Little Big Planet: PS Vita Preview

Little Big Planet: PS Vita Preview

Sackboy, je t'adore.

Ever since I first clapped my chubby little fingers on Little Big Planet on the PS3 all those years back, I fell totally for the Sackboy experience.

It'd been a while since the creativity and cleverness of a little cloth character and his on screen antics had filled me with such joy (not since the childhood days of the Wombles in fact) so to say I have great anticipation for the handheld PS Vita Little Big Planet, fully interactive Sackboy experience is a complete understatement.

The preview for the BETA I was given is restricted only to the first world and the first level of the second - despite looking to all intents and purposes like it's the full game.

And if this is what we've got to look forward to when it comes out, then, boy oh boy, is the VITA going places quickly.

In this latest outing for Sackie and his cute ways, it's off to the people of Carnivalia for Sackboy's quest - and our visit to the world of the inventive.

It begins with the usual Stephen Fry narrative about the Imagisphere and then quickly moves on to providing a bit of background to the adventure.

Basically, a bad being known as the Puppeteer has snatched all the good from a normally fun place and is making the Sackboys and girls sad no faced creatures known as Hallows. Once a popular entertainer on Carnivalia, the Puppeteer's now filled with raging darkness and determined to take out the people of Carnivalia.

But as ever, Sackboy's here to save the day.

In this BETA preview, it's upto you as Sackboy to learn the skills needed to defeat the mean old Puppeteer while under the guidance of Colonel Flounder, a multi-whiskered gibberish talking man who talks you through the basics. There's an almost Tim Burtonesque feel to the shadowy world of the Puppeteer, and a lot of it feels like a darkly gothic world with shadow puppets and creatures lurking in the background.

If you're a LBP player, the basics of what's ahead won't be new to you.- jumping over things, dragging stuff about to reach those higher places, swinging off objects while holding on and customising your character to look cool (or hilarious).

But what is new is the use of the interactive tech offered up by the VITA.

First there appears to be the capability of moving objects around the screen to help Sackboy get through a level - blue blocks can be moved to ensure the little fella can head up higher into the upper echelons of Carnivalia. But what's great about this is that they can be shifted around while Sackie's in motion, giving you the feeling you're about to react on the fly to what comes up. It's a smart use of the touch tech for the VITA and one which offers up a heap of potential - not just some gimmicky feel to it all.

Equally as clever is the use of the rear touch pad to shift green blocks around (which turn blue once bashed but can be moved back and forth) - the great thing about this is that you can use a combination of front and rear to help reach higher up and complete levels.

It's the interactivity which appears to be the key to the latest version of LBP. Tilting the VITA helps give Sackboy some form of expression; heads up or heads down, using the joysticks and the L1 to help him wave or not; and NEAR tech apparently will help you find other Sackboys and girls nearby to get involved. Once again, some levels will need 2 to complete so this short term, quick fix gaming is going to pay off for the portable version.

Plus taking your own pics with the camera and splashing them around the world is quite a unique touch as well.

The levels of the first world which I've played are your fairly standard kind of challenges with hints of plenty more to come within the La Marionetta training camp. It's plenty playable enough and utterly addictive once again as Sackboy races between bubbles, scores and level completion.

The game frustratingly ends in the first level of the arcade, where you play a game called Tapling which uses the touch tech to bounce a ball with eyes and try to free some trapped lumino type characters. It's quite important to get the timings right on this, and fat fingers aside, the touch reacts so well and quickly to your timed moves.

Side levels look fun too - one sees you having to tilt the VITA to one side to essentially carry out a Sackboy version of Whack-a-mole. The inventiveness of this suggests real potential for the full game when it comes end of next month.

I have no doubt Little Big Planet will be a big hit on the VITA - there are plenty of building blocks to suggest a community life which will live on much longer than the story levels themselves. After all, that's what the initial joy of Little Big Planet was - an embracing of the interactivity, the fun and the sheer genius of the tools to provide a game which was bigger than anything beyond what the developers had in mind.

I cannot wait for the full game which clearly has bags of potential - Sackboy's reign will continue on the VITA - and long may it do so.