After a few hours of robbing banks and sticking up liquor stores on Grand Theft Auto, you might feel the need to regain your innocence. Little Big Planet happens to do just that.

The long awaited sequel to Little Big Planet 2 was recently released on November 17, this time around on PS4 as well. The series tends to hide behind an “E for Everyone” rating but for the past few years, it has provided genuinely fun adventures for even the most jaded gamers. The question that still stands for Sackboy’s fans however is, “How does the third installment stand against the past two?”

Gameplay: 6.5/10

Little Big Planet has always been one to completely immerse the gamer into a playful and extremely creative world. This one tends to unfortunately fall a bit short. Throughout the game, I came across a few game breaking bugs including falling into a never ending vortex of nothingness, coming across parts of the level that should be inaccessible etc.

Sadly, the gameplay also disappoints in terms of innovation. This time around, Media Molecule, the original developers of the first two passed the rights down to Sumo Digital, a small time indie game company. The new developers utilized many of the aspects that LBP3’s predecessors held and attempted to keep it similar.

Sumo Digital happened to only add a few power ups here and there but nothing relatively ground-breaking other than the three new characters. Once more, LBP3 disappoints in this aspect as well. The new characters are incredibly fun but ridiculously underused. The campaign in this game includes about two levels designed specifically for each character disregarding the big part they play in the story.

Plot (Spoiler Free): 6/10

Sackboy’s adventures in Little Big Planet 1 and 2 were relatively interesting. The plot involved some sort of twist halfway through that took players places beyond their imagination.. Once again, Little Big Planet 3 happens to unimpress here too. The dialogue sounds very cliché and overused. It’s your every day “good guy goes bad” scenario.

This installment’s plot echoes many aspects from Little Big Planet 1 except the villain’s name just so happens to be different. The set up for unlocking the brand new characters is rather elaborate, but nothing new. Overall, it’s been seen before by anyone who’s watched a Disney movie in the past decade.

Graphics: 8/10

Graphically, the game does include some improvements. The differences between the PS3 and the PS4 version are somewhat noticeable and you can definitely see some visual refinements from its predecessors. The new character models look great and all have different facial expressions which is a success in my opinion. Sometimes, I do have to convince myself that I’m playing on a next generation console as the graphic differences between PS3 and PS4 are miniscule but other than that, it exceeded my expectations visually.

Lasting Appeal: 10/10

Thankfully, Sumo Digital delivers in terms of lasting appeal. If you didn’t know already, Little Big Planet is based on creativity. The game hands you a level creator and gives you the tools to create whatever you please. It’s harder than it sounds but for the more laid back, lazy gamers like myself, it is possible to play the levels designed by other creators who publish their work online  allowing them to be played by anyone.This can save a lot of time instead of making your own level from scratch.

LBP3 imports every single level created in Little Big Planet 1 and 2 so you can revisit your favorite ones. The game is quite literally never ending as you come across new experiences with the simple press of the X button. If you’re an avid gamer, this creative platformer will keep you occupied for quite a while.

The Verdict: 7.5/10

For previous fans of the series, Little Big Planet 3 provides nothing too fresh except the new characters which rarely show up. Strangers to Sackboy’s adventures will most definitely enjoy this installment as it provides an entirely new experience unlike any other game and will have you busy working through other player’s levels for a while. Overall, Little Big Planet 3 is most likely not your first choice for holiday shopping but it’s definitely worth your hard earned cash when the price drops eventually.