It feels surprisingly good to see Sackboy, the yarn-spun cuddly cuddly hero, back on our screen. The PlayStation mascot of yesteryear has never been so endearing. The LittleBigPlanet universe has always been sweet and fun, of course, but in A Big Adventure we really fell in love with our little friend. That actually applies to the entire game world.
Characters in Sackboy: A Big Adventure are very strongly designed and resemble hand puppets. They really have personality. The game world is also a colorful mix of two-dimensional cardboard cutouts and three-dimensional environments. The voices are also convincing from start to finish. Well, the English voice work – the Dutch voice work is mainly exaggerated and is therefore a lot less good. Either way, kids will love Sackboy and his stupid adventure antics.
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young and old
Children can also do great with this game. Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a platformer without complicated side issues. The previous games with Sackboy pretty much all leaned on creating, sharing, and playing – at least one of those three. But Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a traditional platformer for young and old. And if it gets too difficult, you can always help out as a partner, comrade, offspring, mom or dad: the entire game is in co-op play.
At least, sort of. The online co-op will not be added until later. This means that you can only play the game on the couch with a maximum of three others at launch. Unfortunately, we were unable to test that co-op. After all: we can’t just run to the store to stock up on a second controller. According to fellow journalists, the local co-op, which you can start at any time and supports up to four players, works fine in any case. We cannot say more about it.
Incidentally, the game contains a few levels that you can only play in co-op. If you’re playing on your own, skip those levels at launch or wait for online multiplayer to be added.
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Original?
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is sometimes clearly borrowing from your neighbor. For example, there are dynamic music levels that we know from the latest Rayman games. To the beat of Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk, the entire level jumps up and down at one point. You fly from place to place to the beat of the music. Such moments are extremely charming, but yes: you already know it. That also applies to the levels where you run towards the camera because a monster is chasing you. You already know it. You’ve known it since Crash Bandicoot, even.
And so there are countless moments that you see coming. That you think: if I do this, this hatch opens, and I am launched into an ice rink. Rarely are you wrong in such a case. Sackboy: A Big Adventure is not a very original game. It is striking that this especially applies to the beginning of the game. The first two of the five game worlds are a bit too easy and fairly standard. Sackboy: A Big Adventure manages to surprise more in later levels. That contrast isn’t huge, but it is there.
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What you may not expect is that Sackboy: A Big Adventure is exceptionally well-paced.
The question is whether it is a problem that Sackboy: A Big Adventure is not reinventing platforming. This whole game is about style in almost everything, and in that it is an exceptionally unique game. The game world relies on so much visual and substantive detail. Everything is so colorful and fun, the music is unparalleled and the characters are wonderfully playful and crazy. You are even going to care a little about that bag boy for the first time. It is a shame to reveal some moments, but Sackboy goes through a lot and endures it all with gusto.
The story in Sackboy: A Big Adventure is therefore worth mentioning. On a seemingly roguish day, the angry court jester Vex tears into Sackboy’s game world (‘Craftworld’). As in, he literally rips open the sky and climbs inside. The population of Craftworld is absorbed by Vex, who then also releases literal nightmares in the form of ‘Uproar’ on Craftworld. Sackboy is the only one who manages to escape. In his fight against Vex and his literal nightmares, he meets countless others – not all equally nice, but all equally charming.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is also unique to the platform, but that is not necessarily positive. LittleBigPlanet was known for its vagueness, and Sackboy: A Big Adventure is no different. Keep in mind that Sackboy can still be piloted as Sackboy. Precise platforming as in Mario is absolutely out of the question here – Sackboy floats, frolics and waddles. After a well-timed jump or a flip, you never really know where you’ll end up.
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Family platformer
The game is what you expect. A bit of platforming, buying a package for Sackboy every now and then, and of course that extremely charming game world. What you may not expect is that Sackboy: A Big Adventure is exceptionally well-paced. The start is a bit slow, but the levels are short and manageable. You fly through it. After eleven o’clock you are done with it, which is a good thing, because by the end you ‘know it’. The game is certainly not too long in that regard, but certainly not too short.
By the way, it’s definitely not the fault of Sackboy: A Big Adventure – at least, we assume that – but towards the end of the game our PlayStation 5 decided to reset itself and the game’s savefile was lost. Out of nowhere we had to pretty much start over with the entire game. To be clear: as far as we know, we are an exception on that front. That’s the downside to these early versions of consoles: they aren’t reliable.
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Sackboy: A Big Adventure is also out on PlayStation 4, but we’ve only played the game on PlayStation 5. The game impresses visually, not so much because of the beautiful technical performance, but because of the stable frame rate of 60 fps in combination with the beautiful, almost uncomfortably cute visual style. The DualSense controller plays a supporting role at most times: you can certainly feel the haptic feedback and the adaptive triggers, but they don’t make the same overwhelming impression as in Astro’s Playroom, for example.
Speaking of which: those who love mascot platforms are in for a good PlayStation 5 launch. Not only do they get Astro’s Playroom included for free, Sackboy: A Big Adventure is definitely a game that conquers platforming hearts. Which one is better? Astro’s Playroom, without a doubt. Sackboy: A Big Adventure doesn’t reinvent the wheel and is less innovative than Astros, but Sackboy does everything it can to steal your heart. And if you have kids, this is a must-have anyway – the ideal family platformer.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is available now on PlayStation 4 and on November 19 for PlayStation 5. Gamer.nl played the game for this review on PlayStation 5.
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