Out of This World

[Kugyince]

When Out of This World debuted in 1991, it seemed the likely successor to Prince of Persia -- not the 3D Sands of Time incarnation, but the original Apple II platformer by Jordan Mechner. Mechner’s opus focused on fluid animation over graphical detail, and while it featured many death-defying leaps, pixel-perfect accuracy was not required. This design choice made the game more strategic and a bit of puzzler compared to the more timing-based, hands/eye-coordinated fare offered on the NES, and was a boon to me, as someone who to this day enjoys Super Mario Bros. yet inevitably gets his ass handed to him around world 8-2.

Prince of Persia also featured cinematic cut scenes using the game’s animation system. Told largely through pantomime, they approximated the conventions of silent film (with a few musical cues here and there). Add in the straight premise of “Rescue the princess within the hour” and some decent swordplay, and you had a #1 best-seller whose main flaw was that its many levels came in two flavors -- dungeon stone grey and palace gold and tan.

Out of This World solved this problem with stylish vector-based graphics, allowing for elaborate animation within limited memory constraints, as well as allowing for entirely different screens within levels compared to the common “tile based” backgrounds of the time. It also did not tell the user what to do whatsoever. The short manual describes the controls and has a cryptic journal entry from the protagonist that offers a few clues. The rest is for the player to figure out.

Toastyfrog.com: Compendium of Useless Information : Games - G617-Out Of This World browse

[Slime Slayer]

Great game.
So what is this toasty frog? Just some random site you visit that often covers retro games?

[Kugyince]

Yep, it's part in my feed reader list.

[elrod21]

Love this game and it's sequel Heart of the Alien. Kind of sad Lester ends up dead by the end of the series.

[DrunkN]

Originally Posted by elrod21

Love this game and it's sequel Heart of the Alien. Kind of sad Lester ends up dead by the end of the series.

Heart of the Alien lacked the passion and talent in my opinion. It was neat back story but didn't expand on anything but The Friend.

[RU Joe]

I rented this game and it really was an 'Out of this World' experience - I found myself drawn into the game but at the same time had a really hard time making any progress.
This is one of those games that I considered to be excellent by virtue of its non conformity to the norm of the day; it looked and played completely different from the other games I would rent.
Of course because the game is quite difficult I never did make it that far, but gamers of my caliber {.22, by the way} get used to defeat, accustomed to shame, and familiar with humiliation.