Media Molecule's Dreams is a wildly ambitious game that takes the philosophy of "Play, Create, Share" from LittleBigPlanet and elevates it to the next level. Although Dreams might have much more potential and offer many more possibilities for both players and creators, LittleBigPlanet still has some things that it does better.
For some things, the simplicity of LittleBigPlanet is better, but other things require the complexity of Dreams. Just because something is more complicated doesn't make it inherently better. Dreams does a lot of things better than the LittleBigPlanet games, but there are also a few things it does worse than its predecessors.
10 Better - Creation Tools
To put it simply, Dreams has far more potential than LittleBigPlanet ever did. That's not to dismiss the amazing things the LittleBigPlanet community accomplished over the course of the trilogy, but the creation suite in Dreams allows for far more complex creations.
While LittleBigPlanet primarily provided players with the tools to build platformers, Dreams provides the tools to build whatever you can think of. Even in the early stages of Dreams, the creations that have been made by the community are incredibly impressive, and things can only go uphill from here.
9 Worse - Character Customization
Dreams does have the Imps that players are able to customize and make their own, but they don't allow for character customization to the extent that Sackboy did in LittleBigPlanet. The Imps are essentially just cursors, while Sackboy was a character, the entity that you controlled throughout each level.
There were so many clothing options and outfits available in LittleBigPlanet, and those could be complemented with numerous stickers and decorations to create a truly unique getup. Everyone's LittleBigPlanet character was their own, and that level of personality unfortunately doesn't transfer to Dreams.
8 Better - Music Creation
LittleBigPlanet did have the tools to create original music, but that game's music sequencer pales in comparison to the music creation kit provided in Dreams. The musical tools in Dreams are so powerful that many people are composing original music for their games and animations, and some ambitious creators have even made short albums featuring multiple songs made in Dreams.
The wealth of instruments and the flexibility of the software in Dreams allow for some fantastic music creations, creations far more complex than those in LittleBigPlanet. As it currently stands, music is an overlooked portion of Dreams, but in the future, there will be plenty of great things to listen to in the Dreamiverse.
7 Worse - Platformers
Dreams might allow players to create whatever they want, but sometimes restrictions can be beneficial. LittleBigPlanet only provided the tools to create side-scrolling platformers, and while some creative community members were able to bend the rules and make other things, that was mostly what everyone played and created.
Because of this, Media Molecule was able to fine-tune the physics and controls to feel just right for a platformer, making even the most amateur creations feel somewhat satisfying to play. The default puppet in Dreams, on the other hand, is a one size fits all creation, and it'll take some tweaking to make a platforming character handle well.
6 Better - Story
The LittleBigPlanet games had a plot, yes, but it mostly served as a vehicle to take players through each of the game's world and allow them to collect new items before they dive into community creations. The story mode in Dreams might not last as long, but it's absolutely worth playing.
Art's Dream, the Dreams story mode, is fantastic, and it actually tells a fairly compelling story that is sure to keep people engaged throughout its relatively short runtime. Art's Dream only lasts a few hours, just a tad longer than a feature-length film, so it's not a huge time commitment either.
5 Worse - Multiplayer
Despite placing a heavy emphasis on sharing and collaborating with the community, Dreams currently has a paltry multiplayer offering. More multiplayer functionality is planned for the game later down the line, but as it currently stands, LittleBigPlanet did multiplayer much better.
Not only could four players play through the entirety of LittleBigPlanet's story mode together, but they could also play the majority of online creations together as well. On top of that, multiple players could collaborate on the same creation in real-time, something that Dreams doesn't currently support at the moment.
4 Better - Community
Although its multiplayer offerings may be a bit disappointing at the moment, Dreams has already fostered an incredibly supportive community that loves to share things with one another. Everything in Dreams is able to be remixed by others, meaning even those without any knowledge of the game's creation suite can create whatever they like just by dragging and dropping others' creations.
Multiple Dreams players have already started to collaborate with each other on ambitious projects, and distributing the workload to multiple people who specialize in certain areas can only result in better creations.
3 Worse - Simplicity
Endless possibilities tend to come with endless complexity, and Dreams is no exception to this rule. LittleBigPlanet may have only allowed for simple creations in comparison, but its simple concept was easy for anyone to grasp.
Dreams allows players to make whatever they want, and they can even make individual assets for others to use rather than full levels or games if they want. Having this many options available can lead to choice paralysis, and many people won't even bother creating in Dreams because of how daunting the task can seem at first. The tools are simple once you get the hang of them, but getting past the game's control scheme and learning the many inputs can be a challenging task.
2 Better - Collaboration
Dreams allows creators to collaborate in ways they never could in LittleBigPlanet. Everything in Dreams is remixable, so if you like something from another creation, you can use it in yours. Player-created assets also show up next to official creations from Media Molecule when searching for items while creating, too, meaning it's perfectly valid to only use other players' things in your levels.
Most things in Dreams are a collaborative effort, even if they might not seem that way initially. So many players are sharing not just creations, but tips and techniques to get the most out of the creation tools, and everyone is way more connected than they were in LittleBigPlanet.
1 Worse - Homespaces
Every Dreams player has their own Homespace, which they can decorate and make their own. LittleBigPlanet had something similar in the form of Pods, and Pods are way better than Homespaces in their current state.
Theoretically, a Dreams Homespace could be decorated in several different ways that a Pod couldn't, but there's little to no point considering almost nobody will see it. Pods served as a hub that players returned to between levels as well as a gathering place for friends, meaning they occupied a good chunk of screentime in LittleBigPlanet. Right now, Homespaces fall to the wayside in favor of everything else Dreams has to offer, but hopefully things will change once multiplayer is introduced.