Heart of the Alien
Heart of the Alien is an action-adventure video game developed by Interplay and released in 1994 for the Sega Mega-CD platform. An aurally enhanced port of Another World is included on the disc as a bonus.
Heart of the Alien is a sequel to Another World, a cult classic video game. It is set directly after the events of the first game and stars the "alien buddy" who helped the human protagonist through the original.
Heart of the Alien is similar in gameplay and visual style to its predecessor, however it was much less of a success than the first game, which was released for more than a dozen systems, as it was released solely for the Sega-CD.
Eric Chahi, the creator of Another World, never had a followup in mind, but Interplay chose to develop one anyway. Chahi decided that rather than a sequel, it would be "much more interesting to replay the game from the alien's point of view." [1] Interplay, however, chose to make the game a sequel and events from Another World were shown only in the game's lengthy introduction.
Eric Chahi, spent six years developing Heart of the Alien, and afterwards left the games industry until 2006 [2].
Story
The story picks up immediately after the end of the first game. Lester's alien buddy lands the pterodactyl in the ruins of his village, lays Lester down on a cot to rest and walks through the village, thinking of his past. This sequence contains many monochromatic (technically trichromatic) flashbacks showing events leading up to the alien's capture and his and Lester's escape from prison.
Throughout the game "Buddy" is searching for the red-eyed alien responsible for the destruction of his village and the imprisonment of his people. After Lester has rested, he joins his buddy in this quest.
"Buddy" controls somewhat similarly to how Lester did in the first game. He has some new moves that are provided by his powerful energized whip. For example, he can swing from stalactites or similar objects and his shields are deployed instantly, unlike Lester's which take a few seconds to charge.
Lester's Fate
Template:Spoiler Roughly halfway through the game, Lester is eletrocuted by the red-eyed alien after saving his buddy's life. In the final cutscene, "Buddy" searches for Lester's corpse. The game ends with Lester's cremation and a few shots of the rebuilt village.
According to a fellow Interplay employee, Chahi suggested Lester's death as there was no plausible way to return him to his own world [3]. However, Chahi has since regretted the ending, preferring the ambiguity of the original, in which an unconscious Lester was borne away to safety. Template:Endspoiler
External links
- Heart of the Alien at MobyGames
- Heart of the Alien Redux - an open source rewrite of the game engine. This program is designed as a cross-platform replacement for the original executable (data files from the CD are still required).