This is a series that in which I plan to review every DLC Level Kit or Pack (There's a difference and sometimes I think the developers forget this). I'll start from the the most recent on the "More Stories" section of the "Play" menu (a bad Idea because that'll mean that we'll go from MGS to whatever's next). Right now, I'm testing if this is the most effective setup for this kind of thing.
Summary - Concept/Story
The Journey Home is the first ever true DLC adventure to grace the imagisphere, meaning Sumo Digital had to make something that would stand up to future DLC adventures (Think something like LittleBigPlanet 1's METAL GEAR SOLID Pack). And they did the thing that's been so demanded by the community that it almost became its own tag-worthy genre of level, they chose a revisiting. In the Journey Home, you see what has become of The Weddings, The Factory of a Better Tomorrow, and The Gardens in the time that has passed since we've last been there.
Summary - Content
4 Costumes - One for each Playable Character (Technically 5 Costumes)
1 Power-up - The Springinator
1 Tool - Spring Sensor
3 Music Tracks - All are Interactive
3 Backgrounds - All are Dynamic Thermo compatible
6 Materials - 1 Sponge, 2 Cardboard, 3 Glass, all are Colour Tweakable
7 Objects - 3 are Colour Tweakable
45 Decorations - 16 are Colour Tweakable
120 Stickers - 1 Font
8 Levels - 2 Cinematic, 3 Singleplayer, and 3 Multiplayer Levels
1 Adventure Map
All of these are LittleBigPlanet 1 and 2 Themed if LBP1 had the Colour Tweaking Option
1 Power-up - The Springinator
1 Tool - Spring Sensor
3 Music Tracks - All are Interactive
3 Backgrounds - All are Dynamic Thermo compatible
6 Materials - 1 Sponge, 2 Cardboard, 3 Glass, all are Colour Tweakable
7 Objects - 3 are Colour Tweakable
45 Decorations - 16 are Colour Tweakable
120 Stickers - 1 Font
8 Levels - 2 Cinematic, 3 Singleplayer, and 3 Multiplayer Levels
1 Adventure Map
All of these are LittleBigPlanet 1 and 2 Themed if LBP1 had the Colour Tweaking Option
The Actual Review
Let me just say it out right now, this is the best DLC Level Pack, want to know why?THere are so many reasons for it too be the best, so let's go over them one by one.
Themes
Out of ALL of the themes they chose some of the fan favourites, emphasis on the word "some" sadly there's no level on The Islands, Victoria's Lab, or The Wilderness. And the themes they chose have a sense of time passing.
In The Weddings you have to fix a wedding disaster, the bride is a neurotic mess once her groom is missing in the darkness, and now they are a happily married couple with a young child. Oh, and also since Frida the Bride destroyed absolutely everything in the theme when she when ape-sh*t crazy in the final level of that chapter, it's now completely rebuilt. Not only do you see the top layer of the theme, but you see the Darkness portions of it too, but I'll save visuals for later.
In The Factory of a Better Tomorrow the Factory is corrupted and basically half destroyed, Clive is depressed and basically thrown out of his position. Now the Factory is in pristine condition with the above ground half (You know, the ACTUAL factory) we never saw, now open. Clive is now back in his well-deserved position of boss, and maybe just little less depressed than he was in LBP2.
The Gardens is the only one that didn't have a passage of time that becomes relevant through LBP2 story and implications. In LBP2 most of the Creator Curators are infected with a version of meanie virus, this means that whoever wasn't infected had to take care of their themes. Both The King and The Queen were infected and the only other characters in that theme were Humpty, the Steeds, the birdies, and the Ghosts (Townsfolk were never seen) so you would think that The Gardens would be in miserable condition. And you do see some of this in the level, one of the first things you see is that the clothes stand from the first game is now abandoned and boarded up, the Ghosts no longer control the castle, and everything has been made bigger and better.
But, I would like to state this again, we would all love more of this. The Islands could be more modernised without the Terrible Oni destroying society when he gets bored. Victoria's Laboratory could be up and running and being this packs version of The Gardens. And The Wilderness could be some Theme Park with the Bunker lurking beneath in silence, you would end up in the Bunker halfway though and have to face...THE WHEEL OF DOOM! (Canned Shriek).
In The Weddings you have to fix a wedding disaster, the bride is a neurotic mess once her groom is missing in the darkness, and now they are a happily married couple with a young child. Oh, and also since Frida the Bride destroyed absolutely everything in the theme when she when ape-sh*t crazy in the final level of that chapter, it's now completely rebuilt. Not only do you see the top layer of the theme, but you see the Darkness portions of it too, but I'll save visuals for later.
