Little Big Adventure 2
Encyclopedia
Little Big Adventure 2 (LBA 2) is a computer game made by the core team who created the first Alone in the Dark
.
It was later re-released by Activision
in June 1997 in both North America
, and in Brazil
, under the name Twinsen's Odyssey. In July 1997, both Electronic Arts and Virgin Interactive Software re-released LBA 2 - Virgin Interactive Software doing so under the name of "Twinsen's Odyssey". LBA 2 sold over 600,000 copies worldwide.
The game is a sequel to Little Big Adventure
(also known as Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure). LBA 2 was also the third game created under the label of Adeline Software International. The game features three dimensional environments and full motion video
, and all of its music is in CD Audio quality.
, Twinsun was peaceful, until a sudden storm covered Citadel Island. The Dino-Fly, a creature encountered in LBA 1 is struck by lightning and crashes in Twinsen and Zoe's garden. Twinsen seeks help from Ker'aooc, a healing wizard, who lives on Desert Island. But ferry crossings are cancelled. He aids Bersimon, the island's weather wizard, resulting in the clouds disappearing. After the storm, alien creatures, who call themselves Esmers, land on the planet, under a false diplomatic guise and Twinsen begins training under the Wizard's School after hearing of missing children in the planet. The Esmers use their army to secretly capture Twinsun's Children and openly invite the Wizards to their planet(which is revealed later to be a trap to capture them). After graduating as a Wizard, Twinsen is informed by his master of the possible plot of the Esmers and is sent to investigate their planet by accepting their invitation to all Wizards. Once Twinsen lands in Zeelich(the Esmers' two-layered, Jupiter-like gas home planet), the invitation proves to be a trap and he is arrested on the landing port. After tricking one of the guards with the help of another prisoner, Twinsen manages to escape imprisonment and escapes the planet in one of the ships. He eventually crashes in the mountains of Citadel Island, where he is attacked by an Esmerian soldier, after defeating him and making his way into the city he finds out that the Esmers have taken over the planet and have imposed martial law. After going home to check on Zoe he finds out that Baldino has left him a protopack in the warehouse, he retrieves it and sets out to find his friend. Once making it to Desert Island he finds out that Baldino has disappeared, he proceeds to investigate his house discovers that Baldino has built a spacecraft and for some reason went to Emerald Moon (Twinsun's moon), he also visits the Wizard's School and learns from his master that in order to proceed in his journey and face the Esmers, who prove to be more than he can handle.
Home to several different species, Zeelich is a two-layered planet, the upper layer located above the sea of toxic gas that plagues the planet. The lower layer is located beneath the gas. Its inhabitants await the day when a certain prophecy will be fulfilled, and the Dark Monk, the shadow god, will emerge and restore Zeelich.
Twinsen eventually gathers together four fragments making up a key which must be placed inside a little temple on Celebration Island. He unmasks Dark Monk, who is really FunFrock, the villain from the first game. He kills FunFrock, and returns to stop the moon of Twinsun crashing into the planet.
perspective view is used, and for indoor scenes it uses a 3D isometric
perspective (the game field is rotated 45 degree
s). All characters and vehicles are 3D polygon
-based objects, allowing for full rotation and movement abilities. The interior 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
under a savegame called AUTOSAVE.LBA. However, unlike Little Big Adventure, it is possible to save the game at any point. 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. The LBA world is considered extremely large and varied for games of its time. There are three planets to visit, with Twinsun and Zeelich containing their own islands, each with their own unique graphical style. Essentially every character in the game is interactive and will respond differently when Twinsen speaks to them.
Like its predecessor, LBA 2 is 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
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 advanced for the era, 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.
In early previews - mostly of the 1996 pre-release version - there were some drastic differences from the final version. Examples include the ferry being in the style of the ferry in the original Little Big Adventure
, the woodbridge on Citadel Island being intact rather than broken, Emerald Moon having a Twinsunian blue sky, and differences in the characters (mostly Zeelichians) - most notably the Franco guards seen on Twinsun after the invasion.
said, "With its unparalleled sense of marvel and imagination, engaging story, and deft mix of action and adventure, Twinsen's Odyssey is a true delight and simply the most charming game I've ever played". GameSpot
's Ron Dulin gave the game 8.1 out of 10, stating "Fans of adventure games will not want to pass this one up". José Dias of Adventure Classic Gaming said "Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure is among the most original and intriguing adventure games ever released." and gave it a 4 out of 5.
Alone in the Dark (video game)
Alone in the Dark is a 1992 survival horror video game developed by Infogrames. The game has spawned several sequels as part of the Alone in the Dark series , and was one of the first survival horror games, after the 1989 Capcom game, Sweet Home...
.
It was later re-released by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
in June 1997 in both North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, and in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, under the name Twinsen's Odyssey. In July 1997, both Electronic Arts and Virgin Interactive Software re-released LBA 2 - Virgin Interactive Software doing so under the name of "Twinsen's Odyssey". LBA 2 sold over 600,000 copies worldwide.
The game is a sequel to Little Big Adventure
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...
