Like many other people who like things a little of the beaten path, I reserved Little Big Planet as soon as I saw the first trailer for it. Unlike my more enthusiastic gaming cousins I didn’t look into what the game was about, opting instead for surprise. I must admit shocked is probably a bit more apt. The game astounds on many levels, but I’ll break it down into a top five:

1. Graphics Graphics Graphics- At 720p it’s not the most graphically amazing game on the market, but the artists did a phenomenal job of bringing to life the textures of the crazy world that is little big planet.
2. Co-Op to the extreme- Got a friend you want to play with? How about two or three friends? With LBP you can play with 1-4 people online or offline. The game even has special missions for the co-op gamers.
3. Recidivism- The levels have enough going on that the odds of you finding all the goodies in one shot are pretty slim. This means lots of re-playability.
4. Ageless- This game has a little bit for everyone. Rated 7+ it’s great for kids but the parents can find bits and pieces of grown-up entertainment in there as well -such as a sign that says kinky.
5. Customization- Between stickers (and who doesn’t love stickers?!) outfits, objects, and materials this game is infinitely customizable. Feeling glum with day to day life? How about making your own world? Sure it’ll probably enable your already failing socialization skills, but at least I’ll have fun playing it.

So, last night at around 1am, I finished the game.  Playing on “Sith Lord” difficulty I found the game quite challenging.  A few thoughts:

The game definitely needed more unique boss encounters.  I found the boss battles to be entertaining, but they were all quite similar when it came down to the actual execution, i.e. Block/Dodge at the right time, jump to avoid the big knock back, attack from behind when the boss is tired and when the boss gets really low…. hit the button sequence that pops up on the screen “A la God Of War” and watch the cool cinematic killing blow.

The storyline was fantastic…. the way it spanned the end of the clone wars all the way to the beginning of the Rebel Alliance really kept me interested.  The scenery and backdrops are amazing, the music score, sound effects and visuals were top notch.  I couldn’t imagine playing it on anything other than a PS3 or high end gaming PC.  The entire reason I chose not to get it for the Wii is the lackluster graphics performance I was expecting out of it.

On a side note….I have been amazed at how much I was missing with the Wii and with my PS2 in regards to surround sound in gaming.  Playing GTA4, The Force Unleashed, Deadspace and Midnight Club: Los Angeles has really shown me how powerful 5.1 can be in a game.  It had me looking at new 7.1 receivers in REX the other day.  I especially liked how “Unleashed” was encoded in DTS instead of Dolby Digital as I prefer DTS over Dolby in movies.  

Well… on to Deadspace… I hear it’s a much longer game, we will see how it pans out.