So if you look back at the last few weeks and all the buzz surrounding this game one would think that they were trying to make up for a shotty game. Hell I did. Then again, I was going on the history repeating it theory. But I did get some good hands on time this last weekend with it, seeing as I was not able to make it to E for All. So here we go.

Starting out, you are required to flow through a few levels of the game to learn how the game plays and the controls of the game. Pretty standard. Well, I do so, well try to at least. This is where my first true beef with the game came up. Never once does this demo state that you have to have four players to do anything or complete out the level. Huge issue seeing as I was the only one around and such. After getting frustrated I tried swapping ports to move the rest of the Sackboys along and finally get past the first level. I do hope that this is just a demo thing and not a release thing as well.

Moving on though, you can actually do the rest of the demo/tutorial levels without the need of using the other sackboys, unless you want a couple of extra stickers and objects. This is actually how I found out that you collect world building items by actually playing the game. I thought they were just for fun, but no, there are things that are used when building levels and worlds. So there is yet another reason to play through all of the levels. So in any instance, I finish off the first "world" and that's when some of the extra fun opens up for you. The Level builder and ability to play other player's created levels.

One thing that I can see annoying at first is the fact that they force you to go through each tutorial at least once before you can start building. So expect a little delay in the way of getting to be a full on creator. How do they block you? (You may be thinking). Well you don't get all of the tools or objects to build things until after you complete certain tutorials. So you don't get anything really out of the gate other than what you picked up in the first "world." And that is mostly stickers and such. Not to big of a problem there, I just hope that you don't have to sit through it multiple times or the full release gives the option to skip and get the tools you need. Maybe I missed something, but I wanted to go through the tutorials any ways. Just thinking long term.

The last bit I'm going to cover is the playing of user created levels. There are two really cool things about this.

First, some of the levels already built are quite fun. Me and a few friends sat down and played through a few last night just to see how the multi player part worked. Let me say, some of the "Rocket" levels are so much fun. Even though you can beat the level in under 5 seconds, if done right, there is just something about hopping on a rocket skate and slamming into a wall that is just so fun and funny that we replayed multiple times. Words almost can't explain how much fun that was.

Second, there is a cool feature that is added into some levels. Well all have the ability to do it, but I found only two that did. That is, say you create a cool little custom widget for your game. You can place that object as a secret object to be collected in the level, much like the stickers and such, and it will be saved into your personal tool box. The ones that stick to mind was the Mario Brothers World 1-1 level that was built. While going through, I was able to collect the custom Koopas and Mushroom Heads that I could use later in my own personal levels. This is very cool to me. First off, I thought you would only be able to share levels, but now I found you can do widgets. So the limitations have been raised quite a bit with this.

So in the end, this game is living up to the hype it was building. My doubts are being placed aside after getting to go through and review this game. I just hope they fix that issue of needing 4 players to actually play the game. Because some people like me have maybe just one buddy around in general that may be interested in playing along. So hopefully solo play will be available in the final gold version. But in any instance, I recommend picking this game up when it comes out or pre-order from a location that has the extra bonus for pre-order.

Also, for those who were lucky enough to get the exclusive demo or those of you who get the game later, lets keep a list of levels created by us somewhere so we can share and have a good time. Maybe name them with [PWNED] in the beginning of the title. Just a thought.

Rating: 8.7/10