E3 2014: LittleBigPlanet 3 Preview: Sackboy returns with some adorable new friends

LittleBigPlanet has become one of Playstation’s most charming and unique exclusive titles, so when it was announced at the PlayStation E3 media briefing that there would be a third installment to the game, the crowd roared.

The visuals and gameplay co-exist with the past two games, so fans can rest easy. What does make LittleBigPlanet 3 different from its predecessors, however, are the three new friends that accompany Sackboy.

I played the floor demo with three of my friends to test out these new characters and see if they met  the high standard of LBP’s originality, humor, and visual flair. As expected, the game did not disappoint.

Sackboy has a few new tricks up his sleeve, and his new friends harness their own special powers as well. Oddsock is a wall jumping, super swift 4-legged friend. Swoop, much as the name suggests, is a flying friend which will help carry items to make an unobstructed path. Toggle, my favorite of all the new characters, is a hefty friend (think of a nicer version of Tim Burton’s Oogie Boogie) who can instantly transform in size.

Playing this as a full 4-player co-op team with your friends to harness all of the special abilities will undoubtedly result in an fun time, and plenty of laughter. However, there are some questions regarding the new multiplayer feature. For instance, what if you just want to play alone? Will you not be able to fully complete the game and obtain all of the unlockables if you aren't playing with friends?

LittleBigPlanet 3 is due out later this year for PlayStation 4.