Game Review - Out Of This World (SNES)

Out of This World is probably the most appropriate game title ever, because that’s exactly what this game is.

Or maybe, what it was back in 1992.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very good looking game for it’s time. It’s very artistic and cinematic in its presentation, with polygonal characters instead of the typical “sprites”. The whole feel of the game is pretty unique. Obviously, a lot of the focus went into creating the atmosphere. That brings me to the main issue with the game.

It’s pretty damn boring.

Before I get into the actual game play review, here’s a bit about the game’s history. Out of This World was originally released in the UK as Another World in 1991, developed for PC engines like the Amiga, Apple and DOS. The whole thing was designed by a French guy named Eric Chahi. In 1992, Interplay ported the game to the U.S. under the name Out of This World, because there was a TV show called Another World, so they didn’t want to confuse people, like any idiot would think it had anything to do with the show after looking at the box. But there was a sci-fi show in the early 90’s called Out of This World too, so I don’t know what was going on there.

Anyway, so the game didn’t sell amazingly, and it’s really not one of the games that most people know about unless they had it. However, it was named the Most Innovative New Game of 1992 by Electronic Gaming, and received a lot of praise for its artistic style and all that. Sweet, but how does it play? Well, I’ll do my best…

So after the opening title screen and a pointless Star Wars scrolling prologue thing, we get a cut scene of some guy Tokyo Drift-parking in front of some building and getting in an elevator. The first thing that’s impressive about this is that it’s an actual moving cut scene, not just pictures with text. Here we finally see the polygon “vector graphics” and, I got to admit, if this was 1992 and I saw this on my Super Nintendo, I might have shit myself.

So we follow our goofy redhead main character, with the stupidest name ever, Lester Knight Chaykin, as he passes through some futuristic-ass retina scans and stuff to get to his particle accelerator lab and he starts up his 3D green computer screen (which tells us the game takes place in 1997). Lester starts up the particle accelerator, pops open a beer, and wouldn’t you know it, lightning strikes the building and travels through the particle accelerator, which transports Lester into...Another World! Lightning and science never makes a good combo.

So now, we start into the actual game play. Lester gets plopped into some pool with a bunch of tentacles at the bottom and if you aren’t quick enough to swim up, you get dragged down and die. If you’re new to this game, get used to it, because you’ll be dying A LOT. Everything kills you in one hit, and everything is out to kill you.

After you get your first look at the alien landscape, you’re probably going to walk right and get killed by those slugs, which is always annoying. Unless you get the timing down for running and jumping over them, you’re going to have to walk and give them a wussy kick to kill them, which is slow and tedious because you start back here every time you die (until the next checkpoint at least). Not to mention, the controls aren’t super responsive, so there’s a noticeable delay between button-press and action that you have to compensate for all game, and that gets a little annoying.

So you end up running and jumping (or walking and kicking) your way right and a big shadowy mean son-of-a-bitch monster jumps in front of you and chases you around. Considering you outrun him, you eventually end up getting saved by a big dude in an executioner’s mask, who just ends up shooting you anyway after you wave at him. Asshole.

Then we are shown in a prison cell hanging from the ceiling with another big dude, and then you have to bust out of your prison cell and start raising hell with your partner while you both try to escape. Here you finally get a weapon and can defend yourself with more than a two-inch kick.

The rest of the game pretty much follows the typical formula of platform hopping and the occasional bad guy, with some other walking-puzzle stuff thrown in. Now, all of that sounds exciting, but the game is just too slow paced. When any action picks up, it’s going to get frustrating because you’re going to die a lot, so the game is constantly fluctuating between boredom and frustration.

A couple things I should probably mention considering my opinion. One, I never got very far in this game. It’s hard for me to just sit down and play the same part 10 million times because stupid little things keep killing me. So, that being said, I might be judging the game prematurely and it might be different having gone through the whole “experience”. That brings me to the second point; maybe I am just terrible at the game. That’s a real possibility, because at this point in my life (1992) I had a Sega Genesis and was more into faster paced games like Sonic the Hedgehog (thank you blast processing). So I guess because Genesis gave me gaming ADD, this PC adventure stuff never was the most thrilling for me. Out of This World plays like an early PC adventure game (because it is one) and just isn’t the kind of 16-bit stuff I’m used to. If you’re into the early 90’s computer games, you’ll probably like this port better than me.

All that considered, Out of This World is probably worth picking up, seeing as you can probably find it for the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis for probably less than $5 (I got my SNES copy for $3.95). If you have an Amiga or an early 90’s Apple or DOS system, it might be worth hunting down that copy too, but I don’t know how much it would be. It’s an artistic and graphical gem for the time, especially as a console port of a computer game. However, don’t expect to be on the edge of your seat, unless you’re reaching to punch your TV in frustration or are falling over asleep.

Pro’s
· Great graphics for the time
· Atmospheric
· Low price (less than $5)

Cons
· Slow-paced gameplay
· Sluggish controls
· Unnecessarily frustrating at times