The LittleBigPlanet pre-release Saga

[Arwin]

Jeez! Hopefully I'm on time! To miss this ... aaargh! Site is incredibly slow. Probably won't make it.

 

[wco81]

Meh it's only good until 10/12.

How about a proper demo instead? Including one with an online level, because online co-op (and is there competitive co-op too, like 4 players on one team vs. 4 players on another team) would seem to be one of the most appealing things about this game?

But of course to be able to play other levels, especially user-created levels, you have to buy the game.

 

[patsu]

This is only a beta. The demo won't come so soon, if at all.

I got my code now. Will download after work. I will try to get some more codes in case Shifty and some of you missed it.

 

[RobertR1]

What's with this demo "beta" bullshit Sony? Just release demo's on PSN. It's not that hard ok?

 

[Antan]

This is only a beta. The demo won't come so soon, if at all.

I got my code now. Will download after work. I will try to get some more codes in case Shifty and some of you missed it.

Count me in as one of those who missed it!

 

[Arwin]

Got a key! Downloaded 65% already. Was very hard to get to that page and I very quickly learnt how badly I wanted this key. Awesome! Downloaded 2/3rds already too.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

Holy crap. tried to get the key for 10 minutes now, the eurogamer servers seems to have extreme traffic because of the beta keys. This is worst than it was during E3 06 when they said $599.

Site keeps getting internal server erros or bizzy errors =\

 

[mister slim]

I was wondering why Eurogamer wouldn't load.

 

[Jaeyden]

Took me about an hour to get one. Reminded me of the MGO beta - wading through 500's forever. Thrilled to finally be DL'n it. I see Arwin and Deepbrown sportin it too.

 

[patsu]

What's with this demo "beta" bullshit Sony? Just release demo's on PSN. It's not that hard ok?

Why ? It's getting early feedback from laymen. Helps to correct some "last mile" flaws.

Count me in as one of those who missed it!

I finally got it to show a key and then realized that it's the same key they gave me . Silly me, I should have registered another account before attempting this.

 

[tirminyl]

Wow, I completely missed this.

 

[patsu]

Hands on impressions:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=12915218&postcount=1514

Alrighty, I just put in a good six hours with the game.

Upon starting, you get the total-darkness followed by the run through a simple level while the credits roll. Simple, funny, and unexpected.

My initial impressions were not as good as I expected. The game lacks a certain sharpness that I thought it would have; it looks a bit too soft. The first few levels do a nice job of explaining the game mechanics, and the second level introduces you more to the three-level depth and pulling objects.

At this point I was starting to dislike the gameplay mechanics. It was a bit difficult to pull objects from the front while running towards is, since Sackboy wants to sidestep around it. Going into each different 3-D space is somewhat tricky, and the jump button (at first) did feel too floaty...I felt like I was not jumping high enough, and too slowly.

Then I got to the third level, and the game started to pick up steam. I was able to grab onto some windmills and be tossed upwards to the next one, and it was a blast. The LBP theme kicked in and it finally started to click with me. Jumps became easier, moving in the 3D space was not as difficult (though still a bit tricky) and overall I was really enjoying the game.

I think had I played LBP at PAX or somewhere for just thirty minutes, my impressions would be mixed...definitely not 100% positive. Six hours later, it's one of the best platformers I've played this generation, easily.

But let me back up a bit. I dug into the creation mode, and it took me about two hours to run through all the tutorials. The cool thing is that each tutorial takes about five minutes, and you unlock a ton of stickers and a few new objects, so you never feel like you want to just get to the level making. The BETA flaws showed up a bit; one tutorial was spoken in Japanese (if it's intentional, it's hilarious, but I dunno if it was, hah) and I don't like that once you complete the requirements of the tutorial (bolt this item here) you don't get to mess around in the level anymore...you're booted back to the level you were at.

The videos in the game are heavily compressed, though that's easily attributed to the downloadable nature of the game right now; it'll be much better to watch once it's on BD. There's tons and tons and tons of voice over, which makes the game much more enjoyable to play during the tutorials.

So, I was off to create my own level. I had something in mind: create a monster that was in a skateboard-like tube ramp that would be skating around. It didn't work as well as I hoped. So, I stared to mess around...and created a glass crescent moon with a piston and rope. I accidentally created a Sackboy launcher that was automatically powered...so I saved it as it's own object and placed three or four in the level. The result was a REALLY cool launcher that was it's own happy accident...and now I'm making my level around it.

The amount of options are staggering. While I wish there were more lighting options in the beta (only a star is available for lights, phooey) you pretty much have all the fundamental mechanics ready to go. You have switches that activate with a pull from Sackboy, or activated when Sackboy gets close. You can also create a color-key card button that won't activate until a card of a matching color is brought close to it; you could escort an object somewhere, for example, and gain access to a secret room if you make it all the way through. There are buttons that go off when a certain sticker is applied to it, buttons that are two and three way switches, and more. It's huge.

So, what if you don't want to create anything, and just want to play? It's still a lot of fun, but you'd be missing out on a vital component of the game. I'm positive that you wouldn't enjoy the game as much as people fooling around with the creation program.

