Little Big Vroooomeh: A Game Review

I pre-ordered LittleBigPlanet Karting back in October 2011 and was out of town on its release date in November, so Boyfriend was kind enough to go pick it up for me. As payment for his kindness of walking down the street and getting my game for me, I gave him permission to play it while I was away. While talking on the phone throughout the week I was away, it was clear that Boyfriend was enjoying playing it, but I could tell he wasn't quite as excited about it as we have been with other games.

Eventually, I did get to play for myself. LBPK is pretty much exactly what you would expect if you are a fan of the previous 2 titles in the franchise. The sack boys are just as cute with fun new costumes available, the karts are fully customizable, and the unlock-able stickers and goodies are just as tricky to find and obtain, except now with the added challenge of racing/winning. The race courses are challenging and creative, the music is happy and fun, and the design is true to the LBP world. The storyline even picks up right where LBP2 left off, except now you have to race against the evil Hoarde to prevent them from, well, hoarding everything in the Craftverse. Also, much like its predecessors, some of the best things in Karting are the user-made levels online. Overall, the game is fun and adorable.

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All of this being said, after playing through it, I'm not as super excited about this game as I want to be. I can't really find anything "wrong" with it other than the frustratingly vast difference between the "Casual" (easy) and "normal" modes of the game, and that some of the non-racing levels were repetitive and frustrating- so much so that you almost need to use multi-player to beat certain levels.  Perhaps my expectations were so high for this game that I was bound to be a little disappointed even if the game were made of gold-encrusted diamonds and shat out of a Unicorn. (Well, that would be pretty neat-o-rific.) Or, perhaps I've just *gasp* out-grown racing games.

This review post has been a long time coming. I've owned this game for over 2 months and while some holidays got in the way, I really have to be honest in saying that I procrastinated writing and posting this review. I did this mostly because I was so bummed that I didn't like this game more. The first two games set the bar so unbelievably high that no racing game could possibly live up to the expectations. I feel a little guilty being so brutally honest because I love Sackboy and LBP so much. But, in all honesty, it did not and could not live up to expectations. As a stand-alone game, it's delightful and fun and happy, but it is most definitely the weakest game of the the 3 LBP games. It just isn't a game I could sit and play for hours like other games I own. It's not ground-breaking as far as LBP or racing games go, but I am glad that it is part of my collection. I must say that I enjoyed LBP2 much more than this game and I could have lived without pre-ordering it too. (Sadly, it looks like I am not alone in my lukewarm feelings about Sackboy's latest adventure.)


On my patented scale, I give LittleBigPlanet Karting 3.5 out of 5 Sackboys. It's a fun party game with friends. For about an hour or two. 

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