Planet Earth.

Or, as the rest of the omniverse calls it, the orb of dreams.

The occupants of which spend so much time asleep and dreaming.

Their vast imaginations humming away, charged with creative energy.

Where does it all go?

Up through a cerebral umbilical cord

Where it collects and melds with all the other dreamer's energy.

And something wonderful happens –

it forms a world.

An ethereal dreamscape of adventure and possibilities.

An abstract plane of beautiful wonderment

just waiting to be explored

And you can go there now.

Ryan: Rather than an introduction to what our team has so lovingly-crafted, the first paragraph of this review is the introductory narration for LittleBigPlanet. Watching it again, after having fully immersed myself in the game for several hours, I had a revelation: they're actually not kidding. LittleBigPlanet really, really is an ethereal dreamscape of adventure and possibilities, perpetually refreshed through a unique and massive game-building and -sharing framework. It is a wildly ambitious project for a small outfit like Media Molecule, and is probably Sony's most daring creative effort as a publisher. As near as I can tell, they've succeeded in every way.

At its most basic, LittleBigPlanet left-to-right platformer. This is the stepping stone; in a way, you could call it a generational game, since it uses this Mario archetype to build upon, quite literally. Even the most casual players are familiar with the language of the platform game. You can jump, and you can grab. Where LittleBigPlanet breaks away from other titles is in the aesthetic presentation, the physical nature of it, and the build-and-share aspects. All of these facets are carefully intertwined.

Visually speaking, the design is extremely clever on a number of levels. The Sackboy (or Sackgirl) is an instantly charming character which seldom fails to elicit smiles, particularly when controlled by a skilled puppeteer – I chose that word carefully because that is exactly what it feels like. Sackboy's facial expressions can be changed, and his arms and head can be manipulated as well, for some strikingly nuanced performance. This is all purely for show, but that's exactly the point, as it makes the 4-player games that much funnier. Of course you can grab and smack other Sackfolk as well, practically a minigame unto itself. (It's also extra-hilarious to watch the dynamic lip sync of the Sackpeople when playing online, as those with microphones will appear to be speaking directly through the characters.)

The "levels" of LittleBigPlanet, at least the fifty or so included with the game, adhere to the standard platforming layouts in the beginning, and become progressively more varied as you move through the game. Everything object and set-piece in the game is represented as home-made play sets – common household items and materials, patio stones, shot through a low camera angle. The assemblages are all crazy and fantastical, but the cobbled-together aesthetic works amazingly well. In addition, having a surrealistically photographic quality to the textures and geometry underpins the fact that this is a physics-based platform game, through and through. Absolutely everything in LittleBigPlanet relies on fairly realistic physical interactions. The Sackpeople themselves are the only "animated" characters; even other characters that you encounter in your travels are really just assembled cutout bits of... whatever, suspended on strings or chains or planks. Level design relies on things like levers, trap doors, bombs, rockets, catapults, spikes, cloth cubes, felt trees.... you get the idea. Additionally, materials can have various properties assigned like grippiness, or can be infused with electricity or fire for hazards. The chaotic, craft-time visual style works with the build function in perfect tandem – it's actually hard to create something really ugly in LittleBigPlanet, because everything is supposed to look thrown-together with thumbtacks and popsicle sticks. Even the visual focus of the game camera adds a vignette blur to the edges of the screen, further enhancing the idea that you are watching all of this unfold in miniature.

LittleBigPlanet makes great effort to take the player by the hand and tug them slowly into the deeper waters of level creation. To this end, Media Molecule has made the building materials themselves the prizes for playing through these levels. This feels almost like Mega Man boss mechanics, except with physical parts. An example: once you traverse a series of pegged water-wheels, you have an opportunity to grab the water-wheel prize bubble, which is added to your build inventory, called a PopIt.

The PopIt menu, ever-present on the square button, is another innovation. By always having your level manipulation tools nearby, the comfort level increases. Initially the game will have you assigning stickers to props to complete a goal, which acclimatizes the player to manipulating the environment and generally futzing with things. The idea is that you gradually start spending some of your time building rather than just playing. Level creation on a large scale is indeed a daunting, time-consuming activity, but I fail to see how this is a bad feature in a videogame. Editing anything with any detail takes time.

As if all that weren't enough – this entire wonderful ball of physics and adorable sackpeople is thoroughly connected to the PlayStation Network. You can play offline of course with up to four others, but the online section is where the real fun starts. There are hundreds and hundreds of custom levels already made, many of which are inane, but some which are inspired. Each of these has a constant flow of players jumping in and out of them that you can join up with. The power of the physics engine demonstrated in this game is truly remarkable, as some levels can attest. Entire machines can be assembled. And shared apiece. And linked together, and rated, and commented-on, and remixed. Forever. We will be playing LittleBigPlanet content for years to come, as the ethereal dreamscape of adventure and possibilities already seems infinite. No one is going to see all of them. Think about that. This game has more levels than you can possibly play already.

Dan: Leading up until it's release this was my most anticipated game of the year, easily. I hung on every video and screenshot, just aching to get my hands on the title. I even managed to get my fiancee excited for the game, and she's not really a gamer. Of course the game's design asthetic is so adorable it really did all the work for me. So with all this personal hype (and the last minute nonsense delay) was it at all possible that this game could live up to the hype I myself placed on it? The short answer is both yes and no.

