Before Sackboy took over the world with his creative take on the platformer genre, there was a very different little-known adventure title on the PC and original PlayStation that had the moniker “Little Big.” In 2024, Twinsen has made a surprise return in the remake of his debut game, Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest. Little gem or big flop? Let’s find out.
It’s A Little Big Planet
Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest stars Twinsen, an inhabitant of the planet Twinsun who lives a peaceful life with his little sister Luna. Along comes a tyrannical being known as Dr. Funfrock who has an army of clones and successfully convinces the population they would be better under his rule. He soon comes into power and Twinsen quickly finds himself in Funfrock’s correctional facility and at the start of our adventure.
The story of Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest keeps that well-written narrative that drew gamers in with the original release of Little Big Adventure in the first place, all while making changes in certain areas for a more modern crowd. It still has the unique races of Twinsun and still absolutely nails the feeling of this adventure spanning an entire planet with different ecosystems and inhabitants.
Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest adds a character in the form of Luna who is your little sister and didn’t exist in the original. She adds a somewhat more personal reason for the rather laidback and initially apprehensive Twinsen to get involved in taking down Dr. Funfrock and his clone army, expanding the introduction section rather than giving you a wall of text then starting with Twinsen in the correctional facility.
I found Luna’s inclusion to be a fine addition. I don’t think she took anything away from the story and gave the story the freedom to do a little more with Zoé, Twinsen’s best friend and love interest.
Adventure Time
For its time, Little Big Adventure was quite original in its scale in terms of how it introduced the world through different races and how varied the locations were. While I firmly had my nostalgia glasses on the whole time playing Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest, I can still appreciate it today. More modern gamers might find the story a little ham-fisted in places; you’ll often hit major story beats almost randomly just speaking to a particular character and suddenly find yourself exploring an ancient temple and discovering an alien race before finding tales of the local pirate right after. It’s quirky and almost jarring in its pacing but I genuinely found it endearing that I didn’t have to sit through hours of character development before the next big story beat.
The original Little Big Adventure was an isometric adventure game with almost point-and-click style progression. Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest follows this style, but it makes some changes that, while making the game much smoother to play, take away from the more unique identity the game had.
In the original game, you had to deal with a tank control scheme, which when factoring in the isometric camera could be quite the nightmare. Little Big Adventure: Twinsen’s Quest thankfully opts for free movement which with the use of the analog control stick makes navigating the world of Twinsun a more manageable proposition.
A Loss Of Character
What has been stripped from the title (and it’s a crying shame) is the “mood” system. In the original you could switch to different moods such as exploration, stealth, or aggressive when the situation needed it. Sadly, this is completely gone from Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest along with the little quirks it brought. It was clunky, but it fit the game’s quirkiness like a glove. Watching Twinsen creep across the screen like a Looney Tunes character while a double bass reacted to each step was just part of the unmistakable charm the game had, and sadly that isn’t in this remake at all.
Combat is still a horrid affair even without the mood system. You can dive directly into melee or throw your magical sphere at the press of a button, but it feels like a key aspect has been overlooked. A lot of your enemies have guns while you have an awkwardly controlled sphere; by the time you’ve aimed and thrown it, you’ll have likely been shot which cancels your attack. The same thing happens with melee attacks. Combat has always been terrible in Little Big Adventure, and sadly by keeping this aspect true to the original, the developers haven’t overhauled the combat enough for it to be anything more than a war of attrition.
That aspect of “keeping true to the original” still ends up being what is most damaging to Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest. It generally controls better, but platforming is still painful with its camera angle until it just clicks with you. Whether it be needing to chat with every NPC you come across in hopes of hitting that next story beat. or in my case having to grind one spot for just enough money to pay for a boat ticket after getting stuck in an area, this game is distinctly old school to a fault, especially for a modern “remake”.
For a remake with some quality-of-life features, it doesn’t feel modern enough for the newer gamer who may come across it, yet it also strips some of the charm of the original. This makes it a difficult proposition for both sides of the coin. This remake doesn’t feel new enough nor is it authentic enough to the original title; most of the frustrating stuff still exists and the new control scheme, story elements, and fat trimming of some of the quests don’t do quite enough to make it the essential way to play Little Big Adventure.
It Looks A Little Big Different
The art direction of Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest is just as strong as the original, but the graphical direction that the developers have gone for with this remake doesn’t quite always land as well as it should. During gameplay, it looks great and you get so much more detail in the world and character sprites, and the different races look fantastic in comparison to how they originally looked. Cutscenes, on the other hand, have this bizarre look to them where it’s like a coloring book meets playdough with a touch of that mobile game aesthetic. It somehow misses the charm of the original early 90s CGI cutscenes that littered the original game. This is more personal preference, but it further dulled the appeal of the game making me question who exactly this remake is for.
The soundtrack is still outstanding. This was one of the strongest aspects of the original; the opening theme is still just as beautiful and hit me with the nostalgia stick hard. This is in part due to the fact the original composer Philippe Vachey has returned to re-record the original soundtrack and even some new tunes. You’ll be hard-pressed to not enjoy the range of music on display in this title, and massive props to the developers in getting Phillipe back to give the game its iconic sound.
Talking of iconic sound, Little Big Adventure was an early 90s game and voice acting from that era wasn’t generally of the quality it is nowadays. Little Big Adventure: Twinsen’s Quest keeps the same awkward voice acting for NPCs (all of which are voiced), and only really leans into a more “quality” performance for Luna, who is accurately voiced like an irritating child! It can be jarring at first, but does somewhat lean into the appeal of the original and I don’t think it took anything away from the game.
Verdict
Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest was such a pleasant surprise when it got announced. The original game is one of those titles that I adored back on release but haven’t thought too much about aside from whenever Little Big Planet got mentioned. While I loved replaying Twinsen’s tale in Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest, I can see the many flaws with the game for both newcomers and hardcore fans. But for someone like me? It’s still a great way for me to get my nostalgia fix in a slightly easier way to play it.
It’s lacking that charm in places and it is distinctly old school in difficulty, puzzles, and pacing, but there is still quite the gem hidden under all the dirt. It’s an interesting oddity, one that you’ll likely either love or hate this one with little middle ground. It’s left me looking forward to the remaster of Little Big Adventure 2 and hope it brings Twinsen and his wacky world into more gamers’ hands.
LITTLE BIG ADVENTURE – TWINSEN’S QUEST IS RECOMMENDED
If you’re looking for another platformer, why not check out our review of Gal Guardians: Demon Purge?
Thanks to Microids for providing a Nintendo Switch review code for Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest.
Pride of utopia & greatest thing ever, I found the One Piece, Collected the Dragon Balls & won the Mortal Kombat Tournament in one night, it was quiet for me that night! Follow me on Twitter @powahdunk
