I first encountered "Another World" (or "Out of this World", as it's known in the U.S.) in a London department store. The demo transfixed me; I had no idea that games could look like this! While not strictly "realistic", the figures seemed to occupy real space, and the game used cinematic "shots"- close ups, framing, pans- in a way that had never been seen before.
When I came back home to the United States, I acquired a copy of the American release as soon as I could.
While most of us take such things for granted in the age of video cards, Another World still creates a compelling narrative and showcases an attractive visual style. The controls are simple, but allow the protagonists to take a wide range of actions.
The game begins as a theoretical experiment gone wrong teleports the hero beneath the surface of a lake on an alien world, and immediately demands the player take action to prevent his untimely demise. Within the first five minutes of game-play,
the hero will have escaped drowning, evaded the tentacles of some unseen marine beast, fought razor-toothed leeches
that cling to ceilings and drop on their prey, fled an enormous panther-like beast, and been taken captive by the native humanoids.
And then things get really interesting.
You will swim, leap,
evade traps, use alien weapons and technology, befriend a fellow prisoner, and run from local tyranny.
You will solve puzzles, fight battles, and look out over alien landscapes. More remarkably, you will do all of this with eight-directional movement and a single button, and while you will easily follow the story and perhaps even care about the characters, you will not hear a single word of intelligible speech. (And you thought "The Sims" was on to something...)
For those who find themselves wanting more, "Another World" preceded a number of other games on a variety of formats, using similar mechanics, including "Flashback: Quest for Identity", "Fade to Black", and apparently even another "Another World/Out of this World" game (though my recollection is that this was only available for the Sega Genesis.)
Before "multi-media" became a watchword, and before that malignant period where every game producer attempted to make so-called "interactive movies" with poorly-produced video clips, "Another World" made players part of a genuinely compelling cinema-like experience. It remains well worth the time. Especially if you're a fan of games like "Prince of Persia", give this one a look.
