Heart of the Alien: Out of this World Parts I and II

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HeartoftheAlien title.png

Heart of the Alien: Out of this World Parts I and II
System(s): Sega Mega-CD
Publisher: Virgin Interactive Entertainment
Developer:
Genre: Compilation

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega-CD
US
$62.9962.99[1] T-70025
Videogame Rating Council: MA-13
Sega Mega-CD
BR
063100
Tectoy: 13+

Heart of the Alien: Out of this World Parts I and II is a compilation for the Sega Mega-CD, containing Another World (called Out of this World in North America) and a sequel, Heart of the Alien.

As the name may suggest, this compilation was only released in the Americas, however a European release was planned, originally scheduled for June 1994[2][3] before appearing at ECTS Autumn 1994. It was subsequently scheduled for Australia in April 1995[4].

Heart of the Alien was produced with the Mega-CD in mind, though unlike the original game, development was not spearheaded by Eric Chahi.

Story

After the events of Another World. Lester's alien companion, called "Buddy," lands the flying creature in the ruins of his village, lays Lester down on a cot to rest, and walks through the village, thinking of his past. A flashback follows showing that Buddy's people were captured by soldiers led by one of the alien humanoids with red eyes. After recovering his power whip, Buddy returns to the prison that he and Lester escaped from in the first game, resolved to hunt down the red-eyed warden as revenge for his people.

Gameplay

Heart of the Alien, Game Select.png

Game selection

Out of this World

Main article: Another World#Gameplay.

Heart of the Alien

Heart of the Alien is a cinematic platforming game like its predecessor, except the player now controls Lester's alien companion "Buddy." The game consists of a series of non-scrolling scenes. Buddy walks or turns around with Left and Right or runs with HOLD ALeft or Right. He pulls himself up ledges with Up to reach higher platforms. He hops forward with C or leaps a longer distance with C while running. He cannot crouch. Some areas contain teleporters that warp Buddy with Up or Down.

He acquires a whip early in the game. He can swing the whip as a weapon with B or swing it upwards to swing from stalactites or similar objects with Up+B. The whip can also be used to hit switches or knock objects down. Similar to Lester's laser gun in the first game, Buddy can use the whip to block enemy fire by holding A while stationary, which causes a force field and a small energy ball to appear. The force field persists for a duration if the player stops holding the button. The energy ball grows larger if the player continues to hold A; releasing the button at this point fires a powerful charged shot, which can penetrate through enemy force fields and other barriers. Enemy aliens have the same capabilities. Force fields stop fire but can be walked through.

Buddy dies if he takes any damage from an enemy or the environment, but the game can be continued an unlimited number of times from the last checkpoint. The game uses a password system for continuing from each checkpoint at a later time; the current password is shown at the continue screen after dying.

Levels

The game is played as one long, uninterrupted level, with checkpoints at certain points.

Heart of the Alien, Stage 1.png

Level 1
Password: BDXF 

Heart of the Alien, Stage 2.png

Level 2
Password: XRCL 

Heart of the Alien, Stage 3.png

Level 3
Password: KGDD 

Heart of the Alien, Stage 4.png

Level 4
Password: DGBJ 

Heart of the Alien, Stage 5.png

Level 5
Password: KTLB 

Heart of the Alien, Stage 6.png

Level 6
Password: RLRB 

Heart of the Alien, Stage 7.png

Level 7
Password: RJLG 

Heart of the Alien, Stage 8.png

Level 8
Password: LKHC 

Heart of the Alien, Stage 9.png

Level 9
Password: CXLD 

Heart of the Alien, Stage 10.png

Level 10
Password: TBBL 

Heart of the Alien, Stage 11.png

Level 11
Password: HLCJ 

Heart of the Alien, Stage 12.png

Level 12
Password: FFTR 

Heart of the Alien, Stage 13.png

Heart of the Alien, Stage 13 Ending.png

  • Heart of the Alien, Stage 13.png

  • Heart of the Alien, Stage 13 Ending.png

Level 13
Password: CDJR 

History

Development

The game was developed without the involvement of Another World creator Eric Chahi. Chahi did not want to create a sequel and does not consider the events of Heart of the Alien canon, preferring to leave the fates of the characters ambiguous. He originally envisioned the game as retelling the story of Another World from the perspective of Buddy rather than Lester.


