Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Just plain fun"

I was looking for a game that was easy to jump into and have some fun when people came over and to play the occasional time with my wife who generally shuns video games. LBP2 definitely filled that void in my gaming library. It's got a great, whimsicle, light hearted atmosphere to it that draws you in and lets you just have a lot of fun.

The graphics are a mixture of cartoon-ish CGI and hand stiched effect similar to Kirby's Epic Yarn. It gives the visuals a unique look that you won't find anywhere else. There are also plenty of special effects that look pretty dazzling such as lasers, explosions, blobs of goo and that sort of thing. There are loads of customization features to change the way your sackboy looks as well as your "planet" and "moon" areas.

The gameplay consists of mostly side-scrolling platform types with lots of variety mixed in. You can drive vehicles, control space ships, use a grappling hook and many other gadgets that make each level feel interesting and unique. On top of the main story there is an enormous variety of downloadable, custom created content online. A lot of it is bad but the game has a good way of filtering out the bad stuff so if you play only the top rated levels you'll find a constant supply of new and interesting challenges.

There are many levels geared towards group play and they are some of the most enjoyable. They consist of little battle modes where you have to bump opponents off a ledge or play a mini game similar to basketball or guitar hero.

The game is at it's best when played with others in the same room. My wife and I had a blast playing through the story mode levels together. It was halarious watching ourselves stumble through the obstacles grappling onto each other and helping each other get through it. The downside is that if you want to play with very novice player, the difficulty ramps up a bit too quickly. You can also instantly jump into the story mode or other levels with others online although there are some glitches. The screen switches to a loading screen at bad moments sometimes and there are hitches and lags when a lot of action is happening. The camera also has a hard time keeping up and making sure everyone is visible on the screen.

LBP2 has a super cool creation mode that lets you design levels or even an entire mini-game within the confines of LBP itself. The tutorials are extensive and teach you very well and the creation tools are amazingly robust. This time around you really are only limited by your own imagination. It will still take a while to learn the very advanced aspects of level design but it's not very hard at all to get a basic level up and running. If you aspire to be creative and ever wanted to design your own level then this feature alone is worth the price of admission.

I would say this game is probably as close as the PS3 will get to having a platform defining, iconic franchise or mascot for the system. I wouldn't say its a good game for non-gamers but for someone wanting a different experience in their library that they can play with friends/family, this is the game to own on the PS3.