Out of This World

The Good
In the time of pixel art magic, one game made a rather unique move into the land of vectors and delivered us somewhat exotic title that felt a bit ahead of its time. With the lack of 3D graphic and special effects, this game uses math power to present a rather wonderful graphic in no more than 16 colors.

The opening cinematic is full of nice details and story keeps you intrigued as you constantly run for your life from the aliens whose culture seems a strange mix of Roman era and that of science fiction. Not so technologically advanced as simply being from Another World.

You soon befriend an alien inhabitant that shares the same fate as you, being imprisoned and all, and while not constantly accompanied by him, your paths cross every now and then. Seems like the two of you share the same goal, but go different way about it. The way it is presented gives a nice touch of player not being entirely alone, but having apart of a CPU on his side, even though it may all be pre-scripted.

Levels are versatile enough not to create the feeling of repetition, in fact, they are far from being repetitive, yet last too short. The fact this game does not feature dozens of enemy combatants on every screen makes it that much more realistic and prompts you to be cautious on each confrontation. The alien weapon you very soon come in possession of is rather useful, though sometimes annoying. It can create shields as much as fire laser beam of small or large destruction, and requires recharge every now and then... but levels where you can actually recharge it are very few. Luckily, most of the levels don't require direct confrontation as much as thinking your way out which adds a nice distraction to the genre.

The Bad
This game is certainly something unique, so one may understand why so many gamers think highly of it, but it is far from being one of the finest side-scrollers. The music, aside from intro and credits roll is non-existent. Sound effects, while fine, are very few at best, with no dialogs or even a talking text during actual gameplay. What little you can hear is from aliens that talk in their own language for which it would be nice to have some subtitles unless developers wanted us to feel as confused as our professor. And he may actually have a chance to understand them.

Many puzzles in the game can prove rather challenging, and direct confrontations are too hard. Developers didn't leave us much choice in our approach. The colosseum fight is one of the silliest things in the game and probably could've been done much better.

The Bottom Line
Was this game really something so special? I think not. Was it unique and fun experience? Certainly. And at a times with limited storage capacity and graphics it achieved something rather wonderful. If one game deserves being called a classic, this one tops it all.

Levels are very versatile and occasionally contain beautiful landscapes (and achieving that in so little colors is no small feat). You will squash fight deadly worms, run for your life from the huge beast, firefight your way our of prison, roll through the ducts, dash out of collapsing cavern, swim your way through the underground mazes, break into a girls only spa, and even fight in the colosseum, making each level an experience on its own, so using level codes is a fine approach to continue your game.

Platform games are plentiful, but very few could be called good. This one is. It's not from the same bunch and it does not feel like an arcade game.

The Good
It was complex, intuitive, and straight-forward. There was something of a plot, and that was revealed in the beginning of the game. I am always one for a good story, and while the game was merely a vehicle for showing off new and remarkable graphics (there was even a hint of speech in this game, and load-time!), it accomplished its sole task - it was, for all practical purposes, entertaining.

The Bad
It was virtually impossible and utterly realistic...which is also why I liked it.

One thing that was difficult to handle was the controls. Slight pressing of directional buttons made Lester (the protagonist) move way more than you thought was possible.

Dying comes naturally (no joke). In fact, it is almost expected that you die every time you encounter an enemy. Ammo for your weapon is non-existent, unless you count the "recharging" area for your gun.

More energy was spent avoiding death than figuring out puzzles. Even though that could make a good and challenging game, I found it frustrating after about 15 minutes (and those 15 minutes were spent trying to make it through the first part of the game, which should have taken less than 5 minutes at most).

The Bottom Line
I would tell other gamers that, when they prepare to play this game, get ready for a long night of sighs and exasperated expressions. In total, the game should have lasted about 20 minutes, but it has taken me months to complete (I simply just haven't come across the time to finish it all in one sitting). It's fun, but check around on the 'net for information about it, because it could take you months (even if you are a seasoned gamer) to figure out where the gun is in the jail area (you'll see).

Good luck with it! Challenge is something it doesn't lack, and it certainly makes for a good conversation piece. Is it replayable? Perhaps, if you beat it once and want to do it again perfectly, sure.

The Good
I liked the game for most part, because it DID get addicting. Also, I liked zoning out of the foreground and just STARING at the background. It was actually quite beautiful. The sound effects were OK--nothing really fancy but hey--this game doesn't NEED anything fancy. It's just.....great. One last note....the game was made with polygonal graphics--which is why the game characters run SO smoothly.

The Bad
I DIDN'T like this game simply because the sound got offish (when it was played on a Windows 95 computer, that is). Also, while playing on that particular computer, I noticed that when the character ran (aerobics style) to the left, the computer sound got screechy. (I discovered that when you press the "s" button twice, the screechy sound stops and the sounds continue playing normally). Some sequences, (such as blowing out that rock and the water gushing out in the cave and such), are almost impossible to complete. But, NEVER say you CAN"T do something. I mean, I played the game ALL the way through. Finally, the controls are a bit wacky. (In order to run aerobically to the left, you have to quickly press one key....THEN the other). They could have made the controls a bit smoother. Oh well....No other complaints.

The Bottom Line
A game worth trying out. Are you tired of pointless arcade games where the character just goes on and on into eternity and never reaches an ending point? Are you FLABERGASTED (REALLY frustrated) with those endless adventure games that have you guessing all OVER the place where a certain object is (Quest for Glory) and once finding that object, aren't you just upset with combining it with all your inventory and getting nothing at all? And lastly....Aren't you tired of walking around trying out your new inventory item with almost one hundred other items in the game and seemingly NEVER get anywhere and then you have to find a walkthrough in order to complete the game??? Well, this game has ONE purpose.....Using your brain, common sense, and logic to figure out one goal--leaving your destination by moving onto the next screen. Although it does remind you a bit of Prince of Persia, it isn't ENDLESSLY long, you don't really have to GUESS where everything is at, and finally, you don't fall through wimpy paths and three screens later go splat on the pavement or onto the spikes below. You usually have to almost purposefully kill your character. Parents....There are NO GORY SCENES or blood (and when there is blood, you can't really tell it--except when you get eaten by those HORRIBLE worms). You do shoot bad guys but when you do, they turn into skeletons and three seconds later, that skeleton, with a FLASH, bursts. And believe it or not, this game actually teaches friendship....How? Well, you'll just HAVE to get the game and see it for yourself. (And by the way folks, not many games nowadays teach you friendship).....If you're tight on the money, get the USED version for 4.95 at amazon.com!!!