Out of This World

The Good
The windows version of Out of This World (Another World if you prefer) released in 2006 is a straightforward remake of the classic 1991 game. The differences between the original version and this one are very insignificant so I'll fill them quickly. The graphics have been slightly updated (they are higher resolution), the menu has been brought to today standards, and the checkpoints are saved and can be restored without needing to type a password (I assume that method was used the old version). And above all, now the game is fully Windows XP compatible (and most likely Vista also). Nothing has been changed, only updated, and as a remake this edition of Another World is as good as it could get.

Enough about the remake, let's talk about the game itself. Another World is a truly unique and brilliant game, Eric Chahi did a great job making a solid game almost entirely by himself. The gameplay elements form different genres. It plays like a side-scroller, but the main purpose of the game is solving the puzzles like in an adventure game. The cut scenes are very well tied in the game, sometimes the transition is so fluid that you may not realize when you get the control on the character. Another amazing fact is that the game requires only five buttons, and four of them are the arrow keys. Those are the buttons that will serve not only the side scrolling part, but also in some different situations, like balancing with a suspended cage in order to loose the chain that ties it, and there are other moments but I won't spoil them.

The Bad
It tries to be original at any cost, and sometimes ignores the consequences. It's quite short and linear, and it's not the type of game you'd want to finish more than once, because the main attraction is discovering the story, the gameplay isn't to rewarding on it's own. In fact is rather demanding because it requires both quick reflexes, and some heavy thinking. You have only a way to bypass a situation and you have to get through all the wrong ways until you find the right one. This involves a lot of dieing and trying, and is the most frustrating aspect of the game.

The Bottom Line
It draws some of its inspiration from the good old Prince of Persia but this inspiration resembles to some gameplay mechanics. Anything else is completely out of this world.