Approximate Release Date: November 1, 1992
Genre: Cinematic platformer
Developer: Delphine Software
Publisher: Interplay Entertainment
The first thing to greet players of Out of This World (known as Another World in Europe) is a loading screen, but you won’t see them very often unless you know what you’re doing.
I say that because Out of This World is very, very, VERY trial-and-error centric. The only way to succeed is to fail again and again. And again. It’s very frustrating, especially since the game doesn’t have generous checkpoints. You’ll be redoing a lot of stuff as you stumble through the game. Most players will probably die in the first ten seconds of the game, and if they survive, they’ll likely be poisoned by a murderous slug. Or eaten by a space gorilla. Or grabbed by a tentacle. Or fall off a cliff. Death is everywhere, and it makes the game a slog.
I haven’t actually talked about what Out of This World is yet, only because the above disclaimer is so important. Wikipedia calls the game a “cinematic platformer.” I like that description, because you’re doing things you would in any other platformer: running, jumping, and shooting. Out of This World also shares many visual and storytelling features with Sierra and LucasArts point-and-click adventure games from the era. Traversing through alien locations is wonderful because of how interesting everything looks in the cel-shading art style and how fluid every animation is.
And man is this game beautiful.
How were the developers able to make the Super Nintendo do that? It looks incredible in motion. The first “puzzle” is getting past a weird demon monkey thing, and seeing it drop down and roar right at the screen would have been mindblowing in 1992, and I’m curious if any other SNES games try to achieve a similar effect.
Out of This World also shares many visual and storytelling features with Sierra and LucasArts point-and-click adventure games from the era. But still, no matter how impressive the game is, the constant failure and redoing sections get on my nerves. Even then, the main reason you shouldn’t play Out of This World on the SNES is that there are better ways to play it. Grab it on Steam instead. Have a walkthrough handy.
Tomorrow: There can’t be a better game to follow this one than Prince of Persia. More cinematic action!
This is the first time since playing Earthbound about 4 years ago that I find myself interested in a SNES game I’ve never heard of. Might have to check this out on Steam, or see if a cartridge is easy to find. Though the graphics do look incredibly low-res to me, even for that era.
Any chance you finished it and know about how long the gameplay is?
I didn’t beat the game, but I do know it’s short. If you know what you’re doing or are using a guide, probably an hour long or so? It will take a lot longer if you don’t use a guide, of course.
Someone with more knowledge about the game can be more precise.
And I love the art style in the game. It’s so fluid, and the opening is so cinematic.
This game looks fantastic for a SNES title. I’m playing the spiritual successor at the moment on the PS1, Heart of Darkness, and it’s very similar. One advantage HoD has though is that, even though it has similarly trial and error gameplay, there are automatic save/continue points on effectively every screen or every other screen maybe. It makes the game very smooth and easy to play since you’re not having to repeat stuff all the time.