what did Microsoft do? They didn't try to sell the game to the Xbox community. They put it on game pass to hurt Sony. Pushing the idea of why buy games that are $70 when you can play them in their cheap service for $10. It was a dirty tactic.
You fell for the Kool aid drink Microsoft served you instead of spitting it out. Hope it tasted good because you were fooled by Phil and the gang.
Xbox executive Sara Bond has told Axios that Microsoft spent a number of years trying to get MLB The Show onto Xbox consoles. And when it finally succeeded in breaking off PlayStation’s long-held exclusivity, the company had to “trust” Sony with pre-release Xbox Series X/S consoles.
Bond revealed that MLB The Show “always came up” in conversations between Microsoft and the Major League Baseball organization. “We always said, ‘We love this game. It would be a huge opportunity to bring it to Xbox.'” she recalled. However, when Microsoft’s efforts materialized, it put the company in an awkward situation where it had to send in pre-release consoles to a rival company.
"Microsoft instead, groomed MLB for years in trying to poach Sony's game and bring it to Xbox."
Take a nap, conspiracies are rotting your brain.
Xbox executive Sara Bond has told Axios that Microsoft spent a number of years trying to get MLB The Show onto Xbox consoles. And when it finally succeeded in breaking off PlayStation’s long-held exclusivity, the company had to “trust” Sony with pre-release Xbox Series X/S consoles.
Lying to yourself is unbecoming.
Article link tells you all you need to know in Sarah Bond's own words.
They were too cheap/inept/lazy to develop their own mlb game, so they port begged for years and bribed the mlb to make the show multiplatform. Like i said many times, xbox brought nothing to the table their 24 years, ZERO.
At least you and others get it. Note drank the Kool aid and asked for seconds thinking it was refreshing.
Most don't even know how it all played out but it's there in black and white for all to see. Microsoft brought it up for years until the MLB forced Sony's hand. It was a win win for Microsoft. Kill one reason to buy a PlayStation or kill the game by dropping it in a cheap service to kill Sony's sales numbers on PlayStation.
"However, Healey said Media Molecule wouldn't have felt right doing that, adding it would have been "morally corrupt"."
Major kudos to Media Molecule for being an upright studio with principles.
They chose well, Sony gave them the backing to pursue their dreams with no restrictions even tho their games especially dreams have very niche appeal. Media molecule and Sony deserve respect for this in an age of risk averse publishing.
Great, more stories like this please. Show the last of the zombies holding the line what we've been saying for years: Microsoft is anti competition, anti industry and has no interest in making games at all.
But hey, at least there's an Xbox Games Showcase to look forward to, right?
Well considering SONY just killed the series, LBP would've been dead by now either way. Though MM probably wouldn't exist by now either, so I'm glad they stayed with SONY, hopefully they don't get shut down any time soon or ever honestly.
They shut down the servers, that's millions of user created levels gone. That and dead are pretty much the same, it's also been years since 3 and they cancelled HUB soooo.
They shutdown the servers because no one was playing, no one in the community cared about the user created levels so why keep them up? Wtf you guys would never succeed in running a business.
Yea dood no one was playing so they shut off the servers. Cause people with enough common sense can't just Google why they were actually shut of, right?
Times are changing, and these games would have never been made in today's climate.
Every single time someone uses this phrase whether it's music, movies, books, comics, video games, etc it's always the same claim.
The ubiquitous "they" won't allow it to be made. And every decade these claims are made the claimant completely ignores all the "offensive" material that is published when the claim is made.
In ten years, you can write a new article about how you can't make games like Helldivers 2, Resident Evil VIII, Mortal Kombat I, Dragon's Dogma 2, Alan Wake 2 etc etc etc any more.
Yeah, people wouldn't be constantly outraged if there weren't games that people found enraging. The whole SBI discourse shit wouldn't be a thing if all games were inoffensive. A game like Starfield can make a guy froth at his mouth, so there will always be room for a list like this.
Normally, I'd be inclined to agree with you, but there are massive caveats.
TV shows like Venture Bros, Ren and Stimpy, and Aqua Team wouldn't/couldn't be made today. Hell, Ren and Stimpy was a *children's* show, same thing with Rocko's Modern Life.
It's not for some arbitrary reason, either. It's branding and IP alignment. Companies are far more risk-averse than they were when I was kid in the 90's. Of course, you have companies coming out of the woodwork to hell spur on similar content, but remember: Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon and some incredibly provocative material.
And for movies? it's pretty obvious. American Pie/Wedding Crashers/Eurotrip among many other "raunch coms" have fallen out of style, and are absolutely outside what the modern day film industry is willing to stand by.
Ace Ventura 1 and 2, Dumb and Dumber, Freddy Got Fingered, Rat Race, Harold and Kumar, and Van Wilder follow suit.
Remember: I am not explicitly talking about films put onto streamers. I am talking wide-releases in actual theaters. Same thing goes for games: Carmageddon, Duke Nukem, Manhunt, Six Days In Fallujah (with their original concept), Hatred, and so on and so forth. Of course, I'd be inclined to mention most tactical shooters like Rainbow Six and Joint Ops as well, due to cultural sensitivity regarding *who* you are shooting and why.
And not all of it is bad (obviously). Tastes change, and perspectives change to fit the demographic.
