14 DAY TRIAL // One of the developers that worked on both Little Big Planet games has played down the comparison which gamers have made to the Mario platformer series when it comes to the jumping mechanics, saying that his team was aiming for a different experience.
Speaking to Eurogamer after the launch of Little Big Planet 2, David Smith, who is a technical director at Media Molecule and one of the co-founders, has tackled the subject of how jumping works in his game.
He said, “The simple answer is that it's just very different to Mario. It's very awkward even comparing it to Mario. Some people really want that jump that's faster or more controlled, but it doesn't as easily fit the freeform physical environment of LittleBigPlanet.”
He added that, “We've tried lots of different control methods with different levels of arcadiness, different levels of physicality, and we went for one we felt works best.”
It seems that the developers working at Media Molecule have also taken feedback offered after the launch of the first Little Big Planet to heart, adding the option to tweak the gravity of the level and adjusting Sackboy's power at the same time, making the jump feel quicker and more controlled.
The inertial element is still present, but it is a good way for a section of players to tweak the way jumping works in the levels that they will be creating for Little Big Planet 2.
The fact that jumping was too “floaty” was one of the main criticisms aimed at the first Little Big Planet when it was launched in 2008 and some people presumed that the sequel will change the mechanics altogether.
Little Big Planet 2 has been released exclusively on the PlayStation 3 home console from Sony and has been well received by critics so far.