I know there are going to be people who strongly disagree with this statement, but I'll come out and say it right off the bat: Another World -- which you may also know as Out of This World -- is a bad game.

PCs

Undeniably beautiful.

Hey yourself.

Sure, it has a pretty and unique minimalist art style, which is especially impressive considering Another World’s roots on the early-'90sAmiga system, and it works within that era’s graphical limitations. It has a fairly compelling story, too, one that's cleverly delivered without a single word written or spoken. But as a game, one that you play? Another World is anything but good. It reminds me a great deal of how I feel about Dragon's Lair : it's an old, well-remembered game that simply isn't fun. So what's the point of playing it instead of watching a Let’s Play?Another World puts you in the role of Lester, a scientist conducting obviously hazardous experiments in his laboratory. One thing leads to another, and he finds himself stranded on a mysterious planet populated by more enemies than friends.The mysteriousness and ambiance of the alien planet is perhaps the single best aspect of Another World. I really enjoyed how it let me know exactly what was going on without having to actually tell me, and how it leaves things open to interpretation. Scenic queues, audible grunts, and more are a far cry from cutscenes that pull you out of the experience. Another World feels quaint, but this represents the whole of its charm, because none of its delivery is literal.Unfortunately, that charm falls prey to complete frustration literally 30 seconds into the adventure -- and about every 30 seconds thereafter -- when you have to figure out how to use a stiff, rigid, and completely unacceptable control scheme that makes Another World arbitrarily harder than it should be. To be clear, this is not the effect of a botched port; all versions of Another World have this issue. There is nothing worse in games -- and I mean nothing -- than oppressively bad controls. I don't care how good it looks or sounds, and I don't care about how endearing its story is. These are additive qualities. If it's not fun to actually play, what's the point? Another World isn't fun. That's a huge problem.Sometimes you'll want Lester to run, and you'll press that button. Maybe he'll run, maybe he won't. Maybe he'll jump, maybe he won't. Sometimes you'll want Lester to shoot his laser gun, or create a shield, or blast off a powerful shot. It's a crapshoot whether he'll actually do any of that when you tell him to. This creates incredible frustration, especially in Another World's gun battles, which come off as utterly capricious and overly punitive. This isn’t about being too hard; the NES Mega Man games are amongst my favorite games of all time, and they're notoriously difficult. But they're difficult through design. Their controls feel great, and that means that when I die, it's no one’s fault but my own. I can't say the same about Another World.Still, I can't deny the feeling of accomplishment I got when I worked my way through a stubborn and annoying part of Another World, which is basically every single part of it. I admitted defeat and gave up trying to figure things out on my own early -- lest I throw my Vita out of the nearest window -- and called up a video walkthrough to guide me. But even then, it only dulled the pain. Another World's puzzle design isn't nearly as bad as its controls, but that doesn't necessarily make that design good.And perhaps it's that obtuseness that really is at the core of what makes Another World a bad game. There's nothing inherently wrong with not knowing what to do; in fact, the mystery of an experience and not necessarily knowing what your goals are can be a big part of what makes playing video games -- like reading books or watching movies -- amazing. But when you're expected to interact with something, unlike those books or movies, there has to be a hook. You have to at least feel like you're in control, and that your character will do what you want to him or her to do. Lester walks around like a bag of cement, he shoots his laser gun with no consistency, and he jumps like a 1,000-pound man. Where's the fun in any of that?If your game lacks good controls -- like Telltale’s The Walking Dead, for instance -- you had better deliver the goods elsewhere. Even if Another World is pretty and tells an interesting and different kind of story, that's simply not good enough in this case. Go back and play Super Mario Bros. on NES. That's a timeless game. Another World is, for many, a timeless memory, but I'm sad to report that a good game it is not.