Announced at the E3 2014 Sony Conference, LittleBigPlanet 3 will be allowing users to play, create, and share on the PlayStation 4 this November. Media Molecule took the stage to demo some of the big changes in LBP 3 that will really shake up the series and allow for more diverse gameplay and creations.

For the first time in the LittleBigPlanet series, Sackboy has other, non-Sackboy friends. These new playable characters are Oddsock, Toggle, and Swoop. Every new character has an ability that sets them apart from Sackboy and creates new puzzle solutions and traversal options.

• Oddsock is a creature with the characteristics of a dog, whose special ability is walljumping.
• Toggle is a character who can switch between very large and heavy and extremely small and light. Lastly, but seemingly almost gamebreakingly, there’s Swoop.
• Swoop is a bird who has the ability to fly.

Considering that LittleBigPlanet 3 is still a platformer at its core, it has not yet been seen how or if Swoop will be stopped from simply flying from the beginning to the end of a level unharmed. Perhaps, as demonstrated in the demo several times, Swoop is essentially the support of the group, and can save other players from falling or getting trapped. Each of these characters looks quite different from Sackboy, but are all capable of using LittleBigPlanet‘s novel facial expression system.

The demo showed quit a few puzzles that make use of both Swoop’s verticality as well as the weight swapping and size changing dynamic of Toggle, as well as the way all four of them can traverse a single screen of a level in different ways. This diversity will surely add some freshness to the series, and it is exciting to think of the ways these unique abilities will be put to use in user created levels!

Not much was discussed in the area of single player, but the trailer shows us the next big bad in the series: Newton. Shuhei Yoshida took to the stage after the demo of the game to announce that every user-created level from LittleBigPlanet 1 and 2 (over 8 million) would be playable from launch in LittleBigPlanet 3 with upgraded visuals.

LittleBigPlanet 3 looks as charming, creative, and interesting as the first two in the series. As more is unveiled before the game’s launch in November, check back with us at Nerd Bacon for more coverage.

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