With the game's content creation system, you'd think it would be hard to get excited about for-pay levels for Sony's LittleBigPlanet. Players can jump online and play thousands of free levels of all shapes and sizes, so why pay $5.99 for more levels and extra materials? It's a tough sell, to be sure, but MediaMolecule has apparently found the answer that should serve as a template for all future DLC: offer something the original game simply couldn't.

The Metal Gear Solid 4 level pack was released right before Christmas, and with the actual holidays preoccupying all of us, we've only just had the chance to sit down with the new content. The pack features a small but game-changing inclusion: the paintball gun. While this addition seems relatively simple and limited at first, it will surely result in some amazing new levels that simply were not possible before. This makes the pack a must-buy.

While the actual Metal Gear Solid 4 levels are themselves a great addition to the game—paying homage to Konami's big title in a way that feels fresh, while offering a unique platforming experience that stands on its own with some great levels and an epic boss fight—the paintball gun and its corresponding creation pieces have opened a whole new door for content creators.

The gun can be used to kill enemies and shoot special surfaces, which have "health." Shooting these surfaces a set number of times triggers an event or causes them to disappear. That's pretty much all there is to it. With the pack's levels, MediaMolecule has offered just a few of the many different possibilities. One of the pack-in levels is essentially a shooting gallery, which requires you to peg some targets while dodging energy balls. The platforming levels are also spiced up with new enemies, and everything stays with the Metal Gear Solid theme. The story even pokes fun at some of the existing user-created levels, but we won't ruin the surprises.

The only downside is that it's possible to play all the new levels in a very short time; you'll see all there is to see in an hour or so, although it will take much longer to master all the new challenges.

For $5.99, this is a significant addition to the game, and we're extremely excited to see the various ways in which players turn LittleBigPlanet into a shooter. Given that the included levels themselves are a ton of fun to play through and are, as has become MediaMolecule tradition, superbly crafted, any LittleBigPlanet owner would be foolish not to dive head first into this excellent booster pack of content.