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tahutoa

Has "it." Fragile musician. Odd, means well.
It can be anything: music made using the sequencer, favorite levels, your own levels and creations (lbp.me is the place for that), etc. My brother's started playing the first game with his friend, maybe I could pass some level suggestions along?
 
My Xander VERSUS The World series from Little Big Planet 2, which was extremely rushed both gameplay-wise and aesthetic-wise but has an incredibly unique charm to it story-wise, complete with one of the more tangibly dark atmospheres to ever ironically grace an LBP level series.

Basically, the storyline (which has been altered so many times that it is barely even comprehensible anymore) is that my LBP representation of myself (which, in the game, can be anything you want) has randomly decided to embark on a journey from his creepy old house into the conveniently placed underground graveyard right next to it, where he discovers the ruins of what appears to be some sort of ancient Chozo-esque temple that just so happens to house a portal into Video Game Land (a post-apocalyptic urban version of the Mushroom Kingdom, in this case), from which he then proceeds to climb straight up Bowser's also-conveniently-placed skyscraper, from which he then blasts himself straight off onto the local Moon.

On said Moon, he finds a broken-down, worn-out mechanical Tails Doll (foreshadowing of things to come much?) and an outer-space transit system from said Moon to the MAIN Tails Doll's blatantly-ripped-off-from-Star-Wars "Death Sphere", explaining why the Mushroom City is so devastated.

After making his way (a good distance) through the decrepit, obviously-falling-apart old space station that the numerous Tails Dolls within are obviously far too lazy to be able to properly take care of, Xander then runs into his comically stereotypical nerd friends, who have a brief but incredibly melodramatic discussion about how "the Tails Doll could be any one of us" before all being killed off a few minutes later (in a hilariously lame and stupid fashion, might I add), once again leaving Xander (rather depressingly and creepily) all alone (again, aside from the presence of the Tails Dolls, that is).

From there, the plot (not to mention the gameplay quality from level to level) pretty much just goes wherever the Hell it wants, but the charmingly quirky and unsettling atmosphere always stays nevertheless, with quite a few genuinely great moments sprinkled in as well (particularly the Wrecked Death Sphere segments). Overall, while I still definitely could have afforded to have put a lot more work into it (not to mention been a LOT less narcissistic and egotistical about it), this series is still a definite must-play for those who want to get a genuinely unique experience that doesn't revolve around overwrought gameplay gimmicks out of the game it was made in. The best way to describe it would pretty much be "LBP1 levels remade into LBP2 ones", and with that in mind, you are perfectly free to remake the series into LBP3 and do a historical Let's Play of its original LBP2 version if you so desire.

To make a long story short:

PROS:

  • The Tails Doll's role in the story is actually realistic rather than just being edgy for the sake of it (he's an insane robotic army of himself that is clearly hell-bent on Zerg Rushing the entire video game universe, rather than just your typical creepy doll) and his XVTW redesign looks WAY scarier than the original to match
  • As I mentioned before, the series is incredibly dark and often disturbing, which only works more in its favor the farther you get into it
  • It employs many surprisingly brilliant level-design tricks, such as its extreme abundance of secret areas (again, usually very weird and creepy ones) and the fact that the temple level's exit is placed right next to its entrance (separated from it by a wall) as a deliberate cock-tease for players
  • In general, the series' storyline is surprisingly great as far as LBP ones go and is also just the right length for what it is
  • Where it counts, the gameplay is incredibly challenging and will often make you think a surprising amount for something so action-oriented
  • The series' usage of music, especially classic video game music, is just plain incredible in terms of how fitting it really, truly is (to name a few examples: Super Metroid's Item Room Ambience for especially disturbing and bizarre moments in the series, Sonic CD's Metallic Madness Bad Future JP Mix as the main theme of the Death Sphere, Super Metroid's Ambient Silence for when you climb your way back up the Wrecked Death Sphere's explosion site in the "bad ending" stage, Royksopp's Vision One for the Wrecked Death Sphere escape sequence, New Junk City for the Wrecked Mushroom City, Sonic Colors' Planet Wisp Act 1 for the semi-final showdown against the Tails Doll, Super Metroid's title theme for the opening segment of the "Shocking Revelations" stage, etc)
  • The series employs many great references to pre-existing games, most notably "Meet The Tails Doll" being a blatant "Meet The Spy" ripoff and that one part from the "Shocking Revelations" stage where you go through a distinctly Super-Metroid-esque glass tube separating two different sections of the Death Sphere, only for it to then immediately get hit by a meteorite and thus shatter EXACTLY like the one in Super Metroid
  • Again, the series feels like a charmingly modest return to basics after how incredibly complicated many other LBP levels have become
  • The branching "good/bad ending" paths in Level 8B are also a really nice touch
  • At times, the series' visual design can actually be quite creative (albeit minimalistic)
CONS:

  • Sharing its two main problems with the Metroid series (which it is rather obviously based off of, might I add), the series, from a gameplay perspective, is overall way too short and (for the most part) quite a bit too easy, relying very heavily on the aforementioned storyline to carry it
  • The semi-final boss fight, although incredibly epic from a thematic perspective, is downright pitifully easy from a gameplay perspective
  • The series is rather visibly rushed, which especially shows in the extreme lack of sophisticated visual detail that overtly plagues most of its levels
  • Although ironically WAY creepier than he was in the Creepypasta, Tails Doll is still far too lame of a villain to really be threatening
  • The actual endings to the series, even the good one, are also extremely lame and anticlimactic
  • The actual "Death Sphere" stage is infuriatingly unbalanced difficulty-wise
  • In general, the later levels of the series very clearly reflect me running out of ideas (especially the bonus Use Your Head one, ironically enough)
  • The series is horribly underrated even by Little Big Planet standards, with almost literally no one in the LBP community even knowing it exists; the fact that it was made at the very end of LBP2's lifespan doesn't exactly help either, but I made a pretty damned good effort to advertise it, and yet nothing happened regardless
  • The series is ripped off way too heavily from other games and often seems to somewhat lack its own identity
  • The actual final boss fight is also rather lame, even though its lameness makes perfect sense considering what you're fighting against
Anyway, definitely be sure to check it out
 
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