Little Big Adventure
| Little Big Adventure | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Adeline Software International |
| Publisher(s) |
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| Director(s) | |
| Engine | Custom |
| Platform(s) | PC (MS-DOS), PlayStation |
| Release | PC
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| Genre(s) | Action-adventure game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Little Big Adventure (LBA) is a PC game made by Adeline Software International and first released at the end of 1994. The name of the game is an oxymoron.
It was released in Europe by Electronic Arts and in North America, Asia and Oceania under the name Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure by Activision, with the game selling over 400,000 copies worldwide in the first release. The game was initially released in a CD-ROM version and some time later in a floppy disk version; the CD-ROM version featured full motion video, music and speech whereas the floppy disk version has MIDI music files and still images to replace the videos. The game was later ported to the PlayStation, and released in Europe and Japan. A sequel was released under the name of Little Big Adventure 2 (also known as Twinsen's Odyssey).
Background
The game takes place on Twinsun, a strange planet (not to be confused with Twinsen, the game's protagonist).
The game's introduction sequence:
Twinsun is a relatively new planet on the outskirts of a remote galaxy. Its rotational plane has stabilized between two suns. There is a huge mountain range running along its equator, that divides the planet in half: each hemisphere is warmed by a single sun. The Northern hemisphere, with its orange sky, is warmer than the Southern hemisphere. Except for a polar region, the planet's climate is clement. The formation of life forms on the planet was thus favourable. Four species developed over the course the centuries: the Spheros, the Rabbibunnies, the Quetches and the Grobos. They all lived in harmony until a tyrant named Dr Funfrock reared his ugly head.
Ever since Funfrock's rise to power, the population has been living under a reign of terror. FunFrock set up a police state where suspicion is omnipresent. He is all powerful and controls the people with an iron fist. He has at his disposal two high-tech weapons that ensure his power: cloning and teleportation. FunFrock can clone any of the species at will, and subsequently recruit these clones into his ranks. He can then deploy these clones instantly through a network of telepods that are dispersed over the entire planet.
A few years ago, under the guise of protecting the population, Dr. FunFrock herded the planet's habitants* into the southern hemisphere. The repression is harsh. Every day brings more and more arrests, and the people slowly begin to lose hope. In an effort to keep their spirits up, the people sometimes evoke an ancient legend along with the name of a goddess, Sendell. The mentioning of the legend or Sendell has since been forbidden by Dr. FunFrock.
Meanwhile, a young quetch named Twinsen has been having strange dreams.
The game
Little Big Adventure is viewed from a pseudo 3D isometric perspective (the game field is rotated 45 degrees). All characters and vehicles in the game, including some props in the world, are real 3D polygon-based objects, allowing for full rotation and movement abilities. The game field is divided in scenes (a small block of the game that is active). When the player exits a scene the game is saved automatically. After completion of certain tasks the player is presented with a full motion video sequence. All text in the game is spoken by the characters in the CD-ROM version of the game. The quality of voice acting is generally regarded as being quite poor. A floppy disk version of the game was released where speech was purely text based. The game world is very large for its time - there are 11 different islands and over 120 scenes that the player can visit. Locations in the game include a desert, a snowy mountain range called "the Hamalayi mountains", a rebel village under attack from missiles, and a construction site.
The game's genre is a real-time adventure. It combines several action game/arcade sequences and some elements from the role-playing game genre. The game's gameplay is partially free-roaming, allowing the player to travel around the islands once they have been "unlocked" by completing certain objectives; there are also many tasks which are optional or non-linear. Certain locations in the game are initially blocked from the player until they progress to a certain stage, such as the islands in the Northern Hemisphere and fortresses on several of the islands in the Southern Hemisphere.
Interactivity with the world is important in Little Big Adventure. Almost all characters can be talked to, and enemies are often performing tasks while the game world is active. The artificial intelligence in the game was particularly groundbreaking at the time, with enemies often running to alarms to alert other guards to the player's location, opposed to games like Doom released in the same timeframe where enemies can only chase and shoot at the player.
