great review.

I wonder what will happen when Project Origin comes out..will he shat his shorts?..after watching the previews on DVDs for the new FEAR..I just about did.

Great review, as usual...

Was that last bit supposed to be a parody of the Ring?

And I really hope that wasn't Yahtzee's arse... Maybe Matt or Yug, whichever one he lives with now, it's hard to keep up with who's sleeping with- I mean living with- who in that little group... Though on reflection, I'd rather see Yahtzee's arse than Matt or Yug's.

Someone's been digging "The Ring" a tad much.

LBP is unlawfully overhyped, tbh.

Sometimes it feels like Yahtzee is in my head. Jumping, IMHO, is the worst part of the game and everything requires you to jump. Love the level designs though.

You know, I really do like the user generated content idea, though I understand what Yahtzee's talking about, but sifting through some bad stuff to get to something good can sometimes be rewarding. And trying out the level creator would be fun, I've tried it at Gamestop, but not very much, I still think it's user content generation works better than Spore, what with being able to create levels as opposed to creatures and spaceships you will only see from a mile away later in the game. Great review though, as always.

Haha, evil googly-eyed shorts! How long d'you think it'll take for those to show up in a Little Big Planet level?

Wasn't the best ZP review i've seen, took him like a whole minute before actually mentioning the game he was reviewing. Shoulda just made a random video game rant like his Turok/FPS video.

I never played this game and ever since i saw the adverts and ign reviews etc i always wanted to. Sadly im an xbox, pc and wii owner i don't think i can bring myself to buy another console for fear of becoming obsessed with games haha

We do need more simple platform games like this thought - Remember what an amazing success the new super mario brothers was on ds (doh! i own a ds too)

I hope Yahtzee gets his hands on a bad game that really inspires the hate within him soon (a game on the Jericho/Too Human level of bad). He's really been phoning it in on ZP lately.

Wow, that pants thing was really wierd, was that really your butt?
Enjoyed the review on a whole.

Best - Review - ever.
The shaking arse will haunt me for many nights to come o_o

NeonZombie:
Sadly im an xbox, pc and wii owner i don't think i can bring myself to buy another console for fear of becoming obsessed with games haha

Lol I think you already are one! Welcome to the club ;D

jjpenguin:
meh, didnt find it funny myself...valid points though, Yahtzee doesn't seem to get UGC, the point is that there WILL be an extortianite amount of sh*t, but saturated with brilliance

I think that phrase "doesn't seem to get" or it's close couisin "don't understand" are two of the stupidist phrases on the internet. Anytime anyone disagrees about something, they don't "get it" or don't "understand" its wonderful brilliance. Loved the review, the googly eyed ass shaking was funny, but I just had to throw my $.02 worth in because I hate that statement "don't get it." Opinions aren't rocket science or calculus. It's not a question of "getting it"

you done it again. Another great review that kept me and my friend rolling on the ground and laugh my a$$ off. Thxs for a good review and even though I don't have a PS3 if I did I probably wouldn't buy this game because of your review...so thxs for saving me the money in hindsight (but no you can't have that money I saved)

Bum....tastic

I laughed so hard a little wee came out. Especially at the cochlea bit and, of course, at the googly eyes dance.

Excellent review, mustn't've been easy in this heat (seriously, my brain would just melt).

Pretty much my opinion on the game exactly.

I personally love everything about LBP, and had a blast playing it with 3 mates, UGC included! Rocket Skateboards are alot of fun.

I reckon he liked the game but hated himself for it, as someone pointed out earlier on.

LBP Metacritic score = 95%

The world Fails.

Yahtzee Wins.

No sarcasm.

Seriously, LBP blows yet all the critics jumped on the fail wagon to praise it but at least some REAL FUCKING CRITICS had the right idea, like Yahtzee.

The tragedy is that Killzone 2 which is probably a game deserving its hype is getting a lower score. What the fuck is going to happen next? HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD!!!

I pretty much agree with everything mentioned, though I didn't even think the story levels where great. I liked the first few ones but the camera and the 2.5D levels was determined to make me fall into a fire pit or suchlike that I couldn't see until it was too late.

User content for most games is a bad idea and for the reasons stated. Lets just look at Spore or Farcry 2 for more evidence of that.

ColdStorage:

PirateKing:
I was hoping he would review this.
...was that Yahtzee with the googly eye boxers? If so then awesome. Yahtzee rocks even more.

I dont know whats more disturbing, Yahtzee doing the butt monster himself, or asking a friend to do it....

maybe its an escapist, think he's your friend?, he might be grooming all of us.

Doesn't he have a housemate? It could be either one then, but I'd like to think it's Yahtzee ^.~

User made content is only good when editing tools are inaccessible to the common 12 year old (not hard, just make them have to read a lot).
I have personally made tons of content that has been warmly accepted within the communities.

Don't take the googley arse away!

I was enjoying it ;-;

Oh wait, did that come out loud?

Fantastical review as always, look forward to one every week, keep up the good work Yahtzee! ;)

Meh.

well, that was rather upbeat, if smegma-drenched.

ahum

great review =D

MEH.

