In Tiny and Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers you find yourself running through the desert and finding an ancient temple as you chase after the guy who stole your grandpa’s inheritance from you. Even though all your inheritance was stolen, you only really care about the pants; the underpants. Tiny isn’t too sure why, but his grandpa told him they had some kind of power; so you must get them back.
You have multiple tools at your disposal to help you along your adventure. First, you have a laser cutter that can cut through any rock as long as you can see both sides of it. All cuts have to be completely through the rocks to work. Next, you have the Sticky Claw that can shoot and then pull rocks out of your way or move them where you need them. Your last tool is Handmade Rockets, which shoot into rocks and then can be activated activated to try to push rocks that are out of your reach. You can also push blocks because you are super strong (I guess).
Tiny and Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers is a little reminiscent of Portal, in the fact that you have tools to manipulate the environment… Using your arsenal of a laser, rockets, and a claw, you chase after Big and face off to try to get your grandpa’s pants back. Most of the tools work really well except for the laser.
The laser tool is great for cutting stationary rocks, but once Big starts throwing them at you, it’s not so good. If you draw a cut line when the rock is too far away, it’s not going to cut. But if you draw the line first and wait to cut till its closer, it will still smash into you. So then you wait longer to draw the line, but then the rock is too close and you can’t see both sides to cut through it. You just need to have lighting fast reflexes I guess.
Basically, that is all you do in this game. It’s just all about moving and cutting rocks so you can make a path to Big. Each level ends once you finally reach Big and then have a little face off with him throwing rocks at you, you almost getting kill, and Big running off again.
Overall the game is pretty short. If you’re one of those gamers goes for 100% completion, there is some replay-ablity. Each level has a different number rocks to collect. They are found randomly throughout each level. You will also find random arcade machines in each level, continuing with the game within a game idea. This is kind of nice because there is one where you can practice cutting through moving rocks. Lastly there are cassette tapes you can collect to get new music tracks, each of which you can pick to listen to in game.
I found it very nice that the game had actual music to listen too instead of one song or theme repeatedly playing in the background. Also, you are in control of the music; so you can skip songs you don’t like. I also enjoyed how graphics are done in comic books style with talk bubbles and thick lines. This seems to be a growing trend in games.
All and all Tiny and Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers is alright. It’s a little too short for me, and there really isn’t any challenge to the game. The hardest part of this whole game is cutting the rocks that are being hurled at you before you get smushed. If you’re looking for a quick, somewhat humorous game, then I would say get it. Or maybe get it for a younger sibling that you want to get out of your hair.
