LittleBigPlanet: Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves Review (PS3)

Full disclosure: I have played and enjoyed the original Little Big Planet. It is one of my favorite PS3 games. I have high expectations for LBP2.

Story: Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves lacks a real sense of storytelling. Instead, it is more of an excuse to show off the new implementations for the Move controller. There are some moments of brief dialogue through text that cohere to the events surrounding the platforming, but none of it has any lasting effect on the player. It should be noted that while the lack of concrete storytelling is apparent, it does not have any ill effect on the overall experience, which is largely enjoyable. The story is mostly a convenient tool to move the player along as they progress through the levels, rather than having any actual effect on the players actions.

Gameplay: The biggest addition to gameplay in Prehistoric Moves is the new Move enabled gameplay. The ability to manipulate the games environment with the Move controller feels fluid and easy most of the time, but it is not without it's hiccups here and there. A nice touch is the ability to re-center the remotes position on screen at any point with just the click of a button.It should be noted that re-centering the wand was something that occurred frequently, often times feeling jarred out of position by the games camera. Sackboy plays exactly the same as he did in Little Big Planet. His jumps are floaty, he grabs with all the strength he can muster, and he has the innate desire to smack his companions in the face. The level designs are adequate but mainly center around the Move controller instead of the game's hero. The inability to play this game as a single player only option is a bit of a nuisance, but teaming up with a friend or two is very fun.

Graphics: With Little Big Planet 2 boasting newer, better looking graphics, it's hard to say if Prehistoric Moves can be benefitted by this same claim. That's not to say that the game looks bad, it simply isn't strikingly different from the first title. Colors pop, textures are smooth, and Sackboy's as cute as ever. The overall visual style of the game is very nice indeed. The one thing that sets this title apart from it's predecessor is it's prehistoric setting, although it wouldn't be too farfetched to believe that this could just have well been added as DLC to the original game.

Audio: The sound in this game is largely recycled from the original Little Big Planet. Music, sound effects, and everything in between all feel recycled and unchanged. While these things individually are not bad, the lack of anything original is a little disheartening. One thing that is specifically noticeable is the lack of voice overs for the few characters in the game. This may be a simple expansion to the original LBP, but seeing as most players will be using this as their first glimpse into LBP2, a little extra effort in this area would have been welcome.

Replayability: There are a lot of positives to this game when it comes to playing levels over and over with friends. Switching the move controller back forth, letting each other experience both sides of the coin, is a fun way to keep playing the same levels. Add two or three more players and many hours could be had collecting Special Bubbles and discovering hidden locations in each level. That being said, once you've played the game's six main levels that's all there really is. There is no online connectivity at all, one of the major draws of LBP, and the omission of user generated content seriously hinders this title.

Pros:
    •    Satisfying gameplay
    •    Fun local co-op
    •    Move controls work nicely
    •    Great level design

Cons:
    •    No online functionality
    •    No single player (must have 2 players)
    •    Lacks customization (stickers, user created levels)


Senior Editor: Raymond Segal

7/10 Good
Value $5