Last week I attended a special PlayStation Access event where I finally managed to get hands on with the PlayStation Vita. There were plenty of games available but somewhat predictably, there was one game in particular that I made a bee-line for. No prizes for guessing what it was.

My feelings were mixed as I headed towards a pair of comfortable-looking chairs in the corner of the London exhibition hall, in front of each sat a shimmering PlayStation Vita running LittleBigPlanet. I felt a lot like I did as I punched in my LBP 2 Beta code and waited for it to download; excited but also a little nervous. I’d watched and read a lot about it and had built it up so much in my head. Could it really live up to my expectations?

What was it going to be? Just LittleBigPlanet 2 on a smaller screen?

Well, it was clear from the first level I played that no, it isn’t. Double Eleven and Tarsier have taken what Media Molecule started and made it their own, taking full advantage of the unique hardware at their disposal. That’s not to say that the game has forgotten it’s roots, likely due in no small part to the fact that a good chuck of the game’s development team is made up of familiar names from the LBP community. LBP Vita is oozing with that trademark ‘LittleBigPlanet charm’, something that was noticeably lacking in the PSP game.

All of the five levels on-show did things that only LBP Vita can do. The first was Collision Course [watch the video], a fast-paced, Tron-looking level where you drive a vehicle through the streets of a futuristic city. You earn points my ramming other cars into walls and darting between lanes to hit point pads, all while trying do dodge large trucks as they come hurtling up behind you. What’s new here is that you play the level with the Vita held vertically. This new aspect ratio gives the level a greater sense of speed and isn’t something you can really do with the PS3 games. Well, I suppose you could turn your 40″ TV on its side but I don’t think your insurance company would pay-out when it topples over!

In another level, Squid Sorter [watch the video], you have to open and close gates in a maze to guide coloured creatures to their corresponding exits as they tumble from the top of the screen. This level is one of several which used the touch-screen controls, requiring you to tap on a gate to open and close it.

This is exactly the type of level I think’s going to thrive on the Cool Pages of the LBP Vita community - really easy to play in short bursts while you’re waiting for the bus (or, erm, relieving yourself), with a really addictive score-chase element.

Puppet Circus [watch the video] was perhaps the most ‘traditional’ level I played (if that word even has any meaning in LBP anymore!). A cute, fairground-themed platformer which serves to introduce you to all of the the Vita’s controls. Tilt we’ve experienced in LBP before but what impressed me was how natural the touch interactions felt. Everything seemed instantly familiar and always like it was enhancing my experience rather than getting in the way.

King of the Rink [watch the video] was the only two-player level available in the demo I played but is was great fun. Each player guards their ice hockey goal and tries to score against the opponent. It’s like air hockey with a twist as you earn power-ups that deflect the puck suddenly back towards the other player’s goal. Things got a little competitive when Nuclearfish and Musterbuster played it. This is one of those games that’s going to destroy friendships with repeated cries of “Just one more go! I’ll have you this time!”

And lastly, Oddball Factory [watch the video]. In this one Sackboy’s stuck in a bubble which you have to navigate around perilous spikes and cogs by guiding it with your finger. Create mode wasn’t available in the demo but playing these levels you get a bit of an idea of the tools that’ll be available. This level for example, appears to use a new type of follow to detect the player’s finger.

Squid Sorter most likely uses some sort of Touch Sensor, much like the Player or Tag Sensors we’re used to in LBP 2. And in Collision Course some building appeared to use more than the standard three layers. Did it make use of the 3D layer glitch. That’s if it even is a glitch anymore. Could it be a feature? We’ll have to wait and see.

And wait we will. No release date has yet been announced for LittleBigPlanet Vita but having been left off Sony’s list of PS Vita launch titles, it’s unlikely that we’ll see it until after February. Until then, consider my breath appropriately bated.