Review: Sackboy’s Prehistoric Moves

It’s been a little over two years since we first got our hands on LittleBigPlanet and were immediately enraptured by both the series’ unique visual style (imagine if Dr. Frankenstein plied his trade Tinker Toys and craft supplies instead of dead flesh) and their adorable mascot, the irrepressible Sackboy. The original was released to widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike, with the robust level building tools spawning a wildly inventive online community that has generated more than three million user-created levels to date.

Now, with an ambitious sequel looming just around the corner, Sony felt the time was right to give LBP fans an appetizer of sorts by tossing that cute little knitted rascal back into the Jurassic (Jurassack?) period for the PlayStation Network release of Sackboy’s Prehistoric Moves.

Although Prehistoric Moves is making its debut on PSN, it has been stated that it will also be included on the Blu-ray with LittleBigPlanet 2 as well. This is an important factor to keep in mind, because you’re paying six dollars for what is, in essence, just a glorified demo. This is a bad idea for a number of reasons. First, it establishes a “slippery slope” precedent – people are accustomed to demos being (more or less) a cost-free proposition used to help inform a customer’s purchase decisions, but if enough copies of Prehistoric Moves… well… move, then you’d best believe that other companies (or at the very least Sony) will look towards monetizing future demos. Secondly, if you pay for this demo, enjoy it, and eventually wind up purchasing LittleBigPlanet 2 upon its release, you’ll have payed an extra one-tenth of the final retail cost to get slightly early access to content you’ll already own. I’d feel differently if this release consisted of an exclusive set of levels or something similar, but seeing as it doesn’t, I’m left with a sour taste in my mouth from the whole proposition.

Still, the game itself is enjoyable enough, albeit extremely short. If you’ve played the original LittleBigPlanet, you’ll find yourself right at home as you’re thrust into Sackboy’s time-traveling adventure. All of the familiar aspects of the first game are still there: the same precariously floaty platforming, the same bubble-collecting, you know the routine. Sadly, there are no prizes (stickers, costumes, etc.) to be had here, as the level editing tools aren’t included in this package. I’m not sure if the version of the Prehistoric Moves levels included in LBP 2 will have those omissions included, but if we assume that they are, that would be yet another slap in the face to those who purchased this “preview.”

However, the main thing Prehistoric Moves sets out to showcase is the addition of the PlayStation Move controls added to LittleBigPlanet 2. Indeed, the game is actually unplayable without having a friend on hand to take waggle duty for you. Scattered around the game’s ten levels (six regular levels, four of the “bonus” mini-game levels) are zones of pink, which denote which bits and bobs of scenery are able to be manipulated with the PlayStation Move wand. Your partner will be responsible for such tasks as flipping switches, moving bits of cover to shelter you from dangerous objects, activating platforms, and more. It can be a slightly frustrating experience at times, as you’ll need to make sure you and your partner stay in constant communication to coordinate jumps, the timing of pulling out retracting platforms and the like.

Still, no amount of communication can overcome the laggy movement speed of the Move’s on-screen cursor, which sometimes is hampered even further by the fact that the cursor’s relative position on the screen doesn’t remain constant. For example, if Sackboy jumps to a higher platform, which causes the screen to shift to follow him, you’ll find your cursor dragged forcefully off the pink sensor you were hovering over, just about to activate. This will leave you scrambling, trying to realign a painfully slow cursor and activate a platform before our fabric-covered chum plummets to a fiery death below. This seems to be a bit of an oversight for a game as totally dependent on the Move as this is – you can recalibrate your cursor’s on-screen position with a simple button press, but there’s no means by which to increase the speed or sensitivity of its movement.

So, in the end, while the game itself is perfectly competent (indeed, there’s nothing wrong with iterating upon an already winning formula), the main issue comes back to the fact that you’re paying for roughly an hour of content that should be free to begin with and that’s kinda disingenuous any way you cut it. Any LittleBigPlanet fan who already intends to buy the game on day one would be far better served by saving their six dollars and putting it towards future DLC. It’s really not worth it in the end and supporting this sort of business model is just going to lead to gamers in the future reminiscing about the good ol’ days when demos were free.

Sackboy’s Prehistoric Moves
PlayStation Network
	Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Developer: Media Molecule Genre: Platformer Release Date: December 14, 2025 MSRP: $5.99; Free when you buy LBP2 ESRB Rating: E for Everyone

Doin’ It RIGHT: - PlayStation Move mechanics make for fun, if occasionally frustrating, co-op. - Visuals are as charming and fun as ever. - Gets your blood pumping for more LBP!	Doin’ It RONG: - Far too short for the price when buying it standalone. - Bonus levels suffer from painful trial-and-error to figure out what you’re supposed to do, meaning you often die two seconds in and have to wait to reload and try again… only to die five seconds in. - Laggy Move cursor lead to what should have been avoidable deaths. - Did I mention you’re paying for a demo?
FINAL SCORE: 6.5 / 10 *The score is based on the enjoyment of the game, and not the fact that it’s packaged with LittleBigPlanet 2 for free.