LittleBigPlanet

Since I last reported (a disgracefully long time ago) I have played Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and failed to be either silent or an assassin, failing to complete the first mission after many, many attempts.  It says on Steam that I have played 6 hours of the game and I still no nothing about mission 2.

I have also had a go at Burnout on the PS2 and have found it frustrating.  All but 3 tracks are locked until you make some progress and doing that is tough.  There is an event to take part in which involves 3 races.  I can't see a way of saving after getting a good result in the first and so if you don't finish in the top three in three consecutive races you are back to square one.  The real frustration is that not only do you have to do well in the race overall, you also have to reach timing points within a certain limit; the time you get to reach the next depends partly on how you did in reaching the last.  The most annoying thing about adding this complication is that the same demands do not seem to apply to your AI rivals.  I have been timed out when in second place before now!  It is hard to believe that this game was made by the creators of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.

I have played a lot of LittleBigPlanet and it is my current obsession.  I have now finished the main game in single player and am even tempted to download some additional content.  My lasting impression of the game is of loving it but I spent most of the time swearing in annoyance.  The penultimate level was the worst and I spent hours attempting it repeatedly before I finally got to the end.  I seem to learn only slowly the best way of doing each part.  It took me so long to do this level that a section which had been my nemesis to start with seemed easy by the end because I had then passed it so many times to get to some new nightmare further on.

I have spent most of the last two evenings creating my own level.  It takes plenty of work but is rewarding.  Most of the best bits have come from my happening to notice properties of the game's materials or devices which are not their primary ones.  For example, a moving spike trap is lethal if Sackboy gets caught under it but the top can be used as a platform to bounce off to reach high places.

Another thing I've done for the first time is create an item of my own and I've even put it in a bubble in my level for others to win, assuming I ever publish the level.  It's not a very good item but everyone has to start somewhere and I intend to follow it up with others.

Now that you can get a PS3 for £160 I would recommend LittleBigPlanet to all.  I think that the sale of this cheap machine is probably a good commercial move by Sony, but I am surprised that they have made it.  With this machine having no hard drive to speak of (12GB) is it the console for the download era?  Should I feel encouraged by the implication that Sony are still in favour of boxed games?  I am not too impressed that the new 500GB model comes in the same cheap and cheerful casing as the lower priced version.  The previous PS3 slim models seem to be being withdrawn from sale so these two new ones might soon be the only ones available.  If Sony believe that the PS3 is still the best console in town (and I think it probably is) then why present it in this clunky, plastic fashion?

I have received the copy of Tomb Raider Anniversary for the PS2 which I bought extremely cheaply on ebay (most PS2 games are very cheap and I do like a bargain).  My memory of Tomb Raider Legend is of repeatedly not being able to reach the place I needed to be, so I expect I will have more annoyance to write about next time.