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Sackboy: Big Adventure was first released a few years ago for the PlayStation 4 and 5 consoles to somewhat underwhelming reception. It serves as a spin-off to the LittleBigPlanet series. Unlike those titles, however, this one makes the jump to full 3D as a collectible platformer.
With the series’ traditional level creation aspect stripped away, developer Sumo Digital opted for a finely crafted single-player experience. Commendable given that the 3D platform genre isn’t that popular these days. Now that PC gamers can experience it for the first time with the latest port, is this worth picking up?
Sackboy: Big Adventure brings exhilarating platforming action to PC
Sackboy: Big Adventure is available now on PC in a huge 3D multiplayer platform adventure, with a lot of impressive graphics and action-based gameplay. 🚀Steam:bit.ly/3UX6SipEpic Games Store:bit.ly/3fFfavf https://t.co/iZ4DXO55DK
Sackboy: Big Adventure takes players to Craftworld, where everything is based on real static objects and objects. An evil menace called Vex has appeared and kidnapped Sackboy’s friends to enslave them for his Topsy Turver device so he can turn Craftworld into an endless nightmare. As such, the titular hero must embark on a journey to save them. As expected, the story honestly comes in last place to everything else.
This sees players go through handcrafted levels and collect Dreamer Orbs, which are required to unlock new worlds. Each world is themed, such as a jungle world or underwater. Levels feature a variety of platforming staples, such as moving platforms, avoidable hazards, and even auto-rolling segments. While there are tons of standard orbs scattered around for players to collect, the key collectibles involve the aforementioned Dreamer Orbs for progression and cosmetics.
There will also be a variety of enemies to defeat, from easy mobs to larger beasts. Each has a different attack pattern that players must learn and use Sackboy’s moveset to win. But back to gameplay, Dreamer Orbs won’t be easy to collect as many of them are often in hard-to-reach places, including hidden bonus areas that have little puzzles or platforming challenges to solve. The absolute highlight is the musical level, which also includes versions of popular pop songs such as Toxic by Britney Spears.
Jumping and rolling to victory
Completers will want to pay attention to the criteria required for a 100% level. For one, each level will have three ranks pertaining to the number of orbs collected during the run. So for example, this can be 1000 for bronze, 2000 for silver and 3000 for gold. Then there are the obvious Dreamer Orbs, with most levels ranging from 3-5 of them. In addition to those, there will be a gift box icon that indicates the state of cosmetics collected on that level as well as an ace icon that will be highlighted if players manage to beat the level without dying.
Sometimes, there will be a cube icon, indicating another rare collection that unlocks the challenge level of a brand new Knitted Knight. These time trials test the player’s platforming skills, with faster clear times offering better rewards. All of this information is viewable via the pause menu while inside a level or by highlighting the level on the world map. Yes, the game has a traversable, 3D world map where players can choose stages to enter.
Other points of interest on the world map include transition points to go to other worlds, a cosmetic shop, the Knited Knight trial selection menu and the occasional bonus level. The latter throws more collectibles at the player than they can shake their clenched fist at. But what about Sackboy’s own traversal choices? Solid movement is key to any good 3D platformer, and luckily Sackboy: Big Adventure sure is.
Most of your time will be spent jumping and rolling (since there is no sprint mechanic) and attacking enemies with a simple punch. Players can view the Action Calendar to control slightly more advanced moves, such as an attack immediately followed by a jump and a nose jump, acting similar to a stomp. Sometimes, players will also receive weapons at certain levels to make combat more engaging, including a boomerang.
While the controls are well done, Sackboy can feel a little weird to control at first thanks to being heavy. I don’t know if it’s just me, but his jumps and attack range seem a little short – along with the awkward feel, this is probably a design choice. But this eliminates more advanced maneuvers like a nose dive because the added animation delay could cause players to miss the mark. Surprisingly though, the boss fights that these levels ultimately lead to offer some of the best crafted moments of Sackboy: Big Adventure.
Your imagination, your Sackboy
Personalization has always been the focus of LittleBigPlanet and that mantra is seen here as well despite the linearity of Sackboy: Big Adventure. There are many preset costumes to choose from before entering a level (many of which are based on PlayStation properties, such as Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn and Deacon from Days Gone).
However, players can also purchase new accessories to dress up their own Sackboy, outside of cosmetics obtained for free while exploring levels. The cosmetic shop will be owned by an NPC named ZomZom and players can hand in collectibles to purchase new customization options. These range from headwear, torso and handwear, to even skin textures and emotions.
A family-friendly experience
Speaking of challenges, Sackboy: Big Adventure is clearly aimed at younger audiences. So, expect to be able to clear most levels without much effort. However, expect the Knitted Knight trials and endgame levels to present more challenges than usual, which is always welcome.
Sackboy: Big Adventure also includes a co-op mode for up to four players, making it a great bonding experience for parents with their kids, along with the low skill ceiling. There are also dedicated two-player co-op levels that cannot be played without another partner. However, there are more pressing matters to look at here.
Graphics, sound and performance
Let’s address the elephant in the room first. This Unreal Engine 4 platform suffers from nuanced compilation stuttering on PC. This means that every time a new on-screen graphical element is rendered (such as objects, effects, etc) it will cause a brief drop in frame rate. This results in noticeable stuttering, which means that the first playthrough will leave a bad taste in players’ mouths. This is a problem regardless of the specifications of the target system.
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On that note, the game was reviewed on custom settings which offered a solid 60 FPS (compiler stuttering aside). Sackboy: Big Adventure offers a range of options to tailor performance and visual metrics to your PC. Which brings us to the things the port does well: increased visual fidelity over even the PlayStation 5. High-end PC owners can enjoy the graphics boost thanks to ray tracing. Support for Nvidia DLSS image reconstruction techniques also ensures that lower-end platforms can catch up. As for sound, the music is absolutely stellar with different tracks for each level.
In conclusion:
Sackboy: Big Adventure is a mostly solid port of an underrated PlayStation game. It in no way reinvents the wheel, rather it offers a very safe 3D platforming experience to which fans of the genre might have different reactions. These can range from disappointment at its lack of challenge and forgettable cast, to indifference at its many familiar level design mechanics.
Furthermore, the PC port isn’t perfect either, with shader-compiler stuttering hampering gameplay. However, it is undeniable that Sackboy: Big Adventure still manages to impress. This is partly thanks to its beautiful visuals, excellent soundtrack, mostly tight platforming and charming sets.
It won’t blow your socks off, especially since there are far more ambitious games in the genre out there. PlayStation gamers won’t find much worth revisiting here as most of its updates are technical. But what is here as a game is most definitely bound to put a smile on your face from start to finish.
Sackboy: Big Adventure
Reviewed on: PC (Revision Code provided by PlayStation PC LLC)
Platform(s): a computer
Developer(s): Sumo Digital
Publisher(s): PlayStation PC LLC
Release date: October 21, 2022
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