Work and play collide in this game with such unprecedented force that they become indistinguishable. Bungie got there first, you might argue, but there’s a fundamental difference. As its irresistibly cute intro purports, LittleBigPlanet is a world without limits. Beyond a thermometer that tells you when your level’s too complex – and we’re talking complex – it has no ceiling. What you’re given isn’t just the prefabs of the platform genre or even its pieces, but its science, updated to take advantage of its host hardware’s abilities and applicable to just about anything. Vertical and horizontal scrolling shooters, Mario clones, dialogue-driven adventure games, music boxes, score attacks, machinima, beat ’em ups, racing games, pixel art, classroom experiments, boardroom presentations: all and more are possible.

The big bang happened when the game’s beta, the products of which will be kept online at launch, began last month. In the weeks since, its universe has expanded exponentially. For those inclined to enjoy rather than promote that growth, a seemingly infinite array of user-created levels awaits. Even if the monstrous task of advertising the game falls short, the userbase is speaking for itself. The wonder shows no signs of stopping, and the results will improve to the point – in some cases, they already have – where the line between developer and consumer evaporates. If money was no object and it came preinstalled on every PlayStation 3, this game would engulf us all.

Even those put off by the notable floatiness of its platforming, the sometimes unpredictable switching between planes, the enforced tutorials, and the occasional harshness of its lives system (each checkpoint gives you a fixed number of retries) would, if they opened their pores to the game’s broader concept, suffer an irreversible change of heart. The one unavoidable problem is that the rating system for user-generated levels is obviously controlled by the community, and the tastes of the wider world may not match your own.



But LittleBigPlanet is all about changing your perspective. Just weeks after a limited preview release, this game has exploded, surely, beyond both its projections and its initial code. Even, actually, beyond the conventions of the average review. It’s a multiplayer riot, a visual landmark, a feat of engineering, and one of the most charming games ever made. But even those accolades are dwarfed by its scope, its potential, and the apparent endlessness of them both. What’s more, it sees the pariah of this generation, Sony, publishing at the height of its powers. Not since the early days of PlayStation has that troubled brand stood for – and fostered – such a daring, transcendent, magnificent piece of work.

10/10