The Americanized Gamer: Little Big Planet 2

Hi there. This is Mark Bauermeister AKA the Americanized Gamer, ongoing freelance video game journalist. I’m here to present you my favourite game of 2011 so far.

To many it may seem like a rather unlikely choice, considering the nature of today's gaming industry and the FPS centrism of many younger gamers.

Regardless. As I’m a very creative individual, LBP 2 seemed just like the right choice for me. I’d already bought the first one the day it was released and while that one definitely had it's fair share of fun, I always felt like there was something missing. The story mode seemed rather short and gameplay wasn’t that immersive.

Fortunately, all this has changed with LBP 2. Where everything is brighter, smoother and, most importantly, filled with even more imagination and dreams.

Little Sackboy is once again heading out to discover several worlds filled with the imagination and dreams of their inhabitants. This time, though, he has to face a terrible enemy. The evil Negativitron is threatening to suck up the whole Omniverse and only Sackboy can set things straight. Supported by a (semi)-secret organization and their leader Larry Da Vinci, Sackboy has to travel Craftsworld and Avalonia, always on the lookout for that one weapon strong enough to bring down Negativitron.

While this doesn't sound like an overtly imaginative (albeit still levels above the essentially nonexistent ones of LBP and LBP Portable) plot, the gameplay makes more than up for it. Little Big Planet 2 introduces tons of new content and tools. For the first time ever, the players (or rather, creators) are not limited to 2.5D platform style games. Games in a fashion similar to Tetris are just as feasible as an Asteroids clone or any other 2D shooter, for that matter. Even racing games shouldn't be much of a problem.

While the Little Big Planet franchise has always been about imagination, I feel that no part before LBP 2 has been that littered with it.

A lot has changed in the technical department, as well. Graphics are now a lot crisper than they used to be and the game makes full use of the Playstation Move controller, making the creation of new content more accessible than it ever was. Content from the first Little BigPlanet is seamlessly integrated into the new game, setting in motion what can only be described as a "Multiverse of Never-ending Fun"

Overall, this is not only my game of 2011, but my game of "forever".

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