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

Diablo 3

Iv been a Diablo fan since the first one came in 1996, and i played that game for ages. Though i didnt buy it when i was 5.. i bought it 2003 but still. I played Diablo 1 until Windows 7 came, (reason why I stopped was because it didnt work anymore with the OS) every weekend me and a friend sat down and played it. I mean that game was just a marvel. It was awesome, fun, and pure Badass! I remembering me and my friend he was playing the warrior, and i was playing the sorcerer (Wizard) we always had a lot of fun in that game, not because you could “accidentally” kill your friend with a firewall but it was the feeling, and how good the game was in general.

I mean the feeling when you moved around in the dungeon with friends, when you faced the hordes of skeleton-demons, since the game wasnt that easy.. nor that hard. It had that perfect mixture of Balance. But I do think my friend thought I was more of a threat then the actual enemies.. Mostly because of my devastating spells, he always “accidentally” got killed by them when he was attacking some skeleton-demons. But we did kill them all.. but with the price of someone almost dying. The game always rewarded you with good loot. And it was easy to know who of us that took what, since I only used magic items, and my friend always went with the more heavier things. So he focused more on Strength and me on Willpower items.

I still remember the Butcher.. oh yes the “AAAAHHH FRESH MEAT!” 

He still had the best line in the game, but what I think made Diablo so good, (beside the game mechanics and loot system) It was the acting.. it was so bad, that it was awesome. I really loved that acting, it almost reminded me of Resident Evil (first one) when Barry said to Jill.. “Jill you master of unlocking take this with you” “Oh, you were almost a Jill-sandwich” And all those awesome quotes.

I actually played Diablo 2 Before Diablo 1, but I like Diablo 1 more then 2.. But back to Diablo 2

When I had Diablo 2 I didnt even have internet. But it was awesome, first character I played was the “Necromancer” and yes, he summons the dead. And DAMN he can summon the dead. Later on in the game when you can make an army of 25 Footsoldiers (skeletons) and 25 Mages (also skeletons) It was just awesome.. Normaly you cant have that many, if you didnt have “The Charms” Charms in Diablo 2 was something new and was just a simple item in your backpack that game you a random Passive, if you were lucky it could increase your skills by 1-3 (all of them hehe) And I had about half of my inventory full of them. There was 3 different charms

First one only took 1 inventory space, Second one took 2 space blocks. And you can only guess what the third one did.. OH YES!! it did not take 8 or 5 or 100... It took..... THREE!! (amazin right?.. you didnt see that one coming) Its not really recommended to do that.. Since it takes ages to actually get those things you need. I think I played the game with the same character over 2 weeks just to get those items.. Was fun but hell of a lot of work.

When my friend saw that army of the dead. We also made the small joke of “HAH.. I am wielding the necronomicon” Which is the book of the dead, by HP-Lovecraft. And it did kinda fit in quite well. Since I more or less had that army which just couldnt die.. They could. Just took a lot of effort on the demons part to kill them.. And to make matters even better. Later on in the summoning tree there was a skill that increased the Power/Health/Defense/Resistance/ Etc on your ….. YES!!! Skeletons! (all of them) Which just made the icing on the cake even better!

In 2002 I got Internet and me and my friend began the mayhem. And we both owned the expansion too then, so it was only just to move around and kill them all. He tried the Assassin, and I went Druid. And it was actually a very good combination. I summoned Ravens/Wolfs/Bears/Serpents and much more.. (huge surprise that I play as a summoner right?) And this class was a lot different from the Necromancer, since first of all, the necromancer needs corpses to summon the skeletons. While the druid dont, he can summon them from thin air and just go “Have you seen my “Waves hands” BEAR!” Which was awesome, But they made a balance thing, you could only have either the Wolfs or The bear up at the same time. Which makes sense in a way but also was rather “DAMNIT!” I do remember that later when I got the Bear.. and noticed the wolfs went.. I just thought... EH... Bear it is.. There was quite the difference between them. The Bear was more of a Tank.. While the Wolfs were damage dealers.. Which kinda makes sense since you can have WAAAY (5) more Wolves then Bears (Can only have one).. Even though the Bear does a lot more damage, the wolves could attack multiple enemies at a time.

We played this game over and over my friend and when I bought Diablo 1 it all began over again and we played that game even more. There was just something about that game that was just perfect.