The game deserves the hype, but it's shifted my perspective a bit. It's not exactly the kind of game I think casual players will be able to grasp within minutes of playing like I thought it would be, but it's so much deeper for hardcore players than I ever thought would be possible. Unbelievably amazin'.

 

[patsu]

Another one: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=12915021&postcount=1471 (Titanio)

I was totally tickled by a swing and jump level were ttp was hanging on to me for dear life..we made it across in the end, but just the pressure of knowing his sack-life depends on you too was really..great..

I'd recommend the dragon siege level too. I mean, it's tough as nails, but it's really rewarding when you figure it out.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=12914975&postcount=1462

I'm done for tonight..the evening zipped by.

I really can't believe how much fun I had with some of these levels. Some of them were infuriating. Some of them were crappy. All of them had me laughing. I have the same sort of giddy excitement I had when I first went home with my n64 and mario64..except perhaps even better from a pure laughter/entertainment pov.

I haven't even touched the create mode yet.

I probably won't get anything done tomorrow.

 

[the ignoramus]

Wow, I completely missed this.

Same here, I was completely unaware of this.
I only found out about it about 2 hours ago; I'm not sold on LBP just yet, and I would have liked to have played the beta to finally form a rough conclusion about the game. I'm trying to get first hand impressions from Gaf, but most of the beta thread consists of alot of whining and pleading and about a half dozen well written impressions.

 

[patsu]

I am taking my time to play through the beta. The control scheme is pretty intuitive. The movement between the 3 depths are ok too, but sometimes I need to nudge (slightly) harder. With some practice, it should become second nature.

All I can say right now is the game cannot be judged by looking. I didn't fully understand the impact and the polish until I held the controller in my hands. There are little animations and nuances that adds to SackBoy's quirkiness (and believability).

The GAF folks are already having fun partnering with each other in the game. I am doing it lone wolf style. Have not explored any level creation yet. Did some sticker exercises using PS Eye though. I have only done 1 and a half level so far.

More later (busy now).

 

[wco81]

One of the best platformers of this generation?

Have there been that many?

Prince of Persia and LBP are probably two of the highest-profile platformers and neither are out yet.

Or was he including Mario for the Wii?

 

[patsu]

Ask him directly.

Does R&C count ?


EDIT: Same person's comment about online gameplay: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=12918970&postcount=1953

Ok, online impressions.

So I made my level, it was ready to go, and I invited a few GAFfers. While I'm not really an online gamer person...I wasn't expecting how truely awesome this was going to be. It's remarkable to see three people playtest your level right in front of you...it's just crazy. And it's a hell of a lot of fun.

Races, something that looked a bit lame in the videos I've seen, is actually a ton of fun. Most of the online levels up right now cater to the LBP 4-player parties, and some of them are pretty brilliant (none of them are quite on the scale of a full-fledged level just yet; it's mostly fun runs and experiments).

What's even more awesome is the online persistent world of LBP. You can see a ton of levels on the main hub, and see how many people are playing each one. It was cool to see a few people in my level as I jumped around with my LBP chums, and it even alerted me when someone beat and rated my level.

Loading/downloading times are super quick...it feels like a regular game load, and I forgot that it was even downloading the new level for the party. When people join the game lags up quite a bit and gets nutty for a few seconds, but once everyone is in it's a fairly smooth ride.

You can choose to play online levels either by yourself or online, where you'll join up with whatever strangers are in the level at the moment. There's a full list of leaderboards and you'll be able to tag the level with lots of keyphrases like "ingenious" "cute" and "Braiiiiiiiins..."

I absolutely cannot wait till tomorrow after work to play more, and to see how my (rough) level is doing. What an amazing game.

 

[Arwin]

I certainly think it's a great platformer. I found myself wanting to play the regular levels more, just really enjoyed them. Also, when I was watching the game in videos, I thought the controls were a bit sluggish, but to my surprise it hardly feels like that when I'm playing myself. The thing that takes the most getting used to is the different depths - even that is fairly easy to deal with, but it opens up new stuff - some bonusses for instance require you to jump from platforms in different planes, which is new, but cool.

I think it's a totally awesome platformer in its own right - it plays great, looks great, and probably has more innovation than hardly any platformers have had on offer, thanks to all the physics based stuff (Loco Roco being another - though mind you I haven't played a lot of Nintendo games, maybe some DS styles based stuff like Kirby deserves to be in that list too).

The multiplayer online works great too however - this is another great draw in the game, being able to play everything both online and offline up to four players is just awesome.

And then there's the level creator. I'm going to argue that this will in fact be more of a bonus than a main draw for a large part of the population, because the main game is just excellent. However, even the main game uses the creation aspects - for instance you unlock bonusses by putting stickers in the right places (in the first levels there are a lot of put-the-star-sticker-on-the-sometimes-hidden-star cutout).

It's an overwhelming but extremely fun experience. This game is doing so many new things so well, I think it'll deserve a fair few 10/10s.

 

[[maven]]

Why ? It's getting early feedback from laymen. Helps to correct some "last mile" flaws.

How? Where do I leave my feedback? I mean, I enjoyed the demo / beta, but the only thing it's testing is their servers...

 

[Arwin]

You can leave comments in-game on just about anything, I think. I at least did leave a comment on one level that I couldn't get into.