The game almost seems to defy definition and therefore it's hard to really nail down similar titles to compare and contrast it to. I suppose on it's most basic level it's just a platformer, albeit with a pretty swank physics engine involved. So you run, jump, swing, etc through the levels towards some unimportant goal. Of course with a game like this there's much more to it than that though.

Each little area has it's own little storyline, and they're simple but cute. You move from country to country and each level is vaguely associated with where you're at. Mexico has an awesome De La Muerta wedding vibe, which was easily my favorite. So you move from country to country which all offer tons of unlockables and varied environments to move through. Desert, snow, city, asian temple, etc. Each one is incredibly unique.

What's truly inspiring about the game is that everything in it it built out of pieces of something else. For example, which going through the jungle level you run across monkeys... but they're not really monkeys. They're build out of pieces of wood and sponges and felt, like a crafty kid with an overactive imagination let loose. Even the triggers and switches that you cross can usually be seen, giving the whole thing a real tactile feel of a kid's playset, or a stage production. It also gives you ideas on how to build your own levels.

I think if I were going to point anything out as negative it would be the difficulty. It wasn't an overly hard game really, but it wasn't as easy as I was expecting and that made it hard for my fiancee to get into it. It simply moved past her level early on and left her more frustrated than anything. I almost think I'd like to see a "no fail" type option so little kids and uncoordinated adults can still enjoy what the game offers.

For seasoned vets it's not easy, but it's not impossible. Getting some of the harder unlockables takes perfect timing, so there's a bit of a challenge if you go looking for it.

I've been effusive up until this point, but there are some small issues, as with any game. The three-layered approach to the z-axis that LittleBigPlanet uses can present some frustration. You move in and out of the background between these three planes ("snapping" to them, as it were) and this adds a nice level of complexity, but Sackboy doesn't always guess correctly when jumping between planes. (Level creators ought to watch out for that.) Further, the physics-based nature of the game can behave very differently from what players are used to in a Mario/Japanese-style platformer; Sackboy doesn't jump very high at all, has no double-jump, and doesn't swing so much as strategically fall from grippy objects. Momentum is everything and it takes some time to un-learn old platform gamer habits and expected behaviours. These are very minor quibbles, and do not detract from the fun in any significant way.

In the end, I think LittleBigPlanet is the PlayStation 3's defining game. I can recommend it without reservation to practically everybody. These don't come along very often; even if you don't have a PS3, find a way to play this game, preferably with some friends. LittleBigPlanet rivals even the mighty Rock Band in it's ability to turn roomfuls of bored humans into a laughing, screaming, grinning idiots.

Jim: What can I say about LittleBigPlanet that hasn't already been said? It's a platformer. It's a co-op title. It's a physics playground. It's accessible. It's adorable. It's everything you could ever want in a game, and yet, it somehow manages to be more than all that.

LittleBigPlanet is whatever you want it to be. If you're just looking for a solid 2D platformer with a brilliant physics engine, it can be just that. If you're looking for a party game for you and your friends to enjoy online or off, it's that too. If you're looking to flex your creative muscles and spend days and weeks working on a masterpiece for everyone else to enjoy? You get where I'm going with this. LittleBigPlanet offers us an experience unlike any other title on the market, and it's easily the crown jewel in the PlayStation 3's cap. So just why did I fall so in love with LBP? I can sum it up in three little words: Play, Create, Share.

Was it their marketing slogan? Absolutely. But it was also a perfect description of what the title has to offer. The main campaign mode on the disc offers up some brilliant level design and heaping gobs of personality, but it really only serves as a precursor for what LBP is destined to become. So many mechanics both in the main levels and the mini-game stages strike that "GENIUS!" chord inside us that in the end they serve as inspiration for what we can do ourselves. It's almost as if the developers said "See all the things we were able to do? Here's our toolbox. Have fun."

Of course, creating our own levels is easier said than done. Numerous tutorials will walk you through everything that's possible with the tools at hand, but mashing them all together in a manner that's aesthetically pleasing and genuinely fun to play can prove to be something of a challenge. Don't consider the "create" mode in LBP to be just another run of the mill level editor. After playing around in create for countless hours this week, I don't think I could describe it as anything less than an entry-level game design program. After seeing some of the publisher-worthy user created content already in LBP, it couldn't be anything but.

Still, going from simple level editor to full on game design comes with much greater challenges. If you want to create something that will stand the test of time expect to do a great deal of forethought and planning and a hell of a lot of hands on work. Creating levels in LBP will never be a half hour affair.

Of course you don't need to have the first bit of creative talent or interest to enjoy what LittleBigPlanet has to offer. Luckily enough other people will have that for you. The user-created levels range from silly to sublime. The only real frustration I have is with the dumb palookas who make BRILLIANT levels based on licensed content. I don't mind so much that they make them, but that all their hard work and fantastic design is going to be torn down. Really -- how hard is it to make your kick ass stealth level and NOT put the name Metal Gear Solid in the title? I would never have even thought it possible to make a stealth game in LBP, but there it was. Surprises like that seem to be around every turn in this game.

LittleBigPlanet offers an adorable aesthetic and solid gameplay, but more importantly it's a title that can be whatever you want. As long as the user-created content keeps coming I can't see myself staying away for more than a week or so, if only to see what's new. It's been a long time since I've seen a game that gave me a constant reason to keep coming back. LittleBigPlanet is a must buy.

LittleBigPlanet is available now for the PlayStation 3 and retails for $59.99.

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