It’s funny how character and personality can help define a game in so many ways. For all that graphics and gameplay and content are banded about as key-words within games criticism, it is often those games that above and beyond all that, manage to convey a sense of uniqueness, or life beyond mere pixels, that stand out and garner attention. In recent times no better example of this can be found than Little Big Planet, Media Molecule’s much-hyped creation-based platformer which was so proudly touted and displayed by Sony at games conventions for the past few years. Now that the game has been released, to a positive but somewhat muted reception critically and sales-wise, and I have had the chance to put some time in with the game I feel it worth writing about in terms of not only its use of character and style but the place it could play in the years to come as an example of where much of the gaming industry could be heading.
Charm-wise the game is a winner, the universe that has been constructed is wonderful and consistent, the whimsical nature of the story and the levels is balanced out, never becoming too twee or swifling. The choice of Stephen Fry was a masterstroke and lends the tutorials a wonderfully British sense of not only humour but construction as well. The makeshift nature of the game works in its favour, the way levels are built out of cardboard or wood and the way bosses and enemies are bolted together out of separately designed parts work as a constant reminder and as a sort of in-game tutorial to what is possible with the creative tools on offer. For much as Little Big Planet is a fun and enjoyable platform game in its own right, to only scratch the offline sections of the game is missing the game’s real point.
What Little Big Planet wants to do is offer the gamer the same tools that the creators have, then encourage you to go out and build something yourself. A great deal of work has gone into making the level creator on offer as flexible as possible, whilst keeping it simple enough to use. Delving in for the first time is a bit overwhelming, and there has been a certain sacrifice to ease of use that comes with a depth of complexity but generally the range of tools on offer has been perfectly balanced to not be overwhelming, but also not limiting either in allowing you to create whatever you envision on the screen.
All this takes time and dedication of course, and there will be choruses of gamers unwilling to put in this time, or who have no personal inclination to make use of the tools, however these people can still browse the hundreds and thousands of user created levels that already exist, allowing the game to continue on gaining new content day by day, with no effort from the publishers. As you would expect from such a vast pool of creative talent great things will emerge, and whilst it has taken a while the standard of levels now being found is very high, and it doesn’t take much searching to find new creative and enjoyable levels to play.
What is most impressive really is the variety of game styles, the game does not limit you to mere platforming and so you get levels that are races, or time challenges, or merely passive rides where you bear witness to music or scenery. With the addition of the latest Metal Gear Solid themed update the element of shooting a paintgun has been added which has changed a lot of the possibilities for design once again.
Overall Media Molecule have done what many doubted they could and delivered on what they said they would. As an overall package Little Big Planet stands as a great example of not only a game with a distinctive and unique voice and style (the game really would not work with a more generic and traditional sheen), but one that paves the way for gamer interaction within games. The community that can be built up and the support that is still to come in the future means that hopefully the game will remain fresh and relevant for a long time to come, and encourage other developers to think along the same lines, blurring the lines between the finished box on the shelf and the life a game can take on once it’s taken home and embraced by the consumers.
Wednesday 28 January 2009
Little Big Planet
It’s funny how character and personality can help define a game in so many ways. For all that graphics and gameplay and content are banded about as key-words within games criticism, it is often those games that above and beyond all that, manage to convey a sense of uniqueness, or life beyond mere pixels, that stand out and garner attention. In recent times no better example of this can be found than Little Big Planet, Media Molecule’s much-hyped creation-based platformer which was so proudly touted and displayed by Sony at games conventions for the past few years. Now that the game has been released, to a positive but somewhat muted reception critically and sales-wise, and I have had the chance to put some time in with the game I feel it worth writing about in terms of not only its use of character and style but the place it could play in the years to come as an example of where much of the gaming industry could be heading.
Charm-wise the game is a winner, the universe that has been constructed is wonderful and consistent, the whimsical nature of the story and the levels is balanced out, never becoming too twee or swifling. The choice of Stephen Fry was a masterstroke and lends the tutorials a wonderfully British sense of not only humour but construction as well. The makeshift nature of the game works in its favour, the way levels are built out of cardboard or wood and the way bosses and enemies are bolted together out of separately designed parts work as a constant reminder and as a sort of in-game tutorial to what is possible with the creative tools on offer. For much as Little Big Planet is a fun and enjoyable platform game in its own right, to only scratch the offline sections of the game is missing the game’s real point.
What Little Big Planet wants to do is offer the gamer the same tools that the creators have, then encourage you to go out and build something yourself. A great deal of work has gone into making the level creator on offer as flexible as possible, whilst keeping it simple enough to use. Delving in for the first time is a bit overwhelming, and there has been a certain sacrifice to ease of use that comes with a depth of complexity but generally the range of tools on offer has been perfectly balanced to not be overwhelming, but also not limiting either in allowing you to create whatever you envision on the screen.
All this takes time and dedication of course, and there will be choruses of gamers unwilling to put in this time, or who have no personal inclination to make use of the tools, however these people can still browse the hundreds and thousands of user created levels that already exist, allowing the game to continue on gaining new content day by day, with no effort from the publishers. As you would expect from such a vast pool of creative talent great things will emerge, and whilst it has taken a while the standard of levels now being found is very high, and it doesn’t take much searching to find new creative and enjoyable levels to play.
What is most impressive really is the variety of game styles, the game does not limit you to mere platforming and so you get levels that are races, or time challenges, or merely passive rides where you bear witness to music or scenery. With the addition of the latest Metal Gear Solid themed update the element of shooting a paintgun has been added which has changed a lot of the possibilities for design once again.
Overall Media Molecule have done what many doubted they could and delivered on what they said they would. As an overall package Little Big Planet stands as a great example of not only a game with a distinctive and unique voice and style (the game really would not work with a more generic and traditional sheen), but one that paves the way for gamer interaction within games. The community that can be built up and the support that is still to come in the future means that hopefully the game will remain fresh and relevant for a long time to come, and encourage other developers to think along the same lines, blurring the lines between the finished box on the shelf and the life a game can take on once it’s taken home and embraced by the consumers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment