Dream Update: The next Min4raft for the PS4 will take some time

At the heart of Dreams, the latest LittleBigPlanet game studio Media Molecule, there is a simple but powerful idea: Anyone can be a composer.

It does not only provide skilled players with the tools necessary to do whatever they can think of. The desire is great. Dreams he is committed to encouraging everyone to think of themselves as an artist, not just the creative and the talented. People, the game is screaming, they have to get out there again do something, whether they think they can or should.

Dreams& # 39; The ethos is in opposition to a world that is trying its best to convince people that art should be reserved for those who have talent, or that art is something to be commended and consumed.

The experience starts with something that may be understood as subjects, but is actually a pep talk that means you are inclined to believe that you can put your stuff in the world, whatever it is. And frankly, in the week I spent with the creative chairman, that was true. The tools are easy to pick up, but incredibly.

Dreams provides you with all kinds of goods used, from characters to continents, which you can place, rotate, size and customize your heart's content. You can also make your content from scratch, from sound effects to specific animations and everything in between. I was amazed at how precise this process was despite the limited video game controller, rather than something descriptive, such as a mouse and keyboard – not to mention the game design and hardware software.

Giving players a sense of possibility within DreamsMedia Molecule features something like a campaign. In it, we read the story of Art, a troubled bass player who is cool with his band. The story intersects between Art & # 39; s mind, filled with painful memories, and his real life, in which he works out how to get back to his friends. The story feels surprisingly old given the huge oeuvre of Media Molecule. Art is plagued with doubt and self-hatred, which gives him a horrible title. When he saw his old friends, for example, the arts believed they were speaking ill of him – to find out that they were, in fact, very worried about him. As someone who suffered from depression, I have found that these empty neuroses feel normal and true.

(Disclosure: The author of this review is friends with one of them DreamsAuthors.)

But since the campaign is a spectacle, it has not remained silent. Types and mechanics change from one level to another. One moment where you may be trying your hardest to get under the club where your friends are playing, talking to the people closest to you; the next is likely to jump around large leaves like foxes with a pea shooter. It sounds crazy, which is explained by the game by telling you it's a dream – but that's not a good reason. Whenever I went through the more traditional parts, I counted the minutes and went back to the parts that had real people there. Part of DreamsThe campaign is brilliantly written and experimental, set in telling a complex story. The rest is like a fun little version of LittleBigPlanet, floaty physics and all.

Anyway, there's that signature Media Molecule being played here that puts you in touch with the various elements of the world. Uncovering a matryoshka doll, who rotates inside the camera, even dying to explode pieces of fuzz feels fantastic.

Dreams and it has a lively, vibrant art style that makes the game look like it's been painted. When you get close enough, you can sometimes make individual brushstrokes, which change and change depending on where and how you look at them.

But the Media Molecule campaign is only a small part of the experience here. Personally, I'm not a level designer, so I spend less time doing things than I do seeing what other people have uploaded. You wouldn't know, these levels are all called "dreams," and the game allows people to combine different scenes into a larger package. Dreams are not all games, Sometimes, people upload assets, background, music, genre templates, and more, which other users can import into their games or projects. I have spent an enjoyable time watching authentic pornographic food, such as a bowl of ramen. It's amazing how people can do spectacular things this is great … even if it's annoying at times to get into a dream and realize that there is not much we can do except look for something.

Media Molecule seems to understand what experiences like these need to build community. Dreams can be debts, and they can be written by other players. Games can have different tags that help you get the same experience. The studio regularly hosts theaters, challenging people to fill in a theme. Users can vote to create a favorite, which is then highlighted in the multiplayer menu. And perhaps most notably, Media Molecule says it will hiring people to build contractor studios that will do most of their work Dreams

. This studio seems to have invested a lot in fighting the game.

Without these efforts, the main problem is facing them Dreams he stays in balance, and how Media Molecule can reach a novel experience for its players. Even though I have features, work to find things to like. Starting with trying out the award-winning dreams of a game called IMPY, I found it to be a mixed bag. The first thing I played was a slice-of-life game that seemed to be inspired EarthBound. Depending on the scale, it was amazing for an everyday person to put together something so big – there are little details everywhere, from the fun posters that line the walls to toys that would shrink as you entered.

Compared to the many games we can play on consoles, which are made by large groups, you can feel it author and perspective of Dreams creation precisely because experience has no polish. You can say where someone has decided to focus on what they can do better, rather than trying to make the rest of the game as high as possible. It was my pleasure to find, for example, that the aforementioned game had a dedicated "dog dog" button. This in itself made it easy to forgive that some images were strong and lifeless.

You can't really judge games Dreams with the same metrics you can use in many games, and seriously, it sounds like a healthy workout. One of the best I've played was called Pig discovery 2, an unusual and fun experience that I almost lost because at first it seemed like something out Roblox. Well, that led me.

The inevitable problem, however, is that because

these games can be anything and are made by anyone, the quality can vary greatly. The most memorable part is EarthBoundThe -inspired game came when a little girl in a cardboard game challenged my character duel. Unfortunately, I soon found myself dying on screen, I can't get back to that part of the game.

Probably the most common problem I've had in many dreams was lost or trapped, because players don't really know how to lead people into their dreams. It is possible that creators may be able to respond to almost endless ways that I can interact with the things they have put together. But without dedicated quality assurance teams, or professional game developers, what can you expect?

Some of the dreams I have come across are intriguing to their desire, they almost look like something one would make of the Unreal Engine. Some, meanwhile, were short, sweet, and humble, sometimes lasting for a few minutes. The unfortunate number of popular uploads are simply repetitive things that people like, like a horror game P.T.

My favorite discoveries were definitely unique and unexpected. One game offers real cheese, challenging me to cut through each drying. Something else made me wander into the museum to see how much art I could spend without getting caught. I was happy and finally found out Ruckus, a surprisingly satisfying kaiju drama that often shifts to real-time stories depicting my wanton destruction.

I was surprised to find that the most popular upload ever made by Media Molecule was the start of a first-person shooter, while they were intriguing with the circumstances, and it was not a full experience. This justifies that increase in the "dreamiverse." The coolest things are usually continuous operations, vertiks, alphas, or experimental concepts; limited or sugary. In fact, the better the dream look, you are less likely to expire when you start trying to get in touch with things. I never walk away from dreams feeling completely satisfied.

It almost feels inappropriate to measure where Dreams is now available, provided that it has been officially released for a week. Compare that to something similar The manufacturer of the Super, which had a place to put down Kaizo's place years before the official game comes out. Those are the years of community building, years of grammar learning and the dictionary of experienced creators who can get into the game already know the basics that a good Mario lesson should take place. Dreams Players still feel what is possible, they are still building their own relevant games – and they are doing it in a very large set of natural and behavioral types. I have a feeling that months from now, we will see some great things. But for now, that's just a dream.

Dreams is now available on PlayStation 4. The game has been updated using a digital copy provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. You can find more details about Polygon's ethics policy here.