Interplay insisted in making the sequel in order to make the most of the CD-ROM medium's capabilities. After discussion, I agreed. Rather than making a chronological development related to the first story, I decided that redesigning the game from the alien point of view was excellent, and would make the player discover Another World with other eyes. I could already picture scenes where Lester would be in the background fighting guards, while the player would control the alien in the foreground and then join our first hero, help him, etc... The concept was good but, alas, neither the animations nor the game, entirely developed by Interplay, were up to the job. It was a flop.

Eric Chahi[5]


Legacy

Heart of the Alien was exclusive to the Mega-CD, but a fan project called Heart of the Alien Redux has reverse engineered the game and ported it to Windows and Amiga OS.[6]

Production credits

Out of this World

  • Design: Eric Chahi
  • Original Programmer: Eric Chahi
  • Genesis Programmer: Mike Burton
  • Executive Producer: Stephen Clarke-Wilson
  • Interplay Productions Producer: Alan Pavlish
  • Virgin Games, Inc. Producer: Erik Yeo
  • Music: Tommy Tallarico, Jean-Francois Freitas
  • Sound: Tommy Tallarico, Jean-Francois Freitas, Eric Chahi
  • Title Animation: Jason Magness
  • Quality Assurance: Manager Michael Gater
  • Quality Assurance Team: Noah Tool, Justin Norr, Danny Lewis, Mike Glosecki, Eugene Martin, Tommy Hulett
  • Manual By: Robin Kausch
  • Thanks to: Jesus Martinez, Daniel Morais, Frederic Savoir, Cecile Chahi, Philippe Delamarre, Philippe Ulrich, Sebastien Berthet, Pierre Gousseau, Bill Heineman
Source:
US manual
Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: /usr/bin/convert: Permission denied /bin/bash: line 1: /usr/bin/gs: Permission denied
[7]

Heart of the Alien

  • Executive Producer: Neil Young
  • Producer: Tom Gibson
  • Assistant Producer: Jeff Buccellato
  • Q.A. Group Head: Chris McFarland
  • Lead Analyst: Jon Williams
  • Product Analysts: Chad Soares, Scott Manning, Paul Shoener, Mitch Feldman, Chris Toft, Jared Brinkley
  • Manual Written by: Mark Polcyn
  • Manual Designed by: Crystal Wines
  • Executive Producer: Brain Fargo
  • Producer: Alan Pavlish
  • Line Producer: Feargus Urquhart
  • Project Leader: Jeremy S. Barnes
  • Programmer: Michael Burton
  • Assistant Programmer: Doug Nonast
  • Art Director: Todd Camasta
  • Lead Artist: Corey Comstock
  • Additional Artists: Judy Kriger, Arlene Somers
  • Sound & Music: Jean-Francois Freitas
  • Original Game Design: Eric Chahi
Source:
US manual
Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: /usr/bin/gs: Permission denied /bin/bash: line 1: /usr/bin/convert: Permission denied
[8]

Magazine articles

Main article: Heart of the Alien: Out of this World Parts I and II/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #57: "April 1994" (1994-xx-xx)
also published in:
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Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
40
[12]
CD Consoles (FR) NTSC-U
44
[13]
Consoles + (FR) NTSC-U
84
[14]
Electronic Entertainment (US) NTSC-U
75
[15]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
73
[16]
Game Players (US) NTSC-U
79
[1]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
90
[17]
Joypad (FR) PAL
70
[18]
Mega Fun (DE) PAL
71
[19]
Player One (FR) NTSC-U
85
[20]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U
91
[21]
Sega Megazone (AU)
87
[22]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
81
[23]
Video Games (DE) PAL
80
[24]
Sega Mega-CD
75
Based on
14 reviews

Heart of the Alien: Out of this World Parts I and II

Mega-CD, US
HotA MCD US Box Back.jpgHotA MCD US Box Front.jpg
Cover
HotA MCD US Disc.jpg
Disc
Heartofthealien mcd us manual.pdf
Manual
HotA MCD US RegCard.pdf
Reg Card
Mega-CD, BR
HeartoftheAlien MCD BR Box Back.jpgNospine.pngHeartoftheAlien MCD BR Box Front.jpg
Cover

Technical information

Main article: Heart of the Alien: Out of this World Parts I and II/Technical information.

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega-CD
 ?
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
446,329,632 CD-ROM (US) T-70025

References


Heart of the Alien: Out of this World Parts I and II

HeartoftheAlien title.png

Main page | Passwords | Magazine articles | Video coverage | Reception


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