Cutesy – but be ready for a challenge
PS4 LittleBigPlanet 3 (Sumo Digital) (G) Reviewed by Daven Parsons-Piwari.
STEPHEN FRY’S voice is like a warm velvety blanket for my ears, and as long as he keeps narrating the LittleBigPlanet games, I’ll probably keep playing them. Even though LittleBigPlanet 2 left me a bit underwhelmed as a whole, a new developer would mean new possibilities for the series.
LittleBigPlanet 3 starts out with Sackboy, our literal blank canvas protagonist being brought to Bunkum, a small yet large world of sorts and one of many that exist in the imagisphere, where the other games were also set. Bunkum is soon thrown into chaos as Newton, the bumbling villain with daddy issues, accidentally releases the three titans that once fed on all the creativity in the land. It is then up to Sackboy to re-awaken the three heroes of Bunkum to seal the titans once more and save Newton from his corrupted self.
All of this serves as a nice platform for new game mechanics, with each hero having its own unique skills and playstyle. On top of this, Sackboy is sacked out with an arsenal of new gadgets like some sort of puzzle platforming James Bond. All of this makes for gameplay that’s constantly evolving and never gets old.
As fun as it is, I’ve always considered LittleBigPlanet to be child’s play, so imagine my surprise when a few levels into a game I came across a boss level that absolutely punished me. Don’t let the game’s cutesy style fool you, because it actually stands up as a fairly challenging platformer at times, even if what the game considers to be puzzles could be solved by a lobotomised chimp.
LittleBigPlanet 3 also ditches the linear level system in favour of a more open world sandbox feel, which really just means you’re put in a hub and can choose to play the story missions in any order you like. Finding your way around the hub however is an exercise in platforming itself, which is why they’ve included a questing system to guide you, complete with hidden challenge levels as side quests. But, much like playing hide-and-seek with children, once they were hidden I really couldn’t be bothered trying to find them.
All up the game combines thought out level design, flowing gameplay and endless variety for the biggest LittleBigPlanet to date. It’s outdoor theatre Jim, but not as we know it. Summer Star Trek – where an episode of the original Star Trek is re-enacted as an outdoor performance – will be staged in Wellington next month. Company Enterprise Entertainment has this year chosen The Naked Time, where Captain Kirk and crew find themselves up against their uninhibited fears and desires due to an alien virus. Says director Shannon Friday, ‘‘This whole project is built on fan love, and our audience is made up of so many big-hearted fans. I’m really excited to get more people on board with sharing their stories of the series.’’ The Naked Time will be performed at Dowse Square, Lower Hutt, February 7, noon and February 12-14 and 19-21. It will also be performed at Aro Park, Wellington, February 12-14 and 19-21, 6.30pm. German experimental ‘‘noise rock’’ band DYSE are to play The Cabana, Napier on February 10, The Great Job, Palmerston North on February 12, San Francisco Bath House, Wellington on February 13 and Space Monster, Whanganui on February 14. Duo Andrej Dietrich and Jarii van Gohl have performed more than 600 shows around the world with coveted festival slots, including South by SouthWest. The Alfred Memelink Artspace Gallery in Petone is to mark turning one with a First Birthday Exhibition on January 24, 10am-5pm. It will include demonstrations by oil painter Heinz Speyer, watercolour painter Diane Taylor and jeweller Sue Shore.