Little Big Adventure
Little Big Adventure is an action-adventure game developed by Adeline Software International and first released at the end of 1994. It was published in Europe by Electronic Arts and in North America, Asia and Oceania under the name Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure by Activision. Over 400,000 copies of the game were sold worldwide in the first release. The game was initially released on CD-ROM and some time later on floppy disks; 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 Japan and Europe in 1996 and 1997 respectively, and to Android and iOS devices in 2014. A sequel was released under the name of Little Big Adventure 2 (also known as Twinsen's Odyssey).
Little Big Adventure is a real-time pseudo-3D isometric action-adventure game. All characters and vehicles in the game, including some props in the world, are real 3D polygon-based objects, performing actions within 2D pre-rendered environments. After completion of certain tasks the player is presented with a full motion video cut-scene. The player-character, Twinsen, can be switched between four different 'behaviour modes' (Normal, Athletic/Sporty, Aggressive, and Discreet), each changing the character's abilities and interactions with the game world. Combat in the game is mainly conducted using the Magic Ball, a glowing ball of energy which the player throws towards enemies, the trajectory and angle of the ball changing depending on the mode the player is in. Switching to the 'Aggressive' mode also allows Twinsen to engage in combat via punching and kicking. The gameplay is partially free-roaming, allowing the player free non-linear travel around the islands of the game's world once they have been 'unlocked' by completing certain objectives or solving certain puzzles; 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.
The game is set on the fictional planet Twinsun, a world which is held in a suspended orbit between two suns resulting in a polar region around its equator. Four different sentient species populate Twinsun; Quetchs are aesthetically similar to humans except that they all possess ponytails, Spheros are short spherical creatures, Grobos resemble anthropomorphic elephants, and Rabbibunnies are tall, thin humanoid rabbits. As the game begins, it is explained that all peoples of Twinsun have been herded into the Southern hemisphere by a brutal tyrant called Dr FunFrock, who has subjugated the planet by developing an army of clones which travel using teleport machines which he has dispersed around the planet. The player character is a young Quetch named Twinsen, who has been incarcerated in an asylum on the fortress-like Citadel Island because of his prophetic dreams about the end of the world.
Twinsen escapes from the asylum and returns to his house which he shares with his girlfriend Zoe, but when Dr FunFrock's clones arrive to re-arrest him, Zoe hides Twinsen from them and is arrested herself. As Twinsen travels between the islands of the planet, seeking to find a way of overcoming FunFrock's clone army and recover Zoe, he discovers that his strange dreams are in fact part of the Prophecy, a legendary tale regarding a being known as Sendell who is said to inhabit the core of the planet and watch over the people of Twinsun. Twinsen's dreams are in fact telepathic messages sent by Sendell, who chose his ancestors to help her watch over the planet centuries prior and is now contacting Twinsen (as the current descendent of his family line) to warn the inhabitants of the planet of the danger posed by FunFrock.
Realising that finding FunFrock and fulfilling the Prophecy is the only way to recover Zoe, Twinsen teams up with a group of rebels resisting the rule of FunFrock, who help him sabotage FunFrock's cloning and teleportation abilities and give him passage through to the Northern Hemisphere, where FunFrock has set up a massive drilling operation into the heart of the planet. Twinsen breaks into FunFrock's main fortress and finds Zoe seemingly locked in a jail, but she is revealed to be a clone created by FunFrock as bait, and FunFrock reveals that with Twinsen safely locked up where he cannot fulfil his part of the Prophecy, he is free to safely drill through to the Well of Sendell deep in the planet's core, where he hopes to encounter Sendell and gain the godly powers she possesses for himself.
Twinsen escapes from the clutches of FunFrock's clones and succeeds in blowing the fortress up, clearing the way for him to fight through FunFrock's drilling operation to reach the Well of Sendell. FunFrock waits with Zoe at the entrance to the Well, telling Twinsen that he'll spare Twinsen and Zoe if he opens the Well for FunFrock to advance and reach Sendell. Twinsen pushes FunFrock off the side of a cliff during a sword fight and opens the Well in order to complete the Prophecy, inadvertently allowing a surviving FunFrock access as well. Twinsen defeats FunFrock in a final confrontation, and him and Zoe encounter Sendell, a being appearing to consist purely of glowing electrical energy, who thanks them for saving a gestalt entity which she is protecting in the core of the planet. Sendell uses her powers to allow Twinsen and Zoe to fly back to the surface, where the inhabitants of the planet have prepared a celebration in Twinsen's honour.
How to play:
Click on the joystick icon in the Little Big Adventure online emulator to see how to control the Little Big Adventure game
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