Here’s another bit of news from Joystiq courtesy of EuroGamer: LittleBigPlanet for PSP will not feature multiplayer, will have only two planes rather than three, and will fix the floaty jumping from the original. Joystiq writer James Ransom-Wiley seems to have a big problem with the removal of the multiplayer, and I’m sure he’s not the only one, but honestly, I’m not sure it’s that big of a deal. On the PS3 version I’ve had fun playing with a single other person both while attempting to get closer to 100% completion in the main game or having fun in new levels. However, attempting to play with the full four people is always a headache. I don’t want to play online with strangers, and I also don’t want to call up a friend and arrange to meet online to play LBP. Even if it was easy to do so, I prefer to play in person. However, without splitscreen people end up killing each other by moving too far off screen. In addition, trying to access the four player areas always leaves me feeling frustrated at the group’s inability to coordinate. Maybe I need to be playing with people who play more platformers, but my friends who are really into gaming are also not so interested in LittleBigPlanet.

 
Back to the PSP version, I do think multiplayer is an important feature, and I’m sad it’s not going to be in the game, but I just want to point out that LittleBigPlanet can be a lot of fun without it. The three planes of depth (characters can be in the background, foreground, or middle) in the original was just annoying and added very little “depth” to the gameplay while adding needless depth in the more literal sense. In fact, it was a big complaint of mine, so I can’t see how reducing it to two could matters worse. I was actually a lot happier before I clicked through to Joystiq’s source at EuroGamer; Ransom-Wiley wrote that there would only be one plane, but the source clearly says two. Too bad! A single plane would have been terrific! The jumping also felt imprecise,and for a game that touted its physics engine, it sure seemed like gravity was hardly effecting Sack Boy. Come to think of it, maybe this was to emphasize that Sack Boy was a stuffed person, presumably stuffed with some sort of very light fluff. Still, I’d like Sack Boy to feel heavier; hopefully LittleBigPlanet PSP’s revised jumping will fix this. On the other hand, jumping might feel bad for some other reason.
All things considered, this announcement only makes me more excited for LittleBigPlanet PSP. Not having multiplayer is a loss, yes, but I never thought I’d be playing it multiplayer regardless, and the jump mechanic should hopefully improve things. I do have to say that I’m very saddened that there are still two planes rather than three. I first wrote this article under the impression that there was only one, but before publishing I realized that Ransom-Wiley read his source incorrectly. Bummer! One plane with fixed jumping had me so excited! Still, I think LittleBigPlanet PSP will be fun.
Bramwell, Tom. No multiplayer in LittleBigPlanet PSP. EuroGamer. 8/19/09.
Ransom-Wiley, James. LittleBigPlanet PSP loses multiplayer, and maybe its soul. Joystiq. 8/19/09.