After months of waiting, LittleBigPlanet is in the hands of a lucky few thousand gamers. Sony officially launched a beta for Media Molecule's eagerly anticipated title last week. Some of us have been poking around for the last few days in the beta, and just like in the numerous MMOs on the market, we at GameSpy are customizing our Sackpeople and diving into all that the upcoming title offers. If you're lucky enough to be in the beta, we'll be recommending some of the levels that have caught our eye, and how much we're enjoying them, and we'll take some of your recommendations into consideration, too. If you're not in the beta, consider this a glimpse into LBP's cloth-stitched universe.
Day One: September 30th, 2008
Sterling McGarvey, Console Editor: Since we're lacking the beta keys that you'd see in, say, Warhammer Online, I'm initiating the kick-off myself and hopefully we can find some extras to get more editors on. Much to the disbelief of some of my PSN buddy list, they're not the only ones who are scrambling to get into the beta.
First, I'll tell you about the basic experience. Second, I'll give you my take on it all. The first thing I've learned from it? Security's strict. I downloaded the beta to my home console first, then recovered it on my office PS3. Little did I know until this morning, it's got the same security lock-outs that retail games such as Warhawk and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue have that ensure that you can't play it on more than one machine in a 24-hour period. That also means that harassing people on your buddy list to share their beta won't work. Ultimately, that means that getting into this beta is like splitting Wonka's Golden Ticket with 25,000 other people.
Enough about the technical process. After spending three hours on the beta on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I really sense the stratification between creators and consumers. You'll spend the first two hours running around, learning the ins and outs of gameplay. It's all fairly simple stuff. You'll learn about jumping, customizing your Sackperson, and slapping stickers everywhere. The omniscient narrator delivers all of these details with a sardonic British wit, which shouldn't be surprising to Stephen Fry fans. As you work your way through these simple moments, you'll collect items such as stickers and outfits. If you have a PlayStation Eye, you can use the camera to create stickers of whatever you want. Well, nearly whatever you want. These stickers are important, as they're tools that you can use down the line.
So, after nailing the basics of the story mode, the beta spits you out into LBP's two other areas. You'll be able to look at your buddies and see who's playing the beta, and what they've created. You'll have another planet devoted to creating levels. It's here that you'll really sink the most time into the beta, if you're playing it. Media Molecule's goal isn't to give a bunch of gamers a damn-near gigabyte download just to poke around in its own whimsically cute levels; it's to see what kinds of batshit-crazy levels they'll churn out.
