As far as I can remember we have had a rubbish year and this past Sunday was the sunniest day ever. This being the case I decided to leave my darkened hovel and venture out onto the streets of London. A to Z in hand and a mission to meet Sackboy in mind, I inflicted myself upon the world.
This weekend hailed the opening of Sony’s LittleBigPlanet space in Covent Garden. I was wooed in by the promise of live entertainment, music and arts and crafts, but failed to discover any hint of the first two. The venue was a little tricky to find hiding in a small shopping centre and I was a touch intimidated by the emptiness of the place. There were plates of free sandwiches strewn about but as I was one of only about 4 people in there I felt too self conscious to eat any. Really not a good start for me.
Looking around I saw there was a free console awaiting my attention so I jumped on and began to run through the beautiful world that is LittleBigPlanet. I have no idea what level I was playing, but the only element to it seemed to be jumping over dinosaur-like things, not much of a challenge, and I quickly became stuck with nothing to inspire me. To my relief a very friendly Sony bloke came and joined me to take over and show off the game. In his command we were soon placing snake like level design objects around the screen and gave my character a very appealing makeover. I have been a little worried that the game seems to be hugely creative but maybe does not have enough pre-created play time. I was told that I should not worry about this as everyone has the potential to be creative and this game will unleash that. I’m still worried.
After my quickie on the game I took another look about and mentally scored the arts and crafts creations adorning one of the walls. I chose this one as the best:
Before leaving, a photo shoot with Sackboy and one of the Sony team was required and then I ran off back into the blazing sunshine of early October. It sounds like a fleeting visit and indeed it was. I was disappointed by the emptiness of the session and felt really self conscious trying to play a game with a dozen Sony reps mooching about behind me in a bored state. Had the place been packed out I would have fought for my spot on the game and then stayed there until I was hauled off for hogging it, but in an environment where I felt unable to even eat the free food, I certainly couldn’t do much else. It was a cute experience, the venue is decorated nicely, and the children’s activities bring a certain warmness to the whole affair. I quickly grew to like the team, who were there after my initial fear of them. They knew the game well, were very happy to answer all my stupid questions, (including ‘so it’s a bit like Far Cry on the 360 then?’ which got a pretty odd look and needed some explanation on my part), and even happily took my photo without calling me a weirdo.
If you can get a group to go with you I totally recommend crashing in on this place for a visit. However if you are a born loner like myself, it’s maybe one to miss. I’m looking forward to the general release of the game a little more now, and really wish I’d had the balls to eat a free sandwich!
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