ReZ Gaming Blog

The Review on Little Big Adventure 2

Well its been a long time since i played this game, and wow it brings back memories. Its been about 10-12 years since i played it last and i forgot the name about it after a while. And since about 6 years ago i've been searching for it almost nonestop when i find some new "memory" about the game, but no luck.. 

Then one day, "Google Play Store" We have a recommended game for you here, its "Little Big Adventure"

I went.. wait.. i know this game, why do i remember this game.. WHY!? 

Then like a comet it slammed me in head saying "HELLO IT'S THE GAME.. YOU KNOW.. WIZARD!"

I almost broke down and cried of all the nostalgia (maybe not that bad, but still)

Well I've been writing enough BS so far so let's just dive right in to the game and see what it is and how it is.

There will be a Youtube Video about the game (review) but it will not be as detailed, since well my mind has been very blurry the past weeks haha. This game also got released on Playstation (for those who want to play on the good old fashion console)

The Plot

(SPOILER FREE)

The game start of with you (Twinsen) and your girlfriend (Zoe) who are waiting their first child, they are sitting on a bench looking out on the beach. When the skies darkens from nowhere, and a thunderstorm breaks out. They run back to the house to get away from the awful weather. Though at this time, Twinsens friend Dino-Fly (who you probably understand is a dragon that can fly.. OH SHIET!) 

He gets struck down by lightning and hurls down towards Twinsens and Zoes backyard. Twinsen then tries to help his friend by doing some chores by finding some medicine to him. But the farmacy did not have anything to help Dino-Fly, so Twinsens only chance is to get to Desert Island, but to do so he need to find a way to break of the storm since it hinders him to travel there. And here your epic adventure begins, starting by saving your friend, to saving the world once again. From the "Peace-lovers" who calls themselfs Esmers

Small Bullshit hints here and there (Can skip if you don't want to know about them)

There are a lot of "hidden" items around the world some that you can only have one shot to do, (not speaking of lives, just if you continue the story, you wont be able to do this or take the things)

First of, there are some "One-ups" which you will need when you play... a lot of them haha. These things are quite easy to spot, since they are more or less a box like this picture right here to the right.

BUT! note that this is only a "holder" for the one-ups, you still need to find the clover which is the real one-up but, with this box you can have a lot of them at the same time, which definitely helps A LOT! Because at the end if you miss an important spell (as i did) The end will be HORRIBLE!!! And i mean brutally horrible, because they are millions and you are one. And that's not even the horrible part.. but you will notice when you get there.

There is something called "Protective Spell" which is a life saver (And yes, i know it makes sense, since it has the name as it has. There is no real questioning on what it does, but if you need an explanation.. It protects you from harm)

And you can only get this item when you can cross Water, or "harmful ground" by hovering.

(Not going to say what you need. just a hint. since its going to be spoiler free)

Controls

(You know, something you need to have)

The controls are quite OK/Excellent depends on what you do, and how you do it. The game is an isometric-Action/Adventure and since there is no strafe you have the old-school "Turn-around" which works perfectly for the game, so if you liked the controls on for example Resident Evil, you will looooove these ones, because they are more or less the same (without the aim down and up)

There are things in the game that can be frustrating because of the controls, but that's not because the game has bad controls, that's because 1. You (me) are an idiot, 2 Camera can be sometimes hard to understand if you are supposed to jump somewhere (Thought you can save and load if you feel uncertain (which i did A LOT hehe) ) And yes.. about the camera. Even if you can move it around to where Twinsen is. Sometimes you cant, and often because of this (mostly because i have a hard time sometimes to know where the edges are haha) this can be your death.. But, its not to often and its mostly because your own fault that you died, because you weren't careful enough. 
There are also something i love about the game which is your "Stances". They allow you to change your well stance.. (Obviously haha) you have 4 stances (one that is completely useless if don't want to go slow) the four stances are Normal, Sporty, Aggressive, Discreet
Normal, makes you move at a normal pace. Sporty is something you will use almost all the time because you can jump and run fast. Aggressive allows you to punch people in the face, and kick them in the groin. Discreet is a stealth thing, which i almost never used, because it was more fun to run towards your enemies and just punch them in the face or throw your magic balls at them. 
(you can also interact with things on "normal" to gain stuff like hearts and Gold but you can do that on every stance, with a hotkey) Though some weapons works different on different stances, so when you get a new one, see if it has a different one (all of them does not have one, its just a few) some makes you able to dodge and attack at the same time, and with another stance you hit rapidly. It's a cool detail that makes a certain depth to combat.
You also have a kind of inventory which is made in a "GRID" form, and best part is, every item has its own spot on the inventory, this intern allows you to remember it easier for the next time you play it, and to be honest this I've done a few times by now. So for example if you find an item it will always be on the same spot.

