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As someone who played it on the PC back in the day, the visuals were nothing short of amazing. Why? The whole experience was both different and beyond what othe

As someone who played it on the PC back in the day, the visuals were nothing short of amazing. Why? The whole experience was both different and beyond what other titles delivered. What made it so memorable for me? Consistently smooth animation even with large sections of the screen being updated from frame to frame. Its polygon graphics which were solid-fill and not wireframe, which was a big leap. They're right. Ordinarily, the early PC was a real turd when handling full-screen animation. The sound wasn't ahead of its day, but it was still quite good, even with the PC speaker rendering music, alien language, and effects in a better-than-average rendition. Nobody had high expectations for PC-speaker output. Only a few years after its release, it was sad to look back and not find that any new action games using similar methods. Did I miss any good knock-offs over the next few years of its PC release, or was it just as much ahead of the curve for years to follow?

CoolGuySteve 7y ago
A lot of the 3D games I played back then used a HUD to fill a lot of the screen. Another World was different in that it was carefully made to not blit too many polygon scanlines over the background. In that way, it had more in common with the Sierra/Lucasarts adventure games of the day. In terms of gameplay, Flashback or Prince of Persia are probably the most similar. But nothing really matches the art style other than 2016's Hyperlight Drifter, which is excellent. Formula 1 Grand Prix, 1988: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLVkS7TMl9I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLVkS7TMl9I And Grand Prix, 1992: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4fC9CAjJPE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4fC9CAjJPE Gunship, 1986: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCZUc0d8ol8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCZUc0d8ol8 Mechwarrior, 1989: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuxySqjb5X8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuxySqjb5X8 Although to be fair, I played these games on an XT with monochrome Hercules CGA emulation at 10 fps, so I don't know what they were supposed to run like on a computer modern enough to have EGA or VGA. Weirdly, Return of the Obra Dinn captures that 3D CGA emulation motif in a way I never expected to see.
- ido 7y ago
  Blackthorne is a slightly later game in the same vain (more similar to Flashback than to AW or PoP).

CoolGuySteve 7y ago

A lot of the 3D games I played back then used a HUD to fill a lot of the screen. Another World was different in that it was carefully made to not blit too many polygon scanlines over the background. In that way, it had more in common with the Sierra/Lucasarts adventure games of the day. In terms of gameplay, Flashback or Prince of Persia are probably the most similar. But nothing really matches the art style other than 2016's Hyperlight Drifter, which is excellent. Formula 1 Grand Prix, 1988: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLVkS7TMl9I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLVkS7TMl9I And Grand Prix, 1992: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4fC9CAjJPE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4fC9CAjJPE Gunship, 1986: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCZUc0d8ol8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCZUc0d8ol8 Mechwarrior, 1989: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuxySqjb5X8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuxySqjb5X8 Although to be fair, I played these games on an XT with monochrome Hercules CGA emulation at 10 fps, so I don't know what they were supposed to run like on a computer modern enough to have EGA or VGA. Weirdly, Return of the Obra Dinn captures that 3D CGA emulation motif in a way I never expected to see.

ido 7y ago
Blackthorne is a slightly later game in the same vain (more similar to Flashback than to AW or PoP).