When LittleBigPlanet Karting was announced, the first thought that was on everyone's mind was "didn't Sony already produce a user generated content kart racer called Modnation's Racers?". Anyway, as you can tell from the title, this is a karting game with a LittleBigPlanet theme, complete with a huge chunk of the game allowing for user generated content. Potentially, this means that there are thousands to millions of tracks waiting for you to download and enjoy. The reality is that only a few are worth playing and are of the same high quality of the developer tracks. Yet with the huge focus in this area, the search function of the user generated content isn't very well done... It is a little bit confusing and it seems that whenever you finish up a level, it doesn't go back to your search results, instead going back all the way to the home screen, which is annoying. If you want to race against other players online, you have to individually select the level you want to play on as there is no lobby function. Anyway, let's go with the game mechanics first. LittleBigPlanet Karting does not innovate the karting genre, instead, it plays safe. If you've played a kart racer before, you will feel instantly at home and the controls are intuitive.
You can accelerate, reverse, obtain power ups to fire, drift and swing from objects. There is nothing that we have not seen before. This in itself isn't a problem, as long as the controls are tight and the track designs creative. Sadly, the game falters a bit in these aspects. The controls feels too sensitive at times, while drifting is fun and easy to handle, turning corners will take some getting used to as you learn how hard to push the analogue stick. In the beginning, you will often find yourself accidentally turning too tight and as you try to adjust yourself, the camera swings wildly, adding to the confusion. There's not way to change sensitivity in the options. The track designs are actually quite good in the earlier levels but they gradually start to get worse, to the point where they feel uninspired and not that interesting to play. Playing through the game, it feels as if something fundamental is lacking as it doesn't carry the same fun as other kart racers that I have played (which are only Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing). Maybe the music doesn't pump your adrenaline enough, maybe the action is not crazy enough or maybe it's the handling. It's really hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that is dragging the game down.
The power ups are your stock standard affair ranging from autopilot, missiles, fake boxes, mines, grenades and more. One of the annoying aspects is that when you get hit, you get destroyed, turning into ashes and then respawning. It really breaks the flow of the race, especially when a simple spin out will suffice. I really like the ability to block incoming weapons by using a weapon of your own. The graphics on the other hand are excellent and makes the tracks and environment pop. Sure, it can sometimes be too busy and makes it hard to tell what is happening but it's still very much LittleBigPlanet. There is a story mode (i.e. single player, although there is drop-in drop-out co-op, in which it becomes split screen), spanning seven planets and 20+ levels. I say "levels" and not "tracks" because the story mode will constantly change the modes of the next level. There are normal races in which you duke it out to become the fastest over the finish line. Battle modes in which you are in an arena and must defeat as many of the other players as you can. Waypoint races which are basically timed races. Treasure hunts where you try to be first in getting to certain areas in an arena. There are also boss battles which take on different elements each time.
This variety keeps the gameplay fresh and interesting. That's not to mention all the side levels, which are basically more modes, for you to play. The game has two difficulties, Casual and Normal. Normal can get challenging once you're a bit into the game and Casual isn't that much of a joke either. While I did find the first half of the game fun (especially the first few LittleBigPlanet themed levels, where it brings a nostalgic feel into the tracks), it quickly started to get stale and hard to get into. There is one hard level in which you have to defeat a boss, it's annoying in the fact the boss moves quickly, you have limited lives and the level is timed. There were more than a few choice words thrown at the level designer while trying to beat the boss (probably took me 10+ tries in the end). All that and I haven't gotten to the actual story. LittleBigPlanet Karting tries to tell a proper story... and fails. There are cutscenes in front of every level and the only thing I could glean from the confusing mess is that Sackboy is travelling from planet to planet, helping out the inhabitants there and slowly getting to the Hoards. Who are these Hoards? We have no idea, they just like to hoard/steal stuff for some unknown reason. Needless to say, the story is only there for the sake of being there.
Ignore the story and just enjoy the races, don't think too much of why Sackboy is constantly racing. Lastly, each level contains collectibles (that's right, collectibles in a kart game, *sigh*), these are called "prize bubbles" which contain materials to use in the "create" side of the game. This adds a lot of replay value and it isn't generally hard to find all the prize bubbles (getting them is another story). Obviously, cheap deaths are a common thing in this game. It can get frustrating, especially when some of the level designs are evil. There is one track where you cannot touch the sides of the track for fear of an instant death. Combine this with instant death obstacles in the middle of the track and you will constantly die. It's a timed race so it's in your best interest to not waste time respawning. The majority of trophies in the game are really simple to get, as well as quick. There are a few which will take a long time, especially the one where it requires you to spend 24 hours in create mode. It would be a huge benefit if you have played the LittleBigPlanet games before as you will appreciate the design of the levels a lot more. Overall, the karting mechanic is solid enough to be fun but there are a few nuances that stop it from being a classic kart racer.
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