LittleBigPlanet is a puzzle platformer.

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Sex, Drugs & Rock n’ Roll

Violence: Very mild—Sackboy can “die” from various mechanisms (see trailer, above). He immediately comes back to life, however, and being a cartoon character, the violence is about equivalent to something you’d see in Loony Tunes.

Player Interaction: There is a large amount of player interaction  in the game’s Creation Mode. Players can interact with both user-created levels and other users, some of which are M-rated.

Savepoints

The game is saved at the end of each level.

Story & Themes

LittleBigPlanet features a stuffed toy protagonist called “Sackboy” (players can also customize a Sackgirl—we’ll use Sackboy from now on, as this is the official character name) who must navigate the world by solving puzzles and playing minigames. Players may customize Sackboy with different Collectibles of clothing, stickers, and facial features, some of which are unlocked as the game progresses. LittleBigPlanet 2 has a slightly more in-depth storyline, where the antagonist, Negativitron, is attempting to suck the color and fun out of the world.

However, while the story component of the game is fantastic, there is also a Creation Mode in which players can make their own levels and even entire games. Basically anything is possible here. Music, sounds, settings, and even cutscenes are all up to player preference. Kids of all ages (and adults) can create worlds here and upload them for other players to use and explore. Parents should know that some of these player-created levels may not be kid-friendly. We suggest playing through the player-created levels before letting younger kids explore on their own if you are concerned about content.

 

The Creators

 Media Molecule

Controversies

Media Molecule decided to delay LittleBigPlanet’s initial release after a Muslim user pointed out that using lines from the Quran in a song was problematic. The song never appeared in the game.

Conversation Starters

The best conversation topics in LittleBigPlanet are about the puzzle-solving.

  • How did you get from over there to here?
  • Why did you decide to move that block?
  • Do you think there are other ways for Sackboy to move from this point to that point?

Jargon

Sackboy, the protagonist of the game, has become a popular stuffed toy.


This article was written by

Keezy is a gamer, illustrator, and designer. Her background is in teaching and tutoring kids from ages 9 to 19, and she's led workshops for young women in STEM. She is also holds a certificate in teaching English. Her first memory of gaming is when her dad taught her to play the first Warcraft when she was five. You can find her at Key of Zee and on Twitter @KeezyBees.