It must be said that there are very few games out there that have made such a massive impact as 1991's landmark title Another World. Over the course of two years, one young Frenchman, Eric Chahi, crafted the game night after night in his bedroom as a work of genuine love and it rightfully took the world by storm, introducing us all to a whole new gameplay experience. It wasn't like anything else we'd ever seen before. This was a strange and beautiful journey, one that would change the way we looked at gaming forever. It truly was Another World.

In Another World you take on the role of Lester, one of the few ginger-haired main protagonists in computer game history. This Ferrari-driving scientist rather unwisely tinkers with a particle accelerator at work and finds himself teleported to a mystical land. At the start of the game this is all revealed to us by way of a famous and spectacular cut scene, unprecedented at the time. Chahi used rotoscoping animation techniques that basically allowed him to trace his own bodily movements and replicate them onscreen. So, for example, when we see Lester pop a can of fizzy pop in the intro, this scene was crafted from Chahi originally filming himself doing the same action in his bedroom. This technique allowed to Chahi to make for a thoroughly realistic cut scene in the game's opening, truly the most audacious and successful attempt at this the gaming world had ever seen at the time. This was even more impressive given that it was the work of one young programmer.

As Lester, you're instantly propelled into this bizarre, lonely and unwelcoming world. Even by modern standards, the environments are very impressive. The game has a distinctly bleak feel to it, with washed-out, opaque backgrounds depicting harsh mountains and deadly cliffs under a cold, dark sky. Lester is very easy to control in this environment. He can walk, run and jump his way along the screen, as well as dropping down to the floor and launching a flying kick at anything in sight. The game opens with one of the finest and most memorable set pieces of gaming history. You need to work your way along several screens, dropping down to kick away some lethal razor-toothed snakes and all the while, in the distance, you can see a huge, dark, lion-like creature watching your progress. All of sudden it appears in front of you and you have to run all the way back, the creature at your heels, until you reach a ledge and leap onto a vine, which then swings back so you land behind the creature, then you need to run back to the right, the creature still in pursuit until you're rescued by some alien soldiers. When I first played this scene back in 1991, my heart was in my mouth and the effect is no less in 2007. It's such a great way to throw you into the game and sets the frenetic pace from the outset. [I too remember my heart pounding as I dashed away from the fearsome creature! Ah, happy memories… Nostalgic Ed].

Having been rescued by the soldiers, you find yourself imprisoned in a cage alongside one of the aliens, your companion in your struggle to escape from this desolate world. It's up to you to find your way back home, but you have to overcome numerous hazards on your way. The gameplay takes the form of a side-scrolling platform shooter. Very soon after you escape you receive the one and only weapon in the game, a high-tech pistol. The way it works is very simple and somewhat ingenious. One tap of the fire button shoots a laser burst at your enemy. If you hold the fire button for a second or two, it instead creates a forcefield that will protect you from enemy gunfire for a short while. Holding it down for two or more seconds creates a superburst that ruptures any shields that the enemy put up themselves, or tears through locked doors. Your enemies, the alien soldiers, have exactly the same pistol, so it makes shootouts really good fun. It's basically a case of who can keep themselves shielded whilst nailing the other guy's shields and frying him with a couple of laser blasts.

Progressing through the game involves taking out a shedload of enemies while working out the solutions to numerous puzzles. You need to interact with the environment to work out what to do - and keep your pistol handy all the time, should you suddenly be jumped by a gang of marauding alien soldiers. If that isn't enough, there are plenty of indigenous creatures to trip you up on your way, such as Venus flytraps in the ground that suck you into their sharp-toothed stomachs and tentacled monsters that hang from the ceiling and tear you into their deadly embrace. When you come a cropper from one of these monsters you're treated to a cut scene showing your demise, again an unprecedented move and one of the first times this mechanic was used in a videogame.

As you move through the game you'll frequently work with your alien friend to overcome situations. For example, at one stage he allows himself to be captured so you can sneak around behind his captors and kill them. Or you reach a jump that is too far for you to make, so he gives you a helping hand and throws you across to the other side. Although there is very little dialogue between Lester and his companion, you do feel a genuine bond developing between the characters, the perfect example of how sometimes saying nothing can allow you to imply so much more. Some of the challenges are quite frustrating and require you to replay them again and again, but on the whole the difficulty is pretty nicely set. There are only one or two puzzles that might give you a hard time, but if you persist they shouldn't be a problem. Interestingly there are also no levels; Another World has been designed to be one seamless experience and this again was entirely new. Games at the time were about high scores and churning through gameplay levels. Chahi instead did something far, far greater in creating an emotive and thought provoking experience, with more akin to a movie than a video game.

Graphically, Another World is exceptional and as I mentioned before, it still looks good today. Those of you who played the original will get a real nostalgic kick out of playing this again. The visuals are sumptuous and really do stress just how impressive this game was when it first came out on Commodore's Amiga. The new version also allows you to play the game in high definition for the first time, but seeing as I don't have the PC capability to do this, I'll have to leave it to you chaps to decide whether this option is worth it. The gameplay is bolstered by an atmospheric musical score that's designed to be inspirational and ambient yet never intruding on the action, instead complementing the otherworldy setting. The sound is also spot-on; laser blasts fry your enemy and then you hear the harsh crackling as their skeleton crumbles to the ground in pieces. Or you'll superblast a door and hear the metal rupture outwards as the laser nails through. Fans of the original will hear many of these classic sounds and have plenty of those "Oh yeah, I remember that" moments. The 15th Anniversary Edition also features a brief documentary on the game, including an in-depth interview with its creator Eric Chahi. This is a great addition but at only fifteen minutes long it does feel a bit light on content. My only other criticism is the game itself, in that it only took me three hours to complete, which makes Another World feel lacking in gameplay length, making it much more like a download than a retail purchase.

In 1991 I loved Another World and in 2007 I love it just as much. [And there aren't many games you can say that about, 16 years later! Ed]. It's important that we remember computer gaming heritage, just as much as we do with old movies or books. Another World broke the mould back in 1991 and was one of the most innovative games of its time. With the same genres being churned out nowadays - endless FPS and sports titles for example - a little bit of magic, such as Another World, wouldn't go amiss in modern games development. One of the all-time greats and rightly so, this latest release shows that Another World really was well ahead of its time - and whether you're interested in gaming history or not, you simply have to check this out now.

Reviewed by Ross Alexander for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).