LittleBigPlanet is very, very big

Maybe you’re a little bored of the pre-scripted, narrative-heavy, feats of storytelling that are the hallmarks of many popular games that contain a lot of depth. Sometimes you just want to platform, so you bust out your old copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 and completely ditch the real world. Well, what could be better than combining that “comfort food platforming” with control over the entire world you’re playing in? LittleBigPlanet promises just that, putting the tools—and the materials—in your hands to not only jump in glee, but move arms and heads, grab objects and textures, and best of all, play with friends.

LittleBigPlanet, coming out for PS3, understands every nerdy childhood hope to one day make video games. However, Media Molecule, the developers, don’t require that you have any real game design skills. The option is there to click, drag, rotate, and modify with a scrolling menu that’s intuitive and easy to use. There’s no scripting behind the game that makes it run; everything works because of the physics engine—if it’s a sphere, it’ll roll; if it’s a block, you can climb on it.

Because of the enormous potential of being able to design pretty much whatever you want and have the tiny Sackboy and Sackgirl characters interact with your design, this game has no limit on hours played, and there’s no end or final boss battle, depending solely on the limit of your imagination.

You may ask, is this just a platformer? What kind of obstacles are there besides soccer balls and stairways? Well, objects and surfaces can have a “danger” feature applied; fire, electricity, and ice will hinder the character’s progress in some way. For example, if a character comes into contact with ice, he will be encased into an ice cube, and until he melts, his friends will have to push him around the level. Even bosses can be built using one of six AI brains in the toolset.

Because of the emphasis on interactivity and cooperative play, this will, of course, be online. Features through the Playstation Network allow players to share their levels and allow global online play. Then again, of course, you can invite real friends over.

Maybe I’m the only one, but I’ll bet that this game spawns many levels-from-hell, a la modded Super Mario Bros, from your best buddies, who want to see you, or at least your Sackboy, die in a pit of fire. Let’s keep it friendly, kids.

Why am I still blabbing? The gameplay footage tells all. Coming out October, 2008, this may be your “reason for buying a PS3.”