Another World (Second Review)


Title           Another World (Second Review)
Publisher       Delphine (1991)
Game Type       Action Adventure
Players         1
HD Installable  Yes (With Patch)
Compatibility   All Amigas (but only from PAL or NTSC WB)
Submission      Emanuele Rodolà

Review
There are no other words to describe Another World but an amazing classic
arcade cinematic adventure which paved the way to other great things; a
major hit in the story of action adventures for Amiga, and not just the
Amiga.

You play the part of a scientist, who during a night of experiments
finds himself transported to a parallel world as a consequence of a
thunderbolt hitting the lab at the crucial moment. The game starts
immediately after the excellent intro sequence, and you're put straight
into the action, gasping for air from the middle of a pool with alien
tentacles rising up to pull you down. The game boasts a moderately frantic
action style, especially at the beginning part, where you'll rarely find
yourself standing still for a moment, and always wondering what comes
next. And I must say, expectations are never disappointed here.

The game-play is of the standard adventure-platform type, with horizontal
scrolling and very, very good animated sprites all over the place;
characters are perfectly blended to the surrounding environment, and not
a few times you will catch yourself yelling enthusiastically "EUREKA!" and
interacting with something you thought was part of the environment at
first glance. Middle-game sequences are amazingly well-done and quite
functional to the storyline evolution; even if the progression of facts is
pretty linear, the plot is interesting and there's never a lack of
entertaining inventions and developments. The game is spangled with little
pearls here and there, and a different ending video-sequence is provided
for each time you lose your only life. And talking about this, there is no
savegame but your are a given a password for the current zone and
situation (which is not the state of the game, but some sort of checkpoint
which is triggered when you complete a part of the game or solve one of the
many puzzles throughout the game) each time you die. There is an abundance
of password-checkpoints so you won't find yourself having to re-play the
difficult part again after you die (just make sure you take note of the
password.

Sound effects are another strength of the game, but as for the music I
can't say much; only the intro and outro music are present, there is no
music in the middle-game sequences and no background music at all. The
composer, Jean-François Freitas, is not known to me for any other
game-score, but his work is neat, and minimal background music would not
have been wasted. This does not represent a low point for the game though,
which is nonetheless fully enjoyable and presents many positive aspects
all the way from start to finish.

As for the game difficulty, this title has always represented one of the
toughest challenges to me in the past, in fact some parts require a
certain familiarity with the commands (which are nevertheless pretty
intuitive and make the game very playable), and sometimes even some luck.
Another World is the kind of game that requires quick reflexes and some
amount of patience for the trickiest parts, but you'll always manage to
sort it out without getting too frustrated by them. Sometimes you will
find yourself stuck at a point with few clues of what to do or, more
often, how to do it. But the good thing is that you will find yourself
playing this title again and again, even only playing the same parts again
and again; the game is never boring and very enjoyable, although maybe a
little short.

Another World is a landmark in the action adventure genre and even if it
got a little dimmed by the great success of Flashback (which is considered
its successor but has little or nothing to do with it), it remains an
amazing title to play in its very own fashion, and I think of it as an
experience I have always enjoyed and never got bored of.



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