Family Friendly is a feature here at Aeropause Games highlighting a video game that I have enjoyed with my children. As a father of three kids aged 4, 3, and a newborn of 7 months, finding time to play games can be few and far between. Since part of this time coincides with playing with my kids, moderation is essential in choosing what I play. Come cozy up on the couch as I present some ideas for enjoying your favorite pastime with your tykes.

Last October, Sony launched a new title in hopes of birthing a franchise and mascot: LittleBIGPlanet. While the title has clearly garnered the praise it deserves, Sony and Media Molecule have also managed to create a platform akin to Mario and Sonic, and even Crash Bandicoot, that has dropped anchor at the Koss household and won’t be leaving port any time soon.

For the uninitiated, the LittleBIGPlanet world is built from cardboard, sponges, wood, clouds, colors, and imagination. So straight out of the gate, the basic fundamentals are what I’ve been trying to promote in my kids: creativity, imagination, engineering, and fun. The cutesy cartoon world’s interaction has lent itself to numerous comedic distractions. From slapping each other around, to hanging on each other during jumps, or just performing silly dances, we end up spending a chunk of time just playing around instead of advancing the level. The soundtrack contains a diverse collection of songs by lesser known artists that are now readily recognizable by the kids just like the themes from Zelda and Mario. Whenever one of the songs is played by my iPod, there’s always an accompanying shout of “That’s from LittleBIGPlanet!” Which is great since I’d rather not be inundated with a concoction with whatever the Big Label Music machine has spewed forth lately.

The gameplay is the only thing that holds up this title for us. In the beginning of the game, my daughter could control her SackGirl with little effort and make most jumps, grabs, etc. Once holding onto objects, and having to perform timed movements came into play frustration took over. Yes, all of the reviews that dinged the game for having some slightly awkward controls were right and magnified ten-fold upon those with lesser hand-eye coordination.

The one area of the game that I would like to spend more time with is the creation part. After the beta, I haven’t gone back through the tutorials to unlock all of the tools, since its an overly tedious process having done it once before. I’ve also been worried that initial level creation may prove to be too slow and therefore boring to them while getting my bearings straight with the tools. I know my wife was bored out of her mind when I played around with it during the beta. I’m going to try it soon, so I may report back after that experience.

Where the game glistens like a rainbow after a storm is in the almost infinite replay-ability locked inside an endless deluge of user-created content. After finishing the story, we can now spend countless hours jumping around through levels ranging from odd to funny. With some levels closely resembling other games that my kids have enjoyed, it’s exciting for them to see the two game worlds collide.

If you’re still sitting on the fence, jump on down, pick up the Game of the Year edition and rustle up your little ones. You won’t be disappointed, unless of course you don’t like side-scrolling platform-action games made from a fantastical world.

ESRB Rating: E for Everyone

Comic Mischief
Mild Cartoon Violence

Average web score: 7.6 out of 10
(according to Test Freaks)