Another World Amiga 1991 Éric Chahi Delphine Software

Another World by Éric Chahi

Delphine Software of France released Another World aka Out of this World for Amiga and Atari ST in November of 1991.

Another World is a cinematic adventure game that employs spartan background graphics overlayed by rotoscoped vector animations. The animations facilitate fluid, free-flowing and immersive gameplay. Another World also integrates cutscenes that seamlessly fuse with gameplay.

Another World was designed, programmed and drawn by Éric Chahi. Another World's digitized audio was composed by Jean-François Freitas.

Daniel Morais converted the Amiga version to IBM PC MS-DOS.

In Another World players assume the role of physics professor Lester Knight Chaykin. Lester is transported into another world when a lightning bolt causes a power surge in his lab while he is conducting a particle-acceleration experiment.

cf. Resonance cascade in Half-life of 1998.

The object of Another World is to escape alien captivity with the help of a friendly humanoid alien. The humanoid alien is assitive to Lester based on scene-context. For example, the alien can unlock a door while Lester shields him from enemy fire.

Lester can walk, run, take a step, jump, roll, kick, crouch, climb, swim and fire a laser-beam weapon. The laser weapon can also generate an energy ball that creates a field of force, aka shield. In 1991 the audiovisual effect of switching between firing and shielding was spectacular.

Lester navigates an alien landscape, prison, cavern system and tower while avoiding aliens and environmental hazards. Lester can vaporize aliens once he acquires the laser weapon. Impressively, charged laser-beams can blast through solid-steel doors and stone walls.

Environmental hazards include pits, flora and fauna, falling rocks and subterranean floods.

Adding depth and realism to scenes, Another World employs both foreground and backdrop animations; that is to say, things are happening in front of and behind the active playfield.

Another World has visual similarities with Éric Chahi's Future Wars of 1989 (color scheme and laser-tracer fire).

Another World does not employ screen-scrolling; it is flip-screen in the vein of Impossible Mission of 1984 on the Commodore 64, which predates Prince of Persia of 1989 by half a decade and has better gameplay than Another World or Prince of Persia.

The problem with Another World is that its gameplay is based on trial and error rather than improvization and skill. Players die countless times and in numberous ways while working out "the right way" to do something. Cutscenes or special animations often trigger upon death.

For example, if you jump from the precipice and swing on the vine before encountering the alien-lion, well, you need to start again. Because now you can't get away from the alien-lion when it gives chase. It is better to make ropes, ladders and such-like recurring aspects of gameplay rather than gimmicks. Swim one way? You find a pocket of air. Swim another way? You drown.

However, the combat and audiovisuals of Another World were technically advanced for 1991. Another World is a beautiful game; practically artwork.

The laser-beam duels with aliens are the best aspect of Another World's gameplay; they are quite cool indeed. The other innovation is of course the assistive alien ally.

Another World displays in 16-color 320x200. In-game and on-the-fly the display is switchable between four modes: standard, cinemascope, vertical and high resolution.

Another World was distributed on 2x 3.5" 880kB DD diskettes. The Atari ST and Amiga versions of Another World can be manually installed to hard disk drive. The install size is 1.3 megs and consists of 13 files.

Another World copy protection: Code wheel.

***

Another World is a very short game, offering 10 minutes of wait-states and only 20 minutes of actual gameplay when you know what you are doing. And since there is no scoring or stat-keeping at all, Another World lacks replayability.

Compare that with Taito platformers on the Amiga: each of the three offers one hour of raw and nuanced gameplay. The Taito platformers gave Amigans way more bang for the their buck in the early 90s.

Yes, I know, they are different kinds of game, but they are still both games -- and the price was the same. Which was better value? Remember: gameplay is god.

If the reader really does not like that comparison, consider Gods of 1991: 1½ hours of puzzle-platforming action. No cutscenes, no wait-states, lots of stat-keeping, more than one weapon, different ways to solve problems.

To give Delphine Software credit where it is due, their Flashback of 1992 offers three hours of gameplay.

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