Phase gun action!
Another World. Retro gamers might know this classic as Out of This World, the ’90s title that placed players in control of Lester Knight Chaykin, a physicist teleported to an alien world after lightning strikes his equipment during an experiment. The instant Chaykin’s arrives in the stark, alien environment, the trouble begins; he must survive encounters with poisonous leaches, a savage bear/gorilla-like beast, and a gunshot wound. After being captured and meeting up with his trusty partner in liberation, Buddy, Lester must escape the alien prison by solving tricky puzzles, mastering platforms, shooting, and conquering a brutally frustrating, but rewarding, trial and error system.
Lets get this out the way early: Another World isn’t for the faint of heart you will die–constantly. How’s this for perspective? I died 60 times during my first play-through. You’ll find yourself running aimlessly without knowing whether you’re going in the right direction or not; it’s only after your death you’ll realize that you were going the wrong way. This happened constantly, and made the game an exercise in trial and death much like Limbo, another otherworldly 2D game. This game play mechanic beacame frustrating because of the lack of the directions and guidance from the game. The swipe controls just make matters worse; I recommend playing with the virtual D-pad. You’ll find yourself falling to your death because of erroneous swipes of the touch screen, or jumps not being registered. Also, there is a slight delay when jumping, which makes leaping a perilous affair.
Besides the first five minutes of the game, where you have to fight off poisonous leeches by kicking them and a wild beast you run away from, your main enemies are the alien prison guards. Guards are fought off using a phase gun you acquire early in the game; pressing the bottom corner of your screen causes you to fire a shot off, while holding and releasing causes a ball to form on the end of your gun that acts as a shield (prison guards have phase guns and phase grenades that can overpass shields). But if you continue to hold the screen without removing you finger your phase gun fires off a huge blue laser, that rips through locked doors, shields, and turns guards into a pile of dust.
Old school visual meet new school visuals
If you can overlook the difficulty and controls, you have a gem of an iPad game (it’s a universal app, so it doubles as an iPhone game as well). The HD visuals look crisp on the iPad, and the new graphical touches make up for the games two decades old age.You appreciate the visual update after you compare it to the original graphics. Clouds are more detailed when they’re compared to old streaks of white that appeared in the sky, and textures are more defined especially in the later cavernous stages of the game where you can more rock definition. Swiping two fingers down on your screen cleverly does this; the game instantly changes to its original, groundbreaking rotoscope graphics. I did this on almost every level and was left extremely impressed.
Besides the intro cinematic, there really isn’t anything special in terms of sounds. You will constantly hear your footsteps and alien groans but the game doesn’t have a much of a music soundtrack. The phase gun’s sound effects could’ve been yanked from a cheesy sci-fi flick, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I felt like the lack of music and sound added to the mystique and loneliness of being a prisoner on an alien planet.
Those belong to the last guy.
Plucky iOS gamers will love Another World. Yes you will die, but each death is a learning experience. For those of you looking for a quickie, pick up and play game, look elsewhere as this is not for you. If you’re looking for a challenging, rewarding game, sit down and take your time with this title. You will probably finish Another World in a few hours, but completing it is an euphoric experience–and an achievement in its own. Another World is a piece of history that was ahead of its time, which can now be appreciated by millions of gamers that might have missed it. It’s far from a masterpiece, but a tremendous stepping-stone in gaming, and at $5 it warrants a purchase.
Staff Editor Eric Guzman will play any game at least once. Any game. That even means Detective Barbie, although he prefers to flex his video game muscles with fighting games such as Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs. Capcom 3. When he isn’t in the digital dojo, he loves watching films or reading comics.