Diablo III When you started the game it felt okey, the environment felt nice and Gothic like the old games. The story in act one was actually the closest to how Diablo games are. (the rest were just dragging it all out.. and kinda pissed me off) The skill system in the beginning was quite ok, but after you hit a certain level you noticed that about 70% of everything you've gotten is shit, and the newer once are just way better for surival. Skill systems in ARPG's always use a Skill-tree to make your character more personal and gives you more options on what you want to have and made you think of.. Is this worth specking on? Because if I find something new I would waste this one.. (this made you always consider PROS and CONS), but since you got everything automaticly which was fine in the first 10 levels. But it got kinda boring after a while, YES there was fun things in it in the beginning. Like “This Rune does this and this” (which you maybe prefer over the one you had. So you just wanted to get to that level to use it) But later on when you had all the runes, there was no point in doing a new lets say “Monk” Because he would be the exact same, since if I wanted to change my things on my other monk I could do it anyway any time.. So the replay value wasnt really there.

But there is ways that they actually could have made this approach to work, think like this.. I play as Monk.. You have a “Rune-Tree” On Level 5 you get your first choice. Between 3 different spells. And if you chose one of them, the other 2 are locked, and cannot be taken later on. This would make the Rune System to work very well and it would also give the game more of a character. And would make things work out. Yes people will still think the stiffness in the game is fun and all. But for people that have played ARPG's for years, isnt really the real way. They made the game waaay to easy for people to understand, instead of actually trying to let people actually figure out how the game was.

Blizzard were just straight out lazy when they made Diablo 3. The whole game was just a cash collector. The item drop was way to bad, just because they wanted people to use the in-game AH (Yes they used an In-game AH with real money) so they can profit from it. The game after act one to act 4 just felt slow and the story was poorly made. The whole game was a big cliche. You always knew what was going to happen, nothing was a real surprise, unlike the old games. Even though you still knew what was going to happen. But in the third game, like in act 3. The boss is doing the typical move villain, telling his whole plot which is straight out stupid, since you know who it is and where he is after that. Which ruins the point of playing thru act 3. Act 4 is just lazy. There is nothing to do besides going from point A to B.. which you did in the whole game..

The game had no reward for exploring except for unfair elites. Blizzard also said it was going to be "Random generated" but since the overworld was the same all the time, it became quite sickening to play it over and over. And the "Random dungeons" were only 2-4 different maps with some events. Which isnt really random generated.. its just pre-created maps with a random selection. The rune system later on was also very badly made, since as i said before most of it isnt needed. There was no customizations and no real feel for leveling. In the old games you always went "YES!" on a new level. a new spell/upgrade. in this game you more or less went, huh, i dinged.. *Moving on* And the major thing most be there is no attributes.

Which an ARPG is all about, making your character as you want him to be. For example. I want to give my warrior more mana so i can do some extra attacks etc. or to give my Mage some extra dex so they enemy has an increased chance of missing me. The companions, was a stupid idea to have in the game, they were good. But since you cant use them online. Makes them straight out useless. They are a worthless edition to the game and dosnt even add anything to it, then having some annoying ai randomly throw around words. They made the whole Diablo game into a failed "Arpg" and more of an unsuccessful "mmorpg" And that you can only play 4 players was just stupid, there is no reason to why they limit the game to 4 players and focus the whole game around 4 players, which made everything easy.

And the fact that you ALWAYS have to be online to even play it is just dumb, you cant play LAN, and you have a chance of getting Lag in Single-Player.. And this is just stupid, I wouldnt care if you need to activate the account on their page and after the first login. The “codes” are saved in the computer and you can play the game in offline mode.. Like in StarCraft 2.. Even though you can only play the Campaign.. Which is the only reason why you would play Offline mode (though you cant really chose it, its just if you cant log in at the time)

The game was fun while it lasted, but its just not worth to get back to after everything, i cant say the game was utter shit, it was good the first month, trying out evey class etc.. But it never felt real.. it felt like a slight disapointment, and i know people can say "But of course, there was such a huge time inbetween the games" NO! That is not the damn case! Look at Starcraft 2 and 1. Yes the first one is better. BUT! the second one is not far behind from being Badass! So thats just a lame ass excuse for saying why it is as it is. But overall Diablo 3 is fun to play. It just isnt a diablo game.. Since Diablo games ia all about the Crawling and the Gothic enviroments, loot and teamwork. They made one of those things good in the game.. and that was Teamwork.. it works with 4 players, but its just stupid that they limited it to that.
I havent played Diablo 3 since 1 month after release, and i will never go back to it. In my eyes, Diablo 3 never happend, and i will remain in that state of mind. Diablo 3 was and will always be. WoW-Isometric