The Next Big Thing takes place in the 1940's and in Hollywood, just not exactly the Hollywood we all know and love. Much like
Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the much-underrated
Greg the Bunny,
The Next Big Thing takes place in a world where characters seen on TV and in movies that shouldn't be real actually are. In this case, it's monsters. That's right, in this world, monsters aren't played by men in suits, they are played by actual monsters, and this game kicks off at a ball at a fairly prestigious movie monster studio.
You control two humans, Liz and Dan. Both are reporters for The Quill, and while Liz is new to the job, she is overly-enthusiastic and well, a bit naive. Liz is partnered with, quite frankly, her polar opposite, Dan. He is a veteran of the job and unfortunately, for both him and Liz, recently transferred out of his preferred department, Sports, and into the Social Section to teach Liz the ropes. This sarcastic and egotistical character does a pretty good job of complementing Liz's ... unusual ... quirks, but they aren't quite George and Gina of the Runaway games, at least not in the bit of the game I was able to play.