Publisher: SCEA

Developer: Media Molecule

Release Date: 1/18/2011

Available Exclusively On

There are very few games that are 100% driven by your imagination. That is the game: you. Whatever you decide or think up is what you’re going to play. Impatient? You’re not going to have a fun time. Don’t you like thinking? Look elsewhere. LBP is a game all about using the tools in the game to create your own world and an idea of a fun game. LBP2 expands this by gearing the tools towards genres of games rather than just platforming. While the tool section may turn most players away, don’t fret! Enjoy the thousands of well-made levels from other players to keep you busy. I am not a sandbox, build-it-yourself type of person, so I didn’t spend much time in the editor. Open your mind and enjoy the delightful papercraft world!

The story mode consists of four very fun worlds to play in to whet your appetite for the world and how everything works. The story is really weird and doesn’t make much sense. Your only goal is to stop the Negativitron from destroying Craftworld, and you have to rescue a few people in the process. With the weird story aside, the levels are really fun and show you all the different genres of gaming you can play in this game. Races, 2D shooters, platforming, fighters, and many others. Each level is completely different but plays similarly to the last game. You have to get through each section to the next checkpoint, where you can respawn if you die. The main point of the story is to find new stickers and materials for the level editor. These appear as bubbles in the game; some are easy to get, and some require a bit of puzzle-solving.

LBP2 is really co-op heavy, and I found myself finding people to play with online or having friends join me. The game is a blast in co-op and probably the best way to play. I loved the entire story mode because it was just so much fun. Plain and simple. One level had me using different weapons, like a sprinkler helmet, to put out fires on platforms and grow vines into platforms. Another level used a cupcake launcher, which acted as a remote mine. A later level used a few different animals as vehicles, such as a bunny, a hamster, and a bee as a shmup vehicle. It was all fun, colorful, and filled with imagination. The papercraft art style makes you feel like a kid again, playing with paper and toys. LBP2 is just one of the most imaginative games you can get your hands on these days.

The controls are solid but feel a bit floaty and slidey, which is okay after you get used to them. One of my favorite features is Pop-It, which is a simplified menu you can bring up to place stickers in the world and customize your Sack Thing. If I were to really complain about the story mode, it would be that some sections are ridiculously difficult and require several restarts, but nothing you won’t get past. Once you beat the story mode, you can either play user-made levels or make your own. I won’t go into the level editor because it would take 10 paragraphs just to explain, and even then you would be confused. It is more simplified than the first game, but there is more to it, so it feels more complicated. I honestly could not build a single decent level, so I moved on to user-made levels.

There are thousands of levels that are organized into categories. Ones that Media Molecule picked (which I recommend playing first) as well as levels sorted by rating. Some are pretty bad, some are spam, but some are amazing or even better than the ones on disc. Thankfully, you don’t have to download these levels to your HDD, so don’t think you have to use precious space for all these levels like most games. I also liked that you can sort by category, which really brings out one of the main new features of LBP2. These user-created levels just show how powerful the tools in this game are and how imaginative people can be. Of course, it is the most fun with more people, but you can still enjoy the game by yourself.

It goes to show that a developer doesn’t have to create an entire world for you to enjoy it. This is some of the most fun I have had in a game in a while, and I absolutely loved it. However, think carefully before buying this game. Are you a creator or player? If you are just a player, you will have fun, but you won’t be using 80% of what’s on the disc, the editor. Enough time has gone by for thousands of excellent levels to be created, so it isn’t a huge loss.