The game features an automatic save system. When starting the game the player has to enter a name, this way giving a name to the player's save file/slot. The game gets saved each time a player enters a new area. While there is no manual save feature, the same functionality can be achieved by cleverly copying save files/slots.
Behaviors and gameplay
The character the player controls is called Twinsen. The player controls Twinsen with the arrow keys; and he has 4 different modes of behavior.
- Normal: The normal mode, in which Twinsen will walk normally and can execute the action command allowing him to activate items, talk to characters, and search objects such as trashcans and chests. When attacking, the attack is straightforward with no curve. He will throw the Magic Ball with average strength. When using the Sabre, he only attacks approximately twice per second.
- Athletic: In this mode, Twinsen can run and jump. When using weapons Twinsen will move very quickly. He throws the Magic Ball slightly further than in Normal mode. With the Sabre, Twinsen will execute a special move where he will backflip and then frontflip into an attack, inflicting a high amount of damage to any enemy in front of him. Also in this mode, Twinsen gets hurt if he runs into objects such as walls. This does not happen in Little Big Adventure 2 nor in the PSX version of LBA.
- Aggressive: This is the battle mode, in this mode Twinsen can fight enemies using a combination of punches and kicks, and when using weapons he will attack with more power. When wielding the magic ball, he throws it slightly harder than in Athletic mode; and when wielding the Sabre, he slashes in a fierce, continuous stream, complete with a spinning attack.
- Discreet: In this mode, Twinsen will tip-toe near-silently and is able to hide. The player may need this to get past some otherwise unbeatable enemies. When the player uses weapons Twinsen will attack very slowly. When using the Magic Ball, he propels it upwards, which is useful for killing enemies or activating switches on higher ledges, or over short walls.
During the game, the player encounters vehicles which can help him get around the island or to a different island altogether. These vehicle driving sections, despite claims in previews, are not interactive (unlike Little Big Adventure 2).
Inventory
Twinsen also has an inventory where he can store objects he finds. Every object has its own set place in the inventory rather than being automatically assigned.
The player has four magic levels, gaining them by picking up the ascentor's Tunic, the Book of Bu, Sendel's Medallion, and the flask of Clear Water. Magic levels are crucial, as certain enemies cannot be harmed unless the player is powerful enough (clones have different colours that correspond to their levels).
Little Big Adventure features three usable weapons in game: The Magic Ball, the Sabre, and optionally a Meca-Penguin. Its sequel, Little Big Adventure 2, includes these weapons and adds more, including a blowgun and laser pistol.
- Magic Ball: The Magic Ball is a ball of energy that can be thrown by Twinsen. When Twinsen has a high level of magic, the Magic Ball can bounce off walls and other objects. As Twinsen's magic level decreases, however, the Magic Ball's bounce is reduced. The Magic Ball can be used to attack enemies or to activate switches. During both games the power of the ball is upgraded as the player gains levels of magic. The ball changes colour with each level. level 1 is yellow, level two is green, level 3 is red and the final level, level 4 is fire.
- Sabre: The Sabre is found later in the game in FunFrock's Main Headquarters on Principal Island, and is an extremely powerful melee weapon. In Aggressive mode, Twinsen rapidly hacks and slashes. In Athletic mode, he backflips and then forward flips to slash the enemy, essentially a hit-and-run attack.
- Meca-Penguin: This wind-up mechanical toy walks straight forward and explodes upon impact. Unlike the Magic Ball and the Sabre, this weapon can be found or bought at several locations in the game, and can be obtained more than once. The player can however only carry around one Meca-Penguin at a time.
Music
The music for the game was composed by Frenchman Philippe Vachey[1] and was included as CD quality sound that would play and change as you entered new areas. For games at the time this was a new departure ensuring high quality/realistic audio over and above the usual MIDI.
