I know that with a name like Tiny And Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers you expect a hardcore game with over the top shooter action probably produced by Sony for several million dollars. You are wrong sir! Or madam! This is an indie game release from Black Pants Game Studio that made has already won a bunch of awards and deserves every one of them. This is one of those rare occasions where I really gush over a game because I think it is a defining example of what an indie game can bring that rivals the big name companies.
Story Time Kids!:
The legend unfolds with Tiny racing across the desert with his trusty companion The Radio and a robot driver in Robot Taxi’s Taxey in search of Tiny’s mean big brother Big who stole an ancient artifact given to Tiny by their grandpa for safe keeping. The artifact is some tighty not-so-whitey crusty underwear which are worn on the head and give the wearer great powers! This is all discovered in the first few minutes of the game so no need for a spoiler alert. Tiny is preparing for the confrontation with his brother by practicing on his Reality Boy game system when HIT! the taxey is wiped out and the journey begins in earnest to catch the daunting and deadly older sibling and save the world!
Graphics And Audio:
Normally I talk graphics and audio at the end of the review but I just have to address them now. They are terrific and amazing in their stylized fun. They set the mood for the game as much as the introductory storyline and the concept art matches the actual game graphics so well that it looks like they were just copied exactly whereas the concept art on most games is usually far more detailed than the final results.
I ran around my little sandbox plenty of the time just to take in the sights. It screams indie, comic books, even a little Borderlands in a playful way. The fun doesn’t stop there either. Instead of just a couple songs here and there composed as background music they loaded the game with a whole album worth of indie bands and made it so that you find the songs on cassette tapes throughout the game. While writing this review I have already listened to one of the songs on YouTube a half dozen times. The sound effects are good and match the action perfectly and the visual interpretations of the sounds look straight out of old Batman episodes but far more creative.
Gameplay:
You cruise along behind Tiny as he uses his gadgets to solve puzzles and playfully destroy his sandbox environment. His main weapons are a laser, a grappling hook and a remote grasping rocket claw. So basically you can push directly, push and pull from distances and cut things up.
This sounds like a fairly basic amount of powers to have at your disposal but you quickly realize how diverse the options it gives you can be. For example say you need something from the top of that rock pillar above. You could push and pull rocks and debris over to create a set of stairs to jump up to get the item or you can use your laser and just cut the the pillar down and retrieve the item on the ground. Just about every puzzle has more than one way to solve it and some require some seriously creative thinking to figure out one of the ways. In this game like many trying something creative can get you killed but luckily that just means you try again from the last save point which generally isn’t too far back.
As if the puzzles aren’t tempting death enough your egomaniacal brother Big is also trying to slow you down/kill you off so that he can make sure no one can take those ancient undies and their power away from him and stop him from ruling the world. He also taunts you more than a Frenchman with an outrageous accent at the top of a castle wall. At one point the game gets a bit more challenging as you have to use your laser to cut rocks in half in mid air so Big can’t squish you with them, practice makes perfect with this and failure means you are squished and just have to try again.
Personally I would be tempted to let him keep the undies and take my buddy The Radio to the store and buy a fresh pair but Tiny isn’t so easily discouraged. Plus using the laser and rocket claw are so much fun there is generally very little environment left in his wake and the time flies by. Did I mention you crush weird black creatures that live in holes? No? Well you do that too with pieces of the environment. All this is done with an excellent physics engine they built themselves that makes just about everything move or be destroyed exactly how you imagined it.
But I Want More!:
If there is any complaint I have with the game it would only be that it is short. On their website Black Pants Game Studio put (Episode One) after the name of the game which I hope means that this is just the first installment of many more to come. Also since the game has so many ways to solve puzzles and hidden things it is a definite replay.
Last Call:
If you read any of this article you can tell I really love the game, the only thing that can compete with the game itself is the price of $9.99 on GOG.com and comes with wallpapers, avatars, music track, artbook, poster and a map. This game is a total brain teaser to play and a no brainer to buy. Show the Bigs of the world that the Tinys can save the day just as well as they can.
Here is a music video for one of the songs with special animation made by the developers!
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