After the mediocrity of TRU, FC2, and GOW2, I thought Yahtzee was done for. This was a little better, but I hope in the future he goes back to reviewing games that don't suffer from expensive paint-by-numbers development, ending up incredibly dull and soulless but you can't really complain because they're "solid experiences with no real game breaking bugs."

The reviewed games this year don't sound like they're of interest to Yahtzee, so why review them? Fanboys? Fuck fanboys. They're not interesting games. Get back to reviewing what you want to review, Yahtzee! I could care less about Turok or Oblivion, but your reviews of those games were hilarious.

Watchmen reference FTW!

Amoreyna:

When you paint something you have to have an idea of what you want. The majority of people create a sketch first and then put a light outline onto their canvas so that they know how everything will lay. You spend hours with the colors, shading, fine lines, tiny details, getting everything just right so that it looks like it took no time at all. Mistakes can be agonizing to correct. The same with sculpting - it takes hours of hands on work. Both of these mediums demand that you practice them and have background knowledge so that you can use them effectively.

But with a program that is set up to design levels already half of the work is already taken out. There is no foundation laying, no building up to what is considered the fun stuff. Players don't have to spend hours getting the code right - it's already done for them. That's what takes away the status of art from something like this. Regardless of how creative you are anyone who sits down can use it and create something functional out of it. Everything is laid out for you that you'll need. Anyone can sit down and with a little bit of fiddling and patience make something realitively impressive.

The process of a designer making a level is very much the same; sketch ideas, block out the level to get its basic functional form, then work on the real content of it. Mistakes in LBP can also be agonising to correct, trust me on this as I have done a lot of work in LBP.

Gameplay mechanics are crafted by the designer, with the exception of things like race start points and ends, score bubbles, and the controls of the player. All the platform layouts, moving objects, choices of visual style, gameplay styles, are done by the designer. In its most basic form, LBP is a physics simulator, and it is up to players to decide how to use it - this is why community levels range from simple platform levels to game tributes (such as Dead Space, Silent Hill, and of course Mario), to abstract artistic endeavours (such as the sillouhette levels), music boxes, and contraptions such as tanks, rollercoasters, and even a functional calculator.

Granted, there is a set selection of materials and stickers to use, though with a PS3 camera you can put in your own images and there will probably be an option to import your own images from the PS3 harddrive in the future, allowing creators to draw their own stickers in an art program and put them in their level. In this manner, one could even argue that LBP is an *evolution* of traditional art, as it can incoroporate user generated images into interactive environments.

Here is the main point. In a nutshell, LBP is a story medium. Users can create their own stories through the use of the game mechanics and artwork, and imported artwork. Using text, visual symbols, and interactivity, a creator can guide a player through a crafted world that may or may not adhere to the game's included mechanics such as scoring, dying, level completion, etc. Yes there are limits, but those limits are surprisingly less limiting as you may think; the only real limitation is the way that a level can be experienced, which is through the avatar of Sackboy. People are more likely to be limited by their imagination before really being limited by the game engine, as evidenced by a huge amount of tribute levels.

AhhARealMonster:
MEH.

After the mediocrity of TRU, FC2, and GOW2, I thought Yahtzee was done for. This was a little better, but I hope in the future he goes back to reviewing games that don't suffer from expensive paint-by-numbers development, ending up incredibly dull and soulless but you can't really complain because they're "solid experiences with no real game breaking bugs."

What games can you give as examples of ones which are not 'dull and soulless'?

the cheap-*ss ad thing sucked major coch-LEA!

It was a good review. The googlie eyes added a nice touch. Hope to see them again in the future.

ehhh that's I have to say

If I had a PS3, this wouldn't be my first game to get, not saying its bad, most likely very very good but I'm not sure why its as popular as it is critically per say... maybe I'd have to play it beyond the demo off a borrowed console.

Great review BTW.

merkaba48:

AhhARealMonster:
MEH.

After the mediocrity of TRU, FC2, and GOW2, I thought Yahtzee was done for. This was a little better, but I hope in the future he goes back to reviewing games that don't suffer from expensive paint-by-numbers development, ending up incredibly dull and soulless but you can't really complain because they're "solid experiences with no real game breaking bugs."

What games can you give as examples of ones which are not 'dull and soulless'?

Please note that if something is not dull that does not mean it's good. Also, if something is not soulless, it does not mean it has a "good" soul. What I meant by 'dull and soulless' was that these games are MEH. Completely MEH. They're the creation of an elaborate and expensive paint-by-numbers design philosophy and feature neither stupid nor innovative design decisions. There is nothing redeemable about them, nor is there anything to really criticize apart from being the definition of average. They are mediocre with a capital M. He might as well review an EA Sports title.

Anyways, I couldn't really give a ton of examples without making this seem like a wishlist, which would, of course, be contradictory to what I'd like to see (in case you forgot, it's Yahtzee reviewing things he wants to review, and not succumbing to wishlists). And by review I mean satire... which is another problem. The videos seem to be turning more and more into reviews a la IGN and GameSpot.

While the other internet nerd critics have evolved (AVGN, Nostalgia Critic, the ScrewAttack cast), Yahtzee seems to be devolving. I hope his best days aren't behind him.