Out of This World (SNES / 3DO)

September 28, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

Out of This World - Title Screen (SNES)Out of This World - Tentacles (3DO)Out of This World - Alien Encounter (3DO)

Out of This World was a landmark game when it came out in 1991.  By attempting to bridge the gap between cinema and games, it pushed the medium in new directions, but at the same time, it succumbed to what’s probably the industry’s biggest insecurity — the fact that it’s not film.  How many games have attempted to be “cinematic” throughout the years?  And how many have truly succeeded?  Were all those FMV games in the early days of the CD format really better because they were movie-like?  Is Metal Gear Solid the pinnacle of gaming because of Hideo Kojima’s obvious desire to be a director, rather than a game producer?  How many “cinematic” games are actually made better by the fact that they’re movie-like?  Maybe a more relevant question might be, “do games even need to be cinematic?”

Regardless of the relationship between movies and games, film’s influence in Out of This World is obvious.  But instead of taking the obvious route and filling the game with FMV and D-list actors, Out of This World is a little more subtle.  Instead of being a playable movie, it simply takes many of the themes of cinema and applies them to games — story, the creation of tension, attachment to characters, action, a complementary soundtrack, and so on.  All of these were groundbreaking for the time, and as a result, Out of This World holds a special place in gaming history for many people.

But calling it a “groundbreaking” or “watershed” or “landmark” game doesn’t necessarily tell you what really matters — does it stand the test of time?  That’s a difficult one to answer.  Taken in context of the time it came out, it’s fantastic.  But 18 years later, does it still hold its own?  Frankly, it’s a tough call.  To be sure, I like Out of This World.  I think it’s a very interesting game and well worth a play-through.  But at the same time, it’s definitely showing its age and its flaws are a little more apparent than they may have once been.

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