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By Al Giovetti
Price: $50
Genre:action adventure
Release:July, June 1997
Developer: Adeline
Lead Artist:
Programmer:
Producer:Frederick Raynal
Publisher: Activision

Phone: 310-473-9200
Website: www.activision.com
Requirements:486 DX2, 66 MHz,

Twinsen's Odyssey: Little Big Adventure 2

History

The original Relentless (called Little Big Adventure in Europe) used unique elipsoidal graphics. Little Big Adventure was the first game to give us the little elliptical characters with cute movement animations. Little Big Adventure was called Relentless in the United States.

Twinsen was the name of the main character in the game. Relentless was released in 1995, when it received rave reviews and topped the sales charts for a time. Adeline and Frederick Raynal are the same company and developer that produced Time Commando, Alone in the Dark.

Company Line

"Activision formed a very close alliance with Adeline Software during the production of Time Commando, and we look forward to our continued collaboration on Little Big Adventure 2," states Kotick. "We are very excited that Adeline has decided to create a sequel to Little Big Adventure, which is considered one of the great adventure titles of all time. The game's storyline, characters and visual imagery are the perfect foundation for building a strong brand franchise."

According to Next Generation magazine, "Little Big Adventure 2 is perhaps the most desperately anticipated sequel since Civilization 2." A third person adventure title, Little Big Adventure 2 continues the saga of the lovable hero Twinsen as he explores a vast and magical universe. The game seamlessly integrates 3-D polygonal characters in beautifully pre-rendered texture mapped environments to deliver lush, graphically dramatic gameplay. LBA 2's unique proprietary technology allows players to switch camera angles as the landscape around them is rendered in a quarter of a second time intervals.

Game Play

There are 200 different locations where Twinsen has to investigate clues, collect artifacts, solve puzzles, and defeat the bad guys. Combat will take a back seat in this version to the exploration, story line, and game length. Twinsen will get to ride vehiles, operate objects and parts of the background, improve his magical prowess, and explore. Twinsen can use any of five different behavior modes to respond to his surroundings and interact with the adventure world. Each behavior mode may elicit different reactions that will change game play.

Interface: The overhead oblique (isometric) view is impressive and can change to a side view.

Plot

Twinsen, the game's protagonist and Grand Poobah ofTwinsun magic, now has to take on a new task. He must save his home world of Twinsun and Twinsun's moon and beyond from the Esmers from the planet Zeelich. The Esmers are kidnapping magicians and children, and Twinsen must save magic, magicians, and children as well.

The game opens with Twinsen's young wife pregnant and soon giving birth to their child. Twinsen will always have alternative solutions to combat in this game, if he can only figure them out.

Graphics

The graphics of the characters and backgroungs is quite striking when compared to the original game. One sequence where a boat arrives and leaves looks like really great cut scene animation, but it is running within the game - impressive.

The graphics are a combination of two dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) graphics techniques. The 3D spaces are rendered on the fly from a variety of angles in static form. These static scenes allow for incredibly high detail in animation, light sourcing, lighting effects, shadowing, and textures.

Animation

Voice Actors

Music Score

Sound Effects

Utilities

Multi-player Features

Cheats, Hints, Walkthrough

Journalists

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References