LittleBigPlanet 3 is the third numbered sequel in the series, and the first for the PlayStation 4, although it was also released for the PlayStation 3. However, unlike the previous games, it is not developed by Media Molecule but by Sumo Digital and the quality shows. This is because LittleBigPlanet 3 was filled with game-breaking bugs at launch and it took multiple patches before it was finally relatively bug-free.
While LittleBigPlanet is all about user generated content, there is still a story mode, being a platformer at heart. The story this time takes place in Bunkum where Sackboy meets the new character Newton. This world had a history where Titans were rampaging the lands and three heroes rose up to avert the crisis. Sackboy must journey through Bunkum to reawaken these heroes. It isn't too deep but does the job of justifying the things that you are doing.
The platforming controls remain familiar to anyone who has played the games before. Supporting three layers most of the time, Sackboy can jump between these different layers to pass obstacles. His other abilities include being able to jump, climb and drag stuff. The main new addition is that Sackboy now has access to various gadgets that you use to solve the environmental puzzles, such as a gun that blows or sucks wind, and a helmet that lets Sackboy warp to specific places.
The puzzles in story mode are easy enough to solve and it doesn't get too frustrating. While Sackboy has limited lives at each checkpoint, it's plentiful enough to not make it frustrating. There are plenty of collectibles where most of them double up as actual items you can use in the game's other modes, as well as boosting up your score for the level. Annoyingly, but standard for the series, you cannot get everything unless you either have three other players with you or you're adept at using up to four controllers yourself.
The other new addition is the new characters. At certain points in the story, you're able to control characters other than Sackboy. While Sackboy is the most versatile, the other characters have abilities that are fun. Toggle can change size while Oddsock can wall jump. These inject much needed variety into the levels, making the ones where you control them feel much more fast-paced and refreshing. While the game is easy for the most part, it's really simple to complete the levels, the final two levels are a massive pain. Not only is there a difficulty spike but if you die enough times to use up all your lives in the final checkpoint, you have to start from the very beginning... that's up to three levels. It is such a poor design that gets you, it's the fact that you have to complete the beginning levels again and again and again, artificially increasing the longevity of this extremely short story mode.
The problem with a lot of the later levels is that they end up having a reliance on chase sections that require memorization of what comes next. Since you're under an artificial time pressure, coupled with the fast pace, it can be hard to know what's happening the first time around. This ends up coming back to repeating the same section again and again to get through and it's not good level design design when that happens. It's a shame because at its best, LittleBigPlanet 3 is a ton of fun.
The story mode is very short with only four worlds including the prologue, and each world only has 3-5 big levels in it. There are other sidequests but they are all minigames and it'll take you 5-7 hours to complete it. There is the Poppit Academy which introduces to the players the various Create mode features and how to use them. It is presented in a fun way as you traverse through the level, overcoming obstacles using these abilities. While it is like a glorified tutorial, it works really well.
Of course, the Create Mode is one of LittleBigPlanet's biggest draws and features. A neat aspect is how the game is fully compatible with the first and second game's levels, even on the PlayStation 4. The controls to create your own level take a while to get used to though. If creating isn't your thing then there's the huge amount of user generated content. While there are plenty of throwaway levels there are gems that you can find. You can always filter to help find the good stuff that others enjoyed.
Even with all the patches, the game still feels it needs some extra polish. Load screens are frequent and feel obnoxious. Framerate drops randomly for no reason and you feel like the game is going to crash (although it never actually did). You'll randomly change layers and get stuck inside requiring you to retry from the last checkpoint. Overall, while LittleBigPlanet isn't a bad game per se, it is a noticeable drop in quality compared to its predecessors. The story levels have some fun platforming action and new features, but hampered by being extremely short and poor level designs. The glitches, some of which continue to this day, really ruin the experience.
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