PC Gamer - October 2011

Famous last words:
“Looks safe enough to cross!”

It’s like carving a turkey.

With a death ray.

TINY & BIG IN: GRANDPA’S LEFTOVERS

“Die cactus, die!”

HANDS-ON Creative destruction abounds in this indie physics puzzler

My hands-on time with the debut
episode (excepting the prototype
demo, Up That Mountain) of this
physics-heavy indie platform puzzler
kicks off in an arid valley filled with
statuesque pillars—a perfect
playground for wanton mayhem.
Hop-ping into the skin of the game’s
tech-nerd
protagonist, Tiny, I
set out to first gather
up my missing gear. I
find my laser nearby
and act on my first
instinct: to carve up
the landscape like a
Thanksgiving turkey.
That bliss of demolition is amplified when
I grab a rocket claw, which I attach to
loose blocks to send them flying through
the air. Combined with a handy grappling
hook that lets me topple towers with a tug,

Hitching a robotic taxi ride deep into the desert to track down the sneaky little bastard that stole my hand-me-down under wear is a weird way to start an adventure, but I dig the way that Tiny & Big in: Grandpa’s Leftovers juxtaposes quirkiness with ambitious gameplay.

Of course, just wrecking stuff all to hell is a lot of fun on its own.

READ ME PUBLISHER Black Pants Game Studio DEVELOPER Black Pants Game StudioLINKwww.tinyandbig.com

these gadgets offer a ton of flexibility for playful puzzle solving. But I get so absorbed in the cathartic task of slicing rock and sending giant statues of gopher-like creatures crashing down to Earth that I momentarily forget I’m supposed to be hunting down grandpa’s old tighty-whities.

Moving on, I use my gizmos to create
makeshift stairways, crush meddlesome
creatures, and cleave thorny cacti until I
reach a long, winding bridge where my
underwear-thieving nemesis awaits.
Chasing him across the dilapidated bridge
is an exercise in quick puzzle-solving and
craftiness. He uses telekinetic mojo to
hurl rocks at me; I dodge, until realizing I
can split them mid-air with my laser. He
zips farther away; I attach rockets to a
fallen pillar and launch it across a gap to
create a makeshift bridge. He upgrades
his missiles from rocks to large hunks of
statue; I cut the ground out from beneath
him to interrupt his throw. These are the
clever moments that keep me wanting to
see what’s next. Of course, just wrecking
stuff all to hell is a lot of fun on its own.