Hands On: Project Spark

If you have played LittleBigPlanet and used its creation tools in the past then you have some sense on how this game works. Project Spark will let you create environments and goals based on light coding. You input in “When” and “Do” commands in order for all the components to work together correctly. This can be as simple as stating what text will come up when the character reaches a flag to even working versions of Portal to play through. I even found a pretty good take of Limbo in the recommendation list. You can also buy themed packs or specific items via in-app purchases to expand your tool set. A helpful tutorial makes it quite easy to get into and the amount you are able to create is vast with plans to continue growing.

When getting the starter pack you will unlock the first episode in their campaign mode: Void Storm. This is a preset world and story for you to work through with your selected hero. You can level up your selected hero and unlock new attacks and abilities. Unfortunately this ended up being pretty lackluster. The majority of your tasks are fighting off wave after wave of enemy before getting to move to a different section and repeating the process. There are some extremely light puzzle mechanics that are barely worth mentioning. It felt more like an introduction to the adventuring aspects of the game due to how easy it was, which is odd since it is locked behind a paywall. Along with some technical issues, this easily made the campaign mode feel like something to skip.

Project Spark continuously felt slow and sluggish when playing. Customizing and creating is smooth and efficient but putting all that into practise really chugs along. I had constant, large frame rate drops during the campaign that was quite disconcerting. The characters also feel and move quite slowly, almost floaty when jumping (another reminder of LittleBigPlanet). Whether this is deliberate or due to the amount of custom content the game has to load it still ended up feeling jarring and taking me out of the experience. Project Spark’s strength is definitely on the creation side.

The best mode that offers a little of everything is the aptly named Crossroads. In here you can choose between many predesigned stages to play on. There will be random quests that will spawn for you to accept. However, you get to choose where the quests lead you, who you will find there, the enemies you will fight, what your reward will be, etc. The landscape and enemies change to how you want as you basically play your way through the creation process. You can continue for as long as you want, adding more and more quests and areas to explore within the one map. These will also reward items and experience to your hero. Upon completion you can save and export the stage you just play/created/customized through to the servers for others to enjoy. This is a totally great and dynamic use of the creation process that makes it less daunting without all the various tools and icon-based coding. It combines all the aspects of Project Spark together into a fluid and enjoyable mode.

This game is best when you are building your own experience. Project Spark combines a huge detail of world creation with its action-adventuring gameplay really nicely. Though the game doesn’t run the best when playing, it makes up for it with ease of use when customizing. This mix is spotlighted nicely in the great Crossroads mode. You will find the most fun here when building your own worlds and quests, or seeing the great creations from others. Being free to play makes it easy to check out and get a taste of what the game offers.