In The Factory of a Better Tomorrow the Factory is corrupted and basically half destroyed, Clive is depressed and basically thrown out of his position. Now the Factory is in pristine condition with the above ground half (You know, the ACTUAL factory) we never saw, now open. Clive is now back in his well-deserved position of boss, and maybe just little less depressed than he was in LBP2.
The Gardens is the only one that didn't have a passage of time that becomes relevant through LBP2 story and implications. In LBP2 most of the Creator Curators are infected with a version of meanie virus, this means that whoever wasn't infected had to take care of their themes. Both The King and The Queen were infected and the only other characters in that theme were Humpty, the Steeds, the birdies, and the Ghosts (Townsfolk were never seen) so you would think that The Gardens would be in miserable condition. And you do see some of this in the level, one of the first things you see is that the clothes stand from the first game is now abandoned and boarded up, the Ghosts no longer control the castle, and everything has been made bigger and better.
But, I would like to state this again, we would all love more of this. The Islands could be more modernised without the Terrible Oni destroying society when he gets bored. Victoria's Laboratory could be up and running and being this packs version of The Gardens. And The Wilderness could be some Theme Park with the Bunker lurking beneath in silence, you would end up in the Bunker halfway though and have to face...THE WHEEL OF DOOM! (Canned Shriek).
Fun and Replayablity
Overall, this DLC is so fun and replayable, especially Bone-a-fide Ride (It has so much content!) The levels are all designed to be fun, rather than a challenge, so you won't end up hating the DLC when you ace it. When you die it's your fault, except for a part where you can be knocked off of the cart in Bone-a-Fide Ride, that is the level's fault. My only complaint comes in the Springinator Power-up, what it looked like in all of the prerelease material was more akin to when you hit a springboard (AKA More Force = More Height), but instead you basically get a bounce pad, on your butt. Now, I love the Butt-Spring , but it would have been nice if that was even an option on the power-up.
Visuals
My god, does this Adventure DLC look beautiful or what. On Playstation 4, there's the infamous "Water-Background Destruction" Glitch so to experience the full glory you would have to restart your game and play the levels without encountering the water beforehand. When the backgrounds are fully rendered, the levels come to life in such a unique way. The Weddings gets more of a spooky atmosphere when you see the Mary statue, The Factory gets a more populated and moving atmosphere when you see the moving starfield and the robots, and The Gardens just gets this bright and happy luster. I thought Pinballs in the Mist was so aesthetically pleasing with the neon highlights, but Bone-a-fide Ride takes that and uses to its own charming way: Now the highlights have become the family of Frida and Don, candles, and stained glass windows. The Factory keeps its B-movie sci-fi and grungy aesthetic from LBP2, but makes it look so much better in a way that can be narrowed down. The Gardens just looks SO BEAUTIFUL, under normal circumstances Bone-a-Fide Ride would be my favourite level aesthetically, but some how anything based on The Gardens usually ends up my favourite. Despite all that I've said, I love Bone-a-Fide Ride and Springtime in the Gardens equally, I love The Fight Shift but not as much.
Sounds
Normally I would talk about the Sound Object, Music, Garble Voices, and any other things with unique sounds here, but this DLC doesn't include two of those things. There's no new sound object or garble voices, but there's some awesome music. When I heard that The Factory IntMusic was getting a remix I had high hopes for a remixed Gardens IntMusic (which was my favourite IntMusic track for a long time) and Wedding IntMusic, but that sadly did not happen... but we got a some other great songs. Speaking of that Factory Remix, it's the weakest song to come from this pack, The beginning is worse than the original, but after the rocky start it gets better though. Like levels, I'm stuck between 'A Little Knight Music' and 'Muerto Concerto', but if I had to choose one over the other I would choose 'Muerto Concerto'.
Now that the music is out of the way, let's talk Voice Acting. In LittleBigPlanet 3's Story Mode they decided that full-on voice acting was the best design choice, this drastically increases the cost of a single character to be made. But costs aside, every character in LBP3 is made lovable and usually has at least one line that becomes a meme. And I can't even begin to describe how perfect the voice fit the characters.
Now that the music is out of the way, let's talk Voice Acting. In LittleBigPlanet 3's Story Mode they decided that full-on voice acting was the best design choice, this drastically increases the cost of a single character to be made. But costs aside, every character in LBP3 is made lovable and usually has at least one line that becomes a meme. And I can't even begin to describe how perfect the voice fit the characters.
My Final Rating
10/10 - It's Fanservice the Level Kit