Back in the heady days of the early nineties, I was the first person I know who got an Amiga 500+. It had a whole megabyte of memory, and could run all the latest games. It was the Amiga that first got me into playing computer games 'seriously,' and I had that machine right up until I got my first PC, some 5 years later.

One of the games I played on it was Another World (which was known in the US as Out Of This World). It was a platform style adventure game, but rather than a standard platform shooter, there were real puzzles in it, not everything was obvious to start with in how to continue. Going in guns blazing into every room would invariably get you killed. In fact, most things would get you killed, making it at times a very infuriating game, but for some reason, you kept coming back, not wanting it to beat you.

He's a friendly chap

But there was more than that. The games style and atmosphere were amazing. Using vectors instead of sprites, the characters' movements were far advanced to anything else around at the time, and the cut scenes used cinematic camera angles perfectly to create an atmosphere. Even the music was brilliant.

I'd long forgotten about this game, until someone sent me a link to download a demo for the PC. The creator, Eric Chahi, reacquired the rights from the now-defunct Delphine Software, and decided to update it for modern PCs. Because of it's use of vectors, it was fairly easy to scale the game to modern screen resolutions (the original version was in 320x240, the new version goes up to 1600x1200) and Chahi redrew all of his original backdrops. And I'm pleased to say, Another World has really stood the test of time.

The downloadable demo is actually a full version, of which only the first level is available without buying an unlock code (which costs an amazingly measly €7 - about £4.50). The opening cut scene sets the mood perfectly. A research facility on a stormy night. A sports car slides up, out gets a man. He is Lester Knight Chaykin, a physicist, come to do a late night experiment on the particle accelerator. As he starts the experiment, the lab is hit by a bolt of lightning. As the lightning enters the particle accelerator, Lester is transported to an alien world.

Using a particle accelerator in an electrical storm? What could possibly go wrong?

Which is where the game starts. You are transported underwater, so the first thing you have to figure out is to swim upwards, otherwise you drown. The first level is basically surviving this place, where various wildlife try to kill you. Some of it you can kill first, others you have to outwit. Which sums up the game pretty well. After surviving this encounter, you are captured by a group of aliens, the rest of the game is spent trying to escape them, with the help of a fellow prisoner, who is of the same race as the aliens.