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Little Big Adventure (LBA) 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.

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 Europe and Japan. A sequel was released under the name of Little Big Adventure 2 (also known as Twinsen's Odyssey).

On March 26th of 2014, a mobile version of LBA was released by DotEmu.

Intro[]

 	Little_Big_Adventure_Intro 	 			  

Text transcription:

"Twinsun is a relatively new planet on the outskirts of a remote galaxy. It's 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 favorable. Four species developed over the course of the centuries: The Spheros, the Rabibunnies, 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 insure his power: cloning and teleportation.
He 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..."

Gameplay[]

LBA 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 hand-drawn 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.

Main Characters[]

Twinsen is the hero of the game. The chosen one of the planet, heir to its prophecy, he must gather magical objects and sabotage FunFrock's reign.

Zoé is Twinsen's girlfriend. She is captured by two Grobo clones shortly after Twinsen escapes from the asylum. Near the end of the game, Twinsen rescues what he thinks is Zoe, but turns out to be a clone. Twinsen rescues the real Zoé at the very end of the game.

Jerome Baldino (better known as Baldino) is the local inventor on Proxima Island. He aids Twinsen in the game with his protopack, which the player must use to rob a museum. He only appears for a short time, though he plays a bigger part in LBA2.

FunFrock is the main antagonist of the game. He is the dictator of Twinsun who controls the planet using three powers: cloning, teleportation and mutant breeding. His true goal is to achieve the God-like status by destroying Sendell, the goddess of the planet. After Twinsen defeats him, the planet is peaceful again, and no longer under the reign of terror. It is revealed in LBA2 that Twinsen actually killed a clone of Funfrock in the end of the game.

Dino-Fly is a dragon-like creature, roosting on top of Tippet Island. He says he has been waiting for the heir (who is Twinsen) for centuries. He helps Twinsen get to the other islands of the northern hemisphere of Twinsun.

Sendell is the goddess of Twinsun. She calls Twinsen for help in his dreams, warning him of FunFrock's dictatorship. She and other Sendells are watching over a Stellar Entity that is in gestation in the centre of Twinsun. She is seen briefly in the ending cutscene.

Plot[]

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 Zoé, but when two clones arrive to re-arrest him, Zoé 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 Zoé, 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 Zoé, Twinsen teams up with a group of rebels resisting the rule of Funfrock, who help him sabotage Funfrock's cloning and teleportation facilities 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 Zoé 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 Zoé at the entrance to the Well, telling Twinsen that he'll spare Twinsen and Zoé 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 Zoé encounter Sendell, a being appearing to consist purely of glowing electrical energy, who thanks them for saving a gestant entity which she is protecting in the core of the planet. Sendell uses her powers to allow Twinsen and Zoé to fly back to the surface, where the inhabitants of the planet have prepared a celebration in Twinsen's honour.

Music[]

The music for the game was composed by Frenchman Philippe Vachey who also composed music for LBA2.

Trivia[]

  • In August 2011, co-founder of Adeline Software Didier Chanfray said in an interview that downloadable re-releases of both Little Big Adventure and its sequel were "under negotiation". He also added that a "remix" of the game was being considered for release on touch-pad devices.
  • On October 11, 2011, the game was re-released in digital form by Good Old Games
  • The steam enhanced version of the game, introduced unlockable achievements.


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