Nope.  Then it wouldn't be LBP.  The physics are bound up with the whole piece.   LBP for me was always about the idea your little sackboy is there vs just some pixels that almost move perfectly.

I can understand those who want pixel perfect platforming but that's for Mario and the like.  LBP is deliberately different and should remain so IMHO.

Agreed. The physics are one of the things which make LBP unique.

I understand that you and a lot of other people feel this way. It was a deal breaker for me unfortunately.

If I were forced to due one of those vulgar butcheries of the ideal of reviewing that is putting a few pros and cons down, then it would go something like this

+ Awesome level editor/content available from it

+ Awesome music

+ Stephen Fry

+ Graphics/Art direction

- It's just not a great platformer.

- Fairly hard to find the good user generated content amongst the bad

Now, the 2nd is pretty much unaviodable to some degree.

The first however, is a big problem, and MM said that this time around they are focusing LESS on the platforming aspects! 

How so? I'm not trying to seem ignorant or anything, I just want to know exactly how it wasn't a great platformer, as I thought it was great.

best grafix ever

Did it occur to you that to some people these floaty controls might just not be fun in a platforming game? I was quite hyped for LBP1, but when I tried it at gamescom it just didn't feel right to me. That has got nothing to do with bashing.

I thought it was an alright platformer, maybe even a good one. but I did not find it to be a great one.

First of all, the floatiness that has been mentioned above.

I felt that the 3, 2 dimensional planes idea either needed to be eliminated or user more effectively. I never encountered any instance of it being used well, and many times found it annoying. Comparing it to the similar effect in Super paper mario, it just is bad. Alas, it is going to be in the 2nd game :(

I felt that we were forced into playing multiplayer in order to get all the collectibles. This is not a problem for me personally, 95% of my playtime for this game is multiplayer, but it should still be criticised imo. Comparing it to NSMB, where 100% completition is possible in single player, as well as multiplayer, I think it detracts from the game.

I disliked the shared lives system - feeling that it engendered ill feelings towards those jerks who stole my lives :P - it is not a very good game to play with people who aren't good at games. This is pretty much contrary to all good multiplayer platformers - most notably Sonic the hedgehog 2 and SMG (2nd player is there as an assistant) and NSMB (a bad player can get into a bubble to avoid bits they cant pass).

And quite simply, I just didn't find the level design to be up to be as good as those platformers that I would describe as great.

Also, I hate that this post involves a lot more negative comments than positive ones (but you did ask) so I shall finish it by reiterating that the platforming was alright verging on good, but the other aspects of this game made it great. I still feel, however, that MM should put more effort into improving the pure platforming elements of the game, and less into improving things that are already leagues ahead of anything else.

@ scottie

Fair enough, though I can't really say I agree with your points

Seems to me the big issue some have is in their view of what LBP is (or was intended to be) vs what it really is and was intended to be.

I never felt LBP was supposed to be a true, full platformer nor that it was overly marketed or positioned that way, that was just the genre it most closely resembled in style but it was never I believe developed nor planned as a full on platformer. Of course reviewers and people in general like to try and assign things to neat genres so it was most commonly put in the Platformer genre - which is a big mistake IMHO. In many ways LBP defies genre assignment.

The Create/Share was always a huge focus of the game and as such it makes sense elements of design reflected this - such as collectibles requiring multiple players.

With LBP2 I feel MM are actually aiming closer to what they had in mind for LBP first time around, which is even less focus on a single genre and more of an open gameplay built around some core mechanics with an even more focus on creation.

I expect LBP2 to be even harder to assign to a single genre and for me (and I guess the many LBP fans) that's part of what we like about the title. It really is it's own thing and it sounds like it's going to be even more so in it's next iteration.