Tiny & Big in Grandpa’s Leftovers review: Think outside the boxers
I never thought I’d fall in love with a video game about a pair of briefs.
I know, I know. Just hear me out on this one before assuming the worst, please?
Alright, rad. Released in 2012, Tiny and Big in Grandpa’s Leftovers serves as the debut title for Black Pants Game Studio, a two-location group of developers in Kassel and Berlin, Germany. In the two years since its release, the game hasn't exactly hit the big time as far as indie titles go (a Minecraftian success this one isn't), but the few who actually have played it like it quite a bit.
My humble opinion? Probably one of my personal favorite games of the 2010s thus far, indie or otherwise. Here’s why.
From the first time I saw it in a weekend sale on Steam, something about Grandpa’s Leftovers has clicked with me and hasn’t let go since. It might be the game’s gonzo, graphic-novel style, or the soundtrack that at once sounds like the stuff you could hear in a German basement rock club and in the background of a classic exploitation film from the ‘70s. It might be the way that both the brainy hero and his brawny opponent have a dorky sense of humanity to them despite looking more like lumps of oil than people, or how their conflict echoes some of the more violent clashes of my own childhood.
Or it could be, and probably is, some sort of weird mishmash of all of those reasons.
One of the most fun things about Tiny & Big, surprisingly, is its plotline. You are Tiny, a nerdy dude with a talent for invention, and you're on the hunt for your prized possession; namely, a pair of tighty-whitey underpants left to you by your beloved grandfather. The pants have been stolen by your rival Big, who intends to enslave the world with their help.
This, of course, would be totally unreasonable were the pants not imbued with otherworldly powers. Indeed, Big gains the ability to manipulate the environment around him with his mind, giving his aspirations for conquest that much more levity. Assisted by his grandfather’s blabbermouth Radio and a sharp wit, Tiny ventures out to keep Big from achieving his plans for world domination — though it’s a task that’s easier said than done.
The setup is ridiculous and, to be frank, awkward as hell, but knowingly so, and the atmosphere is kept fairly light as a result. Brushes with the fourth wall are frequent and funny — Tiny and The Radio will argue over the player’s path when they focus on exploring rather than advancing, and following the instructions the game gives you during one level even when you don't need to wins you some prime snark from The Radio. I'm a sucker for some good postmodernism, and Tiny & Big is full of it.
The game’s a 3D puzzle platformer — and a gorgeous one, at that. The presentation resembles the cel-shaded art of titles like Borderlands, but with a distinctly cartoony feel (particularly in the design of the eponymous characters; I’ve heard so many jokes relating Tiny’s look to Finn from Adventure Time’s design that I’ve lost count). The visual appeal serves the game well, and Black Pants never seem to lose their touch there, as not one of the game’s six levels is boring to look at.
But looks aren't everything. Indie titles like Tiny & Big have to rely on their gameplay to keep things interesting for the player. Black Pants approach this by giving the player a set of three tools to manipulate Tiny’s surroundings: a ray cutter, a grappling rope and rockets. Makeshift platforms are the name of the game; and while the game unfortunately doesn't venture far away from the concepts it establishes at its onset, the satisfaction of turning the ruins of the desert into your own personal pathways never fades.
Beyond some mild stagnation in the gameplay within the later levels, the only thing truly keeping Tiny & Big from being great is its length. Now, normally I try to get past a game’s longevity because I feel like it’s a cheap criticism, but Tiny & Big feels like an experience that goes as quickly as it comes — which is a shame, given how much there is to like about the game. Overall, though, I’m not too worried about this, and you shouldn't be, either — thanks to the decent amount of hidden content and secrets in each level (and the more esoteric jokes), it can easily stand through multiple playthroughs.
SUMMING IT UP:
Grandpa’s Leftovers salutes the 3D platformers that preceded it while modernizing it for a new age of video games.
Unrepentantly quirky, consistently humorous, and deceptively deep, Tiny and Big is one of the best pure 3D platformers of recent years and a hell of a first impression from the guys at Black Pants. It may not keep you for very long, but the time it does is nothing short of engaging.
Well, what are you waiting for? Go get those pants!
