LittleBigPlanet Karting

LittleBigPlanet Karting takes the creative tools and the character of Sackboy from the famous platformer series and transplants them into the kart-racing genre. Unlike the main series entries, this one wasn't developed by Media Molecule but by United Front Games, which had experience specifically in the racing genre – Media Molecule stayed on the project as an overseeing creative force to preserve the game's characteristic textile look and sense of humor. Players race karts on tracks full of shortcuts, weapons, and obstacles, where besides raw speed, what matters is how well they use power-ups collected along the way, from classic weapons for sabotaging rivals to helpful upgrades for their own vehicle. Vehicles can also be customized visually, so just like in the platformer entries, a kart can be decorated with all sorts of decorations and add-ons.

The editor remained the game's key feature: players could build not only their own tracks, but also entire battle arenas and minigames, with the same depth of tools the LittleBigPlanet brand was known for in its platformer entries. This sets the game apart from most other kart racers, where players have to make do with manufacturer-supplied tracks – here, the community could exchange their own circuits and competitions throughout the game's lifespan, much as they knew from creating custom levels in the original series. The game launched exclusively for PlayStation 3 in 2012 and offers both online races against other players and split-screen for local multiplayer, continuing the shared, community-driven nature of the whole series. Besides the races themselves, it also includes a set of custom costumes and accessories for Sackboy, which could be mixed and matched as freely as in the series' platformer entries.

Why play: LittleBigPlanet Karting is the right choice for series fans who want to try Sackboy in a new genre while enjoying the same freedom to create their own tracks that the original platformer entries offered.