He also composed music for Little Big Adventure 2.
- Opening
- The Quest
- The Rebels
- Desert
- In The Temple
- The Village
- Hamalayi
- Funky Town
- Theme
Versions
The following versions of Little Big Adventure are known to exist:
| Known non-final versions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Version | Date | Description |
| Beta/Preview version | August 8, 1994 | This version is unique, in that it had encrypted texts, and a slightly different scene format than the final version. Also notable for having separate external .DIA, and .ORD, files (encrypted for some reason), instead of a single TEXT.HQR file. Available for download from the Magicball Network. |
| Known final versions | ||
| Version | Date | Description |
| Demo version | October 14th, 1994 | Version of the below, with only three scenes from the very beginning game (the same three scenes, as the above version), and was commonly found in the computer magazines of the period. |
| European version | October 21, 1994 | Release by Electronic Arts; has the English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian written languages, and the English, French, and German spoken dialogues. |
| U.S. version | October 21, 1994 | Release by Electronic Arts, only has the English texts slightly americanized. Note that certain pirated rips have all the files dated December 22, 1994, which is wrong, so it should not be trusted. |
| Original Floppy version | September/October/November 1994 | Publisher unknown; very rare, as it was superseded by the much more common 1995 Floppy version. It has .PCX format slideshows in place of full-motion videos. The voice-overs have also been removed. |
| Floppy version | August 11, 1995 | Published by Electronic Arts; essentially the same as the 1994 Floppy version, but has the slideshows are in the .GIF format, as opposed to the 1994 Floppy version's .PCX format. |
| U.S. Floppy version | July 29, 1995 | Published by Electronic Arts; essentially the same, as the above, but with the texts of the normal U.S. version of the game. |
| Russian version | 1995? | Publisher unknown; known to have both the Russian texts, and the Russian voices. (Probably it is Akella or Дядюшка Рисёч) |
| Japanese version | October 9, 1995 | Published by Electronic Arts; it only has the Japanese texts, and has the French voices swapped for the Japanese ones. |
| Newer CD version | 1995/1996 | Publisher unknown; rumored to exist, also rumored to have fully-controllable vehicles. |
| Known non-PC final versions | ||
| Version | Date | Description |
| Japanese PlayStation version | July 19, 1996 | Published by Electronic Arts; released in NTSC, and is known to have much lower quality of graphics than the PAL version (below)[2]. |
| European PlayStation version | March 1997 | Published by Electronic Arts; released in PAL, and is known to have superior quality of graphics when compared to the NTSC version (above). |
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (January 2008) |
- The game was initially planned as a SNES game, making use of the Super FX chip for real-time 3D game components.
- The isometric view used in the games Alien 8 and Knight Lore were, according to the creator, his inspiration for the isometric viewpoint of LBA.
- In early preview versions, the player could supposedly drive vehicles in the game, however this wasn't implemented in the final version due to lack of time and the idea was kept for the game's sequel, Little Big Adventure 2.
- The creators of Little Big Adventure were Frédérick Raynal, Serge Pagnol, and Didier Chanfray, who were also the creators of the original Alone in the Dark from which LBA was partly inspired. This also explains the unique European look and flavor in the game.
External links
General resources
- Little Big Adventure at MobyGames
- Little Big Adventure review/screenshots, Adventure Classic Gaming
- TwinEngine, an open-source version of the LBA engine, recoded from by reverse engineering
- Little Big Adventure for Windows (LbaWin), a Windows port for LBA (i.e. a program that converts LBA into a Windows application). The port is currently as a Beta.
- Encyclopedia Twinsunica, an encyclopedia of the Little Big Adventure series
Fan sites and web directories
- The LBA series website directory at the Open Directory Project
- Magicball Network, a Little Big Adventure community
- The LBA Prequel, a fangame utilizing the original LBA engine.