Taken as a pure game-play experience, "LittleBigPlanet" is as simple as can be.
Players control a big-headed doll called a Sackboy (or Sackgirl) that can run, jump and cling to some surfaces. The game's levels are filled with items to collect, as one might find in any other platform-oriented game.
That's all there is to it -- and yet there's much more.
The goodies littered about each level aren't gathered simply for points. Running, jumping and clinging can make for some incredible experiences -- play the Atari game "N+" and try to deny it.
What "LittleBigPlanet" has most of is potential. The game includes a selection of levels and able narration by British comedian Stephen Fry. The graphics and music are excellent.
But the levels seem to exist mainly to give players an idea of what they can make themselves. And that's the clincher: "LittleBigPlanet" is a game that will ultimately be exactly as good as its players can make it.
The items collected in each of the packed-in stages are permanently added to an inventory of stuff with which to make custom levels -- everything from base materials such as glass, metal and cardboard to entire objects such as golf balls, skateboards and submarine launchers.
The game doles out these prizes like a piñata drops candy. Each level is packed with prizes (some are tough to get to or require more than one player to reach, which is where a lot of the challenge comes from), and completing the tutorials in the level builder provides access to more.
Aside from the items they contain, the levels are well-designed and fun to play through, with creative layouts and a good spread of puzzles and mini-games to play around with. There's a story of sorts that keeps the player hunting for vanished characters and their creations as new sets of levels open up.
Taken as it is now, "LittleBigPlanet" is a charming and entertaining platform game. But the real fun will start once players have had time to tinker and build their own levels and share them online.
