As dedicated readers may have gathered by now, I'm a gamer that doesn't easily buy into the hype machine whenever the latest thing is on the horizon.  What usually passes for enthusiasm these days is typically the result of excessive marketing and helped along by uncritical media-types, often overdramatizing for the masses.  When Sony first announced their genre-defining LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation 3, you can bet my protective guard went into overtime.  I wanted to believe that pre-release hype was once again overblown, that all reports of this content-creation platformer being something special were just empty words - but they weren't.  Not only does Sony's  new charming platform adventure live up to all lofty expectations, it easily exceeds them and has made a true believer out of this jaded gamer.

The idea of user-generated content is hardly new, although with LittleBigPlanet the concept is taken to an entirely new level of ease and participation.  Whereas most games that allow content creation require users have some programming knowledge, developer Media Molecule has instead focused on streamlining the process, simplifying it without sacrificing the very core elements that allow just about anyone to pick up the controller and start designing their own levels immediately.  Part of this success relies on the introduction of Sack Boy, a fully customizable race of ragdoll charm that act as digital avatars for the player and help streamline the process for those who might otherwise never have given the idea a second thought.

In its basic form, LBP is a fairly straightforward side-scrolling platform game, with run, jump, and grab making up the bulk of gameplay.  You’ll start out as a simple Sack Person, but can truly make the character your own thanks to a wide array of attainable accessories to really help him/her stand out.  Almost nothing is out of reach when whether it’s customizing your character practically anyway you can imagine, with various clothing and stickers, to giving it a particular facial mood that can be readily changed at anytime with the D-pad.  Personality expression, though simple in execution, provides an astounding amount of expression.  While none of this may evolve the platforming genre from a gameplay perspective, few have been so ambitious in redefining its attitude.

Creativity is an insanely large aspect and the key driving force that makes LBT what it is, even the main story offering of the game doesn’t make up a fourth of what its real potential is and what it has to offer. I can honestly say that making your own stages with the available creation tools is so robust in nature that anyone with a big enough imagination (and some free time) can replicate anything that comes to mind.  Every command and tool is accessible via the controller, with an ever-changing set of available designs and stickers that can be collected in-game, or downloaded through the PlayStation Network.  As with any set of tools the potential to build a unique level is vast, but in the right hands the results can be quite brilliant, let alone immense.

Playing through the in-game content is great and does much to introduce the mechanics, but you’ll definitely want to take your PlayStation 3 online where an abundant amount of user-created stages are readily playable. Navigation through the treehouse hub menu system is ridiculously simple, with almost unlimited potential for custom levels created by other LBP users to download, challenge, rate, and of course play in either by yourself or with others.  Or if you prefer to upload your creations and have others judge and experience your masterpieces, so be it.  This creative use of the PlayStation Network is like nothing I've ever seen, and depending on how many people are playing alongside you things can get very interesting.

The look is what really brings LittleBLittleBigPlanet together, with its incredibly rich and varied design choices, one could easily mistake this for an interactive children's book.  But I'm almost at a loss to name another game that lives and thrives inside its own world as this does, with pastels and brightly-colored elements that blend the photo-realistic with the surreal into one big visual wonderland.  Given how much freedom the game gives over to users to create their own content (and even import their own using the EyeToy), chances are the levels we see from LBT years from now will look radically different from those on display now.

The game's audio is just as good, with plenty of whimsical and frolic-filled music matching the game's nature very well.  Although I wish there had been as much variety in the actual selection, British comedian Stephen Fry does a fantastic job narrating much of the game, and his sly, omnipresent voice his a perfect match for the rest of the game.  All said the game is an audio/visual knockout, easily one of the best technological achievements on Sony's machine.

The only real glaring issue I have are the tremendous loading periods that sometimes bring the fun to a halt, from the initial startup loading times to the frequent fits throughout the experience.  Although this amount of loading is understandable given the vast amount of variable content at work here, waiting is almost a practice of patience.

Quite frankly, LittleBigPlanet surprised me...a lot.  I wasn't expecting this degree of freeform ingenuity or attention to detail, but I was wrong.  Its an incredibly ambitious and brave effort by Sony and developer Media Molecule that not only redefines the term interactive, but pushes user-created content further than any other mainstream title before it.  While it can be debated just how much of an actual 'game' is actually at work here, the prospect of having an endless torrent of creative choices and new content at your fingertips that can be enjoyed by just about everyone - sometimes all at once - helps make this an experience no PlayStation 3 owner should miss out on.  For years Sony has searched for a symbol to represent its expansion into the gaming market, and with Sack Boy may have finally found its mascot.