I must admit that I completely missed out on playing Another World when it was launched in 1991. Okay, I had no plans to be born when it was first released, but there are still no excuses. Another World was one of the most famous independent games of the early 1990s, an era of games known for developing some of the most notoriously difficult games in existence.
The French designer and developer Éric Chahi created an adventure very ahead of its time for its special way of being narrated (without dialogue), also because it uses rotoscoping technology (the most popular in animation, with more than a century of history). and popularized in video games by Prince of Persia (1989), and for the total lack of clues in his universe.
The prestigious MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, included it in the first selection of art games because, without a doubt, the master Chahi made history by creating an adventure practically only for a few years. That was completely off-limits in the early 1990s. Shortly after leaving Delphine Software, that French studio launched its successor, Flashback, another great classic.
As I never played the game despite being ported and released on more than 20 different game platforms, I decided to pay tribute to it for its 30 years of history by retro-analyzing Out of this World" (name given to its North American release), but taking as a reference its version released for Gameboy Advance.
Without the nostalgic connection of my childhood, would Other World appeal to me?
To begin with, the story puts us in the shoes of Lester who arrives at his workplace in his sports car, a kind of bunker with a technology that is beyond our understanding. The scientist ends up accidentally transported to an alien world when an experiment goes wrong. Lester must discover the rules of this strange new world, avoid the many deadly creatures that inhabit it and find a way to escape.
In less than three minutes we went from that short film inside the laboratory of unquestionable quality for the time to an unknown world where we had to escape, almost without time to react, from what seemed to be a bottomless pool with a monster at our feet. This is where the game made it clear that the adventure would take place in a most hostile place, because practically anything would kill us if we rested on our laurels: beasts, large beings, worms, spikes... Everything was instant death.
It was a super cool concept in 1991, and it still is more than 25 years later, but this game does NOT do you any favors when you are starting. The game barely explains the controls. Neither are instructions given on where to go or what to do, so you have to solve things through constant trial and error. We go aimlessly and in fear of what we might be presented with, reacting in the best possible way. And of course, we will die. We will die a lot.
It was one of the most difficult video games of the time and it still is, and ironically it is one of the shortest games in history as it can be completed in less than 30 minutes. When you discover your blast gun, you have to figure out on your own how to shoot a laser, create a force field and a super laser that can destroy walls and the force field of the enemy. Another curious detail was the one related to the deaths, because they had their own animation scene.
Another World is an adventure that is played in a slightly similar way to the aforementioned Prince of Persia, but without being so versatile with the jumps in order to offer more action with a certain alien weapon.
I admit, I almost gave up on this game in the first minutes because I couldn't figure out how to beat the first big enemy. I immediately felt sorry for all those children who fought with this game in their day. This is a game that will require equal parts knowing how to hit the mind and being skilled with the alien laser weapon. It is essential to have a good memory so as not to get lost in its labyrinthine mapping in advanced sections and to be agile with the horizontal jump, since there are many areas full of traps with their own life. Or even with the water.
There is one detail that makes Another World more special: our relationship with one of the inhabitants of the alien planet, imprisoned by his own kind. There was no communication whatsoever, beyond gestures. Encounters with this being are sporadic, but necessary for our survival as we try to escape from there by looking for some possible way out.
Has it endured the passage of time well?
Yes, it is a work that any newcomer to this industry should try in order to learn more about its history, even though today it is not an equally satisfying experience since its control can certainly be improved by being limited to only two buttons. But its universe remains fascinating.
Once you have discovered how to manage the controls, and after many trials and errors to find out what the game wants you to do, you make your way through what is still a rather intriguing game. Even without the nostalgic connection, I was quite hooked on watching this game through to its completion.
That's all for now, we'll see you in another post.
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Amazing game brother
It certainly is amazing, its art and difficulty make it an excellent mix for anyone who wants to play
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