I should add that I'm a lefty, living in L.A. Working in film.
The Boys, Invincible, Jojo Rabbit, Deadpool, Gen V, Last of Us, Banshee... There are plenty of media being made today that people will claim "can't be made today".
Yeah but if you consider manhunt which was basically a snuff film could you seriously make that game with high than PS2 era graphics.
The Outlast Trials just came out.
But the storyline of Manhunt was that you were executed. But then lived. And if you didn't do as you were told, you'd die. And the people you killed were not innocents.
It was all filmed by a psychopath.
As we speak GTA VI is being finished up for a release. You get to play a Bonnie and Clyde type of protagonist who run up against the law.
Bodycam looks so real.
People are making those games. Articles like this will always exist no matter how incorrect they are, no matter how many times they blame "them" for whatever it is "they" do to prevent "those" games from being made.
The UK is the biggest junk country pandering to that nonsense as well, with laws against free speech and expression to match. It got so bad even Rowan Atkinson made a video on free speech about it.
Now the UK raises the age rating on harmless films like Mary Poppins, it's just a load of pansy weak ass nonsense.
The right wing Tories have been in power in the UK for the 14 years you know the ones that are "anti-woke", blame them for your perceptions.
Are these snowflakes in the room with us now?
This is more faux outrage designed to get hits. The consequences are unfortunately creating hysteria amongst those willing to buy into it and blame "them" or "the left" or "liberals" meanwhile the left are kicking off about genocide, actual real world abhorrent acts. Nobody is campaigning to censor this shit.
Not too mention the fact that some of these game are controversial for you know, underage porn and encouraging rape.
So either the guy just came in to comment snowflakes without reading anything, or he is calling people snowflakes for having a problem with said titles. Crazy how much brain rot someone can have.
Dead Island: "The early PC version of the zombie game swapped the playable character Purna’s Gender Wars skill with a prototype name, which shouldn’t be mentioned directly. The skill name made fun of both Purna as a character and feminists."
"Feminist Whore" lmao
ill add one more to the list.
drakengard 1.
its ridiculous tho, especially since they'd still be able to find their place in alot of places in the world. except america of course ha. and maybe Australia.
ppl are so sensitive these days. ha. but it is what it is.
They're not offensive.
And we need another Fat Princess. Fantastic little game!
Some people just have no sense of humour if this sort of thing offends them. They need to lighten up and stop taking themselves so seriously.
Games literally about sexual assault, mass genocide, bombing civilians, and school shooting. None of which is satirical.
Its crazy that people are fixated on Fat princess when clearly the list is going over controversies, and not all of them are equal. Like way worse examples but pretend the entire list is like that.
Alex DS. from Link Cable Gaming writes: "Is the PlayStation 3 retro? This is a surprisingly hard question to answer as the system definitely has the age to be considered retro, having launched in 2006, over 15 years ago now. But with it being home to so many massive games, many of which still hold up today and in fact were released for the PlayStation 4 when that console was released, make the PS3 a retro console that doesn’t feel retro."
Typically, the term retro is given to items which are at least 20 years old (but not yet 40 years old).
Quick google search
No the PS3 is not yet a retro console. But if you're gonna put 1 game from a series in this list, then LBP2 should be there instead of the original, Motorstorm PR is also an overall better game than the 1st game and to put Tools of Destruction over A Crack in Time is a blasphemy when ACiT is the best game in the series.
callahan09 I like almost all your posts. 2nd this is very wrong, IMO.
"No, the biggest flaw with this game is that it is very short, with absolutely no replay value once you've collected all of the prize-filled bubbles (of which there are many). Most bubbles are easy to get, and I suspect that in the course of the game's 25 levels (or around that), you'll acquire 75% of the prizes without going much out of your way."
To collect ALL the prize bubbles takes a insane ammount of time and to ACE all the level to unlock new outfits takes even longer. Also some of the levels they made in the SP are down right insane and pure genius from a technical standpoint and would have taken a long time for them to make them.
"In terms of the game's online, user-created content, I'm quite frankly very disappointed. There's yet to be a single user-created level that matches the charm and quality of the material the game ships with, as created by Media Molecule themselves. Some of the levels are a bit fun and can be challenging, some have sparks of creativity, but there's really nothing there that makes me go: "Yes! This is brilliant fun!" All of those moments are relegated to the levels the game shipped with, and we may never see a truly great level from the community."
In the short time the game has been out we have seen some amazing things come out of it.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles...
In 1 month people have made those, next month will even be better.
I think your not really looking at this from a realistic point of view.
Plus, Dude, you need a better rating system. I rate your rating system 1
Here's my rating system.
1 - What ever
some stuff u said was tru but ur rating system wtf, everything over an 8 but u gave online 5 so gave game 6.7 how does that make sense. and online works for me fine. and actually some levels are very very good, u just havent been able to find them, i think they need to get rid of the dumb 7 trophies in one shot levels and put real levels besides that yeah game is awsome
It's your opinion, and I haven't played the game. If that's truly how you feel about the game then that's truly how you should rate the game.
I give you props for not backing down with this review.
You give Ratchet a 9.6, and LBP, and Gears 2 a 6.7? Ratchet does deserve its score yet LBP's and Gears 2's scores look pretty harsh next to that.