(also known as Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure). LBA 2 was also the third game created under the label of Adeline Software International. The game features three dimensional environments and full motion video
Full motion video
Full motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
, and all of its music is in CD Audio quality.
Plot
After Twinsen defeated FunFrock at the end of Little Big AdventureLittle 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...
, Twinsun was peaceful, until a sudden storm covered Citadel Island. The Dino-Fly, a creature encountered in LBA 1 is struck by lightning and crashes in Twinsen and Zoe's garden. Twinsen seeks help from Ker'aooc, a healing wizard, who lives on Desert Island. But ferry crossings are cancelled. He aids Bersimon, the island's weather wizard, resulting in the clouds disappearing. After the storm, alien creatures, who call themselves Esmers, land on the planet, under a false diplomatic guise and Twinsen begins training under the Wizard's School after hearing of missing children in the planet. The Esmers use their army to secretly capture Twinsun's Children and openly invite the Wizards to their planet(which is revealed later to be a trap to capture them). After graduating as a Wizard, Twinsen is informed by his master of the possible plot of the Esmers and is sent to investigate their planet by accepting their invitation to all Wizards. Once Twinsen lands in Zeelich(the Esmers' two-layered, Jupiter-like gas home planet), the invitation proves to be a trap and he is arrested on the landing port. After tricking one of the guards with the help of another prisoner, Twinsen manages to escape imprisonment and escapes the planet in one of the ships. He eventually crashes in the mountains of Citadel Island, where he is attacked by an Esmerian soldier, after defeating him and making his way into the city he finds out that the Esmers have taken over the planet and have imposed martial law. After going home to check on Zoe he finds out that Baldino has left him a protopack in the warehouse, he retrieves it and sets out to find his friend. Once making it to Desert Island he finds out that Baldino has disappeared, he proceeds to investigate his house discovers that Baldino has built a spacecraft and for some reason went to Emerald Moon (Twinsun's moon), he also visits the Wizard's School and learns from his master that in order to proceed in his journey and face the Esmers, who prove to be more than he can handle.
Home to several different species, Zeelich is a two-layered planet, the upper layer located above the sea of toxic gas that plagues the planet. The lower layer is located beneath the gas. Its inhabitants await the day when a certain prophecy will be fulfilled, and the Dark Monk, the shadow god, will emerge and restore Zeelich.
Twinsen eventually gathers together four fragments making up a key which must be placed inside a little temple on Celebration Island. He unmasks Dark Monk, who is really FunFrock, the villain from the first game. He kills FunFrock, and returns to stop the moon of Twinsun crashing into the planet.
Gameplay
Little Big Adventure 2 has two viewing modes - for outdoor scenes a 3D3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
perspective view is used, and for indoor scenes it uses a 3D isometric
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
perspective (the game field is rotated 45 degree
Degree (angle)
A degree , usually denoted by ° , is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1⁄360 of a full rotation; one degree is equivalent to π/180 radians...
s). All characters and vehicles are 3D polygon
Polygon (computer graphics)
Polygons are used in computer graphics to compose images that are three-dimensional in appearance. Usually triangular, polygons arise when an object's surface is modeled, vertices are selected, and the object is rendered in a wire frame model. This is quicker to display than a shaded model; thus...
-based objects, allowing for full rotation and movement abilities. The interior 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
Autosave
Autosave is a function in many computer applications or programs which saves an opened document automatically, helping to reduce the risk or impact of data loss in case of a crash or freeze...
under a savegame called AUTOSAVE.LBA. However, unlike Little Big Adventure, it is possible to save the game at any point. After completion of certain tasks the player is presented with a full motion video
Full motion video
Full motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
sequence. All text in the game is spoken by the characters. The LBA world is considered extremely large and varied for games of its time. There are three planets to visit, with Twinsun and Zeelich containing their own islands, each with their own unique graphical style. Essentially every character in the game is interactive and will respond differently when Twinsen speaks to them.
Like its predecessor, LBA 2 is real-time adventure
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
. It combines several action game
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
/arcade
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
sequences and some elements from the role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
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
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
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
in the game was advanced for the era, 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.
In early previews - mostly of the 1996 pre-release version - there were some drastic differences from the final version. Examples include the ferry being in the style of the ferry in the original Little Big Adventure
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...
, the woodbridge on Citadel Island being intact rather than broken, Emerald Moon having a Twinsunian blue sky, and differences in the characters (mostly Zeelichians) - most notably the Franco guards seen on Twinsun after the invasion.
Music
The music of Little Big Adventure 2 is composed by the French composer Philippe Vachey.Reception
Robert Coffey of Computer Gaming WorldComputer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
said, "With its unparalleled sense of marvel and imagination, engaging story, and deft mix of action and adventure, Twinsen's Odyssey is a true delight and simply the most charming game I've ever played". GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
's Ron Dulin gave the game 8.1 out of 10, stating "Fans of adventure games will not want to pass this one up". José Dias of Adventure Classic Gaming said "Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure is among the most original and intriguing adventure games ever released." and gave it a 4 out of 5.
External links
- Little Big Adventure II, a mirror of the original official LBA 2 website.