Out of This World

"THE strategy platform game"

First, allow me to say this is a great port of an incredible old-school DOS PC game.

You play the role of Dr. Lester Knight Chaykin. One stormy evening you go to work late to test out your latest experiment. As you park your Ferrari (he must be a successful man), you go into the basement and run the experiment. But suddenly a bolt of lightning strikes and the energy finds its way into your computer's circuits! And then, the bolt engulfs you and you disappear from the face of the earth...

This is where you, as the player, must help him survive.

THE GRAPHICS : 10/10

This game is 12 years old and probably one of the more good-looking early 90's polygonal games out there. The monsters that chase Lester look sinister, the facial expressions are clear, and the backgrounds are colourful and add to the atmosphere. Delphine Software, the developer, really wanted to make it revolutionary, and they sure did. 2 years of hard work did not go to waste.

THE CONTROLS : 8/10

Simple really. Run, kick, jump, and shoot. His running is where it kind of lags, he doesn't stop right away once you let the button go, thus making you likely to fall into a hole to your death. And he seems to take a small step forward when you shoot your gun after running. But otherwise, you should get used to them after practicing in the first and second levels.

FRAME RATE : 3/10

Ugh. Not all of this game is good, due to the advanced graphics the frame rate is very choppy, but it shouldn't bother you all that much. It clears up in some areas, so it's not always choppy. But still, they could've worked on this.

DIFFICULTY : 10/10

If you're looking for a challenge, I promise you this. You WILL be ripping your hair out. Back in the day, even with the magic of my old Nintendo Power magazine's walkthrough, I had my moments where I got so frustrated I cried (I was only 6-7 back then though). This baby took me 3 seven-day rentals before I finally beat it. You have to be exact when it comes to moving through the steam vents alive, as well as the other infamous situations Lester will find himself into. Reaction must not take you more a tenth of a second, otherwise, you're toast. You have to know when to use your gun, and not to use it, otherwise, it'll run out of juice and you'll be defenseless. You must time your jumps, there will be a moment where you'll be chased by something in an area where there's a lot of holes, so you have two obstacles to worry about. Timing is essential as well, you might only have about a millisecond to get rid of a threat. I expect this one will take you a long time to get through, so it's good to use a walkthrough, it might save you some frustration. Good luck.

SOUND & MUSIC : 9/10

Now this is a definite improvement from the PC, my old DOS version had little music at all, but the music for the stages, chases and battles all add to the mood. The Water Caverns will creep you out and the adrenaline-filled Battle theme will catch on to you in a heartbeat. The Game Over theme will catch on to you too, since you'll be hearing it a lot. You'll like the tune for the beginning movie too. Sound is good. Beasts sound real threatening and lasers sound pretty much like lasers. But the alien language is kind of goofy, they sound like an ape trying to speak, but it shouldn't bother you. Very good.

REPLAY VALUE : 2/10

This is the game's worst area, once you're done this awfully hard game, you might expect a reward for a later game, but no. Once you're done, you are done. Nothing new to find. But it's good to replay this once to challenge yourself and try not to die as much.

OVERALL : 8/10

This is the game that started strategy platform games. I wanted more replay value I didn't get any. The rest of game makes up for it though. It's short once you know everything but until then, say bye-bye to your family, because you will be locked in your room trying to figure out how to get through that damn avalanche in one piece.

Should I buy or should I rent?

Well, like all other third-party SNES games, you'll find this underrated Interplay masterpiece at your local pawn shops for the cost of a rental. I really don't think you can rent SNES games anymore, so I think renting is kind of out of the question, but if there was the choice I do recommend a rental though, as some people get lucky and beat it in a rental. If you wanna find it, good luck, once you have it, you're either gonna love it or hate it (yeah, it's one of those 'love it or hate it' types of games). If your search turns up empty, there's always the magic of emulation, if you're the kind of guy who doesn't care if it's illegal (like me).

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/02, Updated 01/02/02