I was a big fan of Sackboy and his cutesy-poo adventures in surreal lands inhabited by cardboard cutout lunatics and bullies.
The progression from LPB to LBP2 wasn’t enormous, and while the brown fellow’s kart-racing entry proved mildly diverting, the formula is in need of a good stir.
The spoon in this respect is the introduction of three additional heroes: sack creatures of myth who banished three titans which tried their darnedest to consume the world of Bunkum. Oddsock, Swoop and Toggle each have a specific attributes that outperform those of the rather more well-rounded Sackboy.
And hell, they’re all neat, amusing, handy... but hardly exciting.
New and improved as far as LBP3 goes is an enlarged dimensional plane (16 levels rather than three), a utility pocket in which to keep all those handy tools and weapons, a new climbing ability, and Hugh Laurie. That’s right, LBP narrator Stephen Fry has dragged along to the party his longtime chum, and his laryngeal gymnastics unsurprisingly fit perfectly with the game's light aesthetic.
Apart from a few glitches (plummeting through the floor after 5 minutes' play wasn't the best of starts) LBP3 offers horrendously polished levels of jollity and multiplayer pleasantness that one expects from the series.
And that's just my point; there's no freshness, just screeds of Sackboy platforming niceness that pushes no envelopes whatsoever.
But if the idea of change disgusts you, it's a glorious little sausage.
Out on PS3, PS4
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