Graphics

(Sparkle Sparkle)

The graphics aren't really amazing.. not even slightest, but it has aged well.. Extremely well, because the graphics works perfectly to how the game works, and what it's supposed to be, (a comedy game) It's slightly un-serious but detailed at some places. (like the world) the characters and items are made in Polygons and they used 2 different "Engines" depending on if you were outside or indoors. This allowed the game to become more fluid, like if indoors they didn't need to render a whole world, so they could focus on smaller details, while outdoors they had to focus on a bigger scale, so they needed something to be able to rend more textures. (since there is NO LOADING-SCREENS <3) They also have a different texture quality on your character and the objects you can use YES it doesn't look as good as the environment, but this also allows you to easier know where an enemy is, or an item is. Which is always a positive thing.

Music/Sound effects

(Without it, how would games be)

I've got to say this music is SO AMAZING! i have remembered the music for over 10 years and that kinda proves how good it is. If you want to listen to it, just click on the video at the side here to hear it.
There aren't to many songs but they fit to where to where they are, and there is no looping, so you wont really get tired of the songs. At some places there will be more then one song after another, but that's rare. I don't know if it's a bug or if they made it intentionally. Either way, if you want the song back simply save, and load. The loading screen is non-existent anyway.
The sound effects are ok.. they could have been better, but i think they were going to for a cartoon feel since there are "Dunks" and "puffs" (like in super hero cartoons) sound-effects and yes they fit. But some items just have that EXTREME high pitch volume that just makes your ears bleed (maybe not that bad, but could have been) and you get used to it, but dear god it's horrible the first time you use the item and hear the noise haha. And as you probably have noticed since i said it before, every kind of sound is mean't (what i can hear) to sound like a cartoon

Level Design
(Well i think you can guess haha)

The level design in this game is fantastic, (and i know I've said that a lot but it's true) The world is fascinating though i don't know if its a big improvement on the outworld from the first game, it's hard to tell, since on the first game it had the same engine for both outside and inside. Its good and bad at the same time. Since the outworld looks good in the second game, but in the first game they could add more detail without it looking like a mess (Like chair etc etc) But i think i prefer the second game since there are no "screens" and just one big map.So i do kinda prefer the "New outworld" since it makes it more "alive" or rather it gives you an illusion of it being more "alive". But back to how the world looks, there is an amazing amount difference between the worlds, like you have "Citadel Island". (The home of Twinsen) Then you have Desert Island (Which is where all the pictures are from (most of them). This gives the game more "feel" you don't really get tired of the environment, since every island is unique and fresh. So this makes it not getting old or repetitive which is positive since this game (first time you play) can take over 10 hours to complete. The puzzles are also interesting because some you actually need to make a map on a paper to figure out haha. (Now that is always a great way of showing that the makers cared of doing them.) For example (picture here)  

But the way how they have made the levels where the puzzles are (obviously) most of them forces you to actually use your brain (OMG must be a joke) and to be fair, that's what we all need in a puzzle game. even though this is an Action Adventure haha. There aren't puzzles everywhere but when they are there, they are both fresh and works. There aren't much else to say without talking to much about later how the game is, but at some places you need to even use your magic ball to get some items (which i didn't knew in the beginning since i did not read the manual haha)

Bosses
(Last but not least)

There aren't to many of them, (at least not what i think) there are some in the beginning and some later (or at least A boss) But some doesn't feel like a boss, just like a bigger enemy haha. But maybe that is the point, then again, it's not about the bosses, it's about the adventure, but the few bosses that are here are challenging and well made both in quality and strategy. Though as i said before, there aren't much to talk about here about the bosses that i haven't already said.

So Final Thoughts

(OMG ITS SOON OVER!)

So what do i think about the game? If you haven't noticed already i LOVE this game, and for good reasons, it's a good example that what you need is a good imagination to make a great game, the world is both weird and the humor hits the spot perfectly. There are a lot of foolish jokes but it's deliberate, though it's a very dry humor, (which i also have) ITS AMAZING! Though some jokes you really have to look between the lines to understand. But overall the game is fun, well thought out and well made. It's also very well scripted, with a good story and a great neck on detail (hurr di durr) But do i recommend it? FUCK YES! I mean you have everything you would want from an Action-Adventure right here, good exploration, good story, interesting characters, a living world and much more. So, what are you waiting for. If you haven't played it what are you waiting for? So as the picture to the right have said.. Do you remember your first time? (Playing the game that is, you dirty bastard haha ;) )

Hope you enjoyed reading this nonsense as much as i enjoyed making it, have a great one and i see you both on YouTube and here, sleep tight and have a good nights sleep