When LittleBigPlanet showed up for the PSP, everyone in the press sort of tilted their heads and wondered a great big, expectable, "how?". For good reason, of course. LBP for the PS3 was a massive title with bajillions of collectibles, materials and doo-dads. So how could Sony Cambridge and Media Molecule possibly trim that down and shove it into a PSP for LBP on the go?
I don't know, I'm not a scientist; but they did. Sure, some sacrifices were made in the process, but depending on how you play LittleBigPlanet, these sacrifices can seem very major or very minor.
Most of the game remains the same when compared to the console version. The story mode, especially, comes with the same charm as the original. Spanning 7 areas, there are more than 30 story levels to blast through. Some areas feels a little lame, like the ending segment, but then others ramp up the charm to new heights. One such level comes near the midpoint of the game as you work through the snow to help a clock maker.
Sony Cambridge also decided it was time to do away with limited lives. The only ways to leave a level are to beat it or to quit. You won't be booted for simply stinking. Die and you re-spawn without penalty. It goes a good distance to rid some of that platforming frustration, but it also dials the difficulty down.
The PSP version also nixes a lot of the sticker sticking for rewards. Instead, you'll be sticking stickers only when sticking stickers is required to get you unstuck (or into the next area). You won't be hopping and swinging into hidden rooms in order to slap a sticker you found on something for a bunch of bubbles. What's nice here, though, is that all the fuss encountered in the original when it came time to stick a sticker and hunt through your Poppit is gone. Now, open it up and the sticker you need is directly in front of you. Pretty clever.
