Finally, LittleBigPlanet Karting Information

I was made aware of the above trailer for LittleBigPlanet Karting by Chance as per usual, and after throwing out some of my two cents about it in the comments there, I figured that it would be best if I went full-bore here, since I am genuinely interested in the game.  Not only as someone who intends to buy the game, but as someone who is just interested with how it came to be, all things considered with it.  You know me, you know I am a whore for all things LittleBigPlanet, so to say that I'm going to get the game is a foregone conclusion -even if- I play it and am not a fan of the controls.  That's the pull LBP has on me, so I would suggest that the new branding does have a little power, but I'm clearly not the indicator of the majority.  Still with an established first-party character behind it, it'll likely get a little more attention.

On concept alone, I am sold, just like I was sold on concept alone with Modnation Racers.  Then I played it which, let's face it, there was something wrong there, which is kind of why Modnation Racers didn't take off like everyone hoped.  The fact that the very same developer that created Modnation Racers, United Front Games (who -should- be completely busy with Sleeping Dogs yet, unless it's pretty much way done), is working in LittleBigPlanet Karting makes me a little suspect, but like I said, I would hope that with an established first party character behind it, other studios will offer their own brand of help to ensure quality.  At the very least, I should hope that Media Molecule gets quite a bit of say in the development of the game, though in all honesty, after watching the trailer I believe they have.  Because there was certainly some of that LittleBigPlanet charm in it.

As I mentioned in the comment to Chance, everything in that trailer was more or less better than anything I've ever seen out of Modnation Racers, and it's not just because of the LBP of it; it genuinely looks like a tighter, more realized game.  The interesting thing about it is that it literally looks like a LittleBigPlanet game that involves Kart Racing, rather than a Kart Racer built around LittleBigPlanet.  What I mean by that is the way all the additions to LBP2 have been worked in seem rather natural and closer to that game, just realized in a different way because of the different genre.  The use of the grabinator to pick up obstacles and the grappling hook to clear a jump with style being the notable examples here.  That's why I suspect that MM have had their hands in the creation and why I have more faith in it than I should, by all rights I imagine.

The other big thing, especially big in this case, would be the inclusion of a battle mode which is always fun.  My exposure to the genre is fairly limited, but I, as most people had a copy of Mario Kart 64 as well, and the battle mode in that added quite a bit to the game when we were far too tired of -actually- racing and/or trying to figure out all the secrets each map held.  Not only will that experience be there but, hopefully, the ability to -create- maps exclusively for Battle Mode, which could offer quite a lot of enjoyment just by those merits.  In fact, the trailer seemed to show off three different types of levels you could play on; Normal, Sidescrolling, and Battle.  In my LBP experience, if you can play it, you can make it, so I'm banking on quite the level of depth to be evident in the game.  At least, I can hope for it!

I really sort of struggled with the words for this one, and I'm not quite sure if it's because I really don't know just what to feel about it yet, or because of stuff that's entirely unrelated.  Really, I am excited about LittleBigPlanet Karting on pure Brand Momentum and hope alone, but the trailer did seem to at least validate some of that blind optimism.  Hopefully when we get a little closer, we'll find out even more that will either validate me or shake my faith a bit, but I doubt anything could really stay my hand or my wallet with this one.  Unless I am completely out of money by the time it comes out because goddamnit 2012.  Stop getting all of the games!  Seriously!