Entertainment

Games: Sony's Sackboy: A Big Adventure – Sack's back and mighty craic

Sackboy: A Big Adventure – the most visually impressive platformer yet seen
Sackboy: A Big Adventure – the most visually impressive platformer yet seen Sackboy: A Big Adventure – the most visually impressive platformer yet seen

Sackboy: A Big Adventure (PS5)

By: Sony

BEATING Minecraft to the punch, 2008’s LittleBigPlanet was the first major console game to let players construct and share their own levels.

Combined with the cockle-roasting warmth of 70s kids’ telly, the series has become one of Sony's hottest properties, with its burlap-bonced star, Sackboy, a poster child for PlayStation.

A launch title for PS5 was a no-brainer, meaning Sack's back – and craic. Just as previous games did with Stephen Fry, Sackboy taps national treasures for its cast, with Dawn French your motherly guide and Richard E Grant chewing up the polygons as the Villainous Vex, whose empire strikes Sack in his attempts to destroy Craftworld – something tough trading conditions did to Belfast’s beloved namesake.

While LittleBigPlanet’s secret weapon was its level editor – gifting players a virtual toybox of fabric, stickers and props to construct a makeshift masterpiece – the creative juices have been given a virtual vasectomy here.

Sheffield-based Sumo Digital have instead opted for a traditional 3D romp, creating a carnival fantasy shot through with very British sensibilities. And while there’s already stiff competition from the PS5’s pack-in platformer, Sackboy offers a fuzzy counterpoint to the cold robotics of Astro’s Playroom.

With around 10 hours of platforming, rock-hard post-credits levels and online speed-running leader-boards to climb, it’s a sack to basics celebration of hop n’ bop gameplay.

The move to 3D sees Mario plundered wholesale across themed worlds as players attempt to rinse levels of orbs and assorted collectibles. Our star is a sack of all trades, with sticky pads to climb walls and boomerangs, claw-grips and rocket boots to master.

With PS5 grunt under the hood, Sackboy is the most visually impressive platformer yet seen – even if it has lost a little of LittleBigPlanet’s cardboard n' felt charm. Making the most of Sony’s DualSense controller, you’ll feel every bounce, tug and blast while up to four players can enter the fray locally at once, with online shenanigans promised by the end of the year.

Yet while Sackboy looks and feels brilliant, it’s your ears that are treated the most. The whole shebang is driven by incredible sound design, with a lush score supported by canny licensed tracks.

Running the gamut from Britney and Madonna to Mark Ronson and David Bowie, all have been pulled apart and rebuilt to dynamically suit the action. In fact, the “Let’s Dance” level is one of the most astonishing I’ve ever experienced, mixing rhythm-based platforming with background storytelling, where its lyrics are interpreted by cardboard puppetry. As an early adopter of music interactivity, Ziggy would approve.

Though it’s also available on PS4 (with a free upgrade to the PS5 version should your ship come in), Sackboy is guaranteed to gather the family around their new toy. Even if the digital DIY and homemade tat aesthetic have been lost, A Big Adventure offers platforming so sweet it should come with an insulin pump.