I'm a pretty big fan of first-person shooters; however, I've been a little spoiled by the recent advancements of the genre, thanks mostly to Call of Duty 4. I still prefer the gameplay of classic FPS games like GoldenEye, and even exploration-based platformer/shooters like Metroid Prime, and level-based solo adventures like Shadows of the Empire. The World Between's demo shows a game that is much in the vein of those classic shooters. As for the demo itself, there is plenty of room for improvement. The game ended after about twenty minutes, so there is not a whole lot to write about.

Graphics and interface
The World Between features charming old school 3D graphics that seem to be of a quality somewhere between N64 and PS2. Everything looks solid, from the fire animations to the guns to the cityscape itself. The physics and interaction are a little wonky - I was able to kick a computer monitor around like a balloon and activate things from quite a distance, but those are minor nitpicks.

The HUD is nice and simple - ammunition and guns are displayed cleanly, as is the health. Switching weapons is straightforward (though you have to figure out some of the controls on your own, which is an issue I'll address in a second). When your avatar is damaged, a greenish circle appears on your visor - this is a nice touch, because I'm often too focused on aiming to double check my health.

Unfortunately, the game was quite glitchy. Most instructions remained on screen until I activated or picked up the object in question, but some just appeared and disappeared within a second. I also had to run the game in administrator mode; otherwise, I would appear halfway through the level, and/or clicking on the mouse would freeze the game. I also experienced lag in the first room; thankfully, this went away quickly and was never an issue again. Aiming controls are responsive enough, and "walking and shooting" is pretty straightforward.

Overall, the glitches are offset somewhat by the solid graphcis and interface, but not enough to elevate the demo to high levels. 3 stars.

Gameplay
The actual design of the compound was a mixed bag. I was let loose near the entrance to a vacant building, and I didn't encounter an enemy until I entered the next building a couple minutes later. TWB does not offer a tutorial or guideline on how to aim and shoot, making the first enemies challenging until you figure it out. On my first playthrough, I lost 90 health to the first two enemies alone, and died on the next foe. I didn't die again, but I also have considerable experience with this type of FPS. Adding a health canister on one of the counters in the first hostile room would help smooth out the learning curve.

Aside from that hiccup, health was fairly well distributed and the rest of the level was a fairly enjoyable romp. I found both a handgun and a shotgun near the beginning and end of the level respectively, as well as plenty of ammunition throughout. However, there was a lack of puzzles and some rooms felt either empty or underused. For instance, what was the point of the inaccessible green room with the crates? I assume it will be accessible in a future demo. The demo ended abruptly after I searched for an unlocked door for ten minutes - it turned out that I had to step into a portal from a room I had already cleared.

There is a jump button, but it is not required in the demo (at least to my knowledge). In future levels, I would love to see some platforming elements to make optimal use of the feature and to mix up the gameplay. I would also love to see more secondary items and interactivity throughout the areas. 2 stars.

Story
There seems to be no in-game storyline; this could be either a design choice or a feature not yet implemented, but I would like to see some sort of introduction and interactivity. As much as I like Super Metroid for its ability to tell a story without text, even that game had an introduction and a clear story arc. With that said, the premise on the game page seems interesting enough. This category gets only 1 star for these reasons, but it does not count as much as the other two.

Conclusion
On the whole, TWB is off to a decent start. In future demos, I'll be looking for:

- Fewer glitches with tutorial messages and startup.
- Increased interactivity in the levels and a more integrated storyline.
- Better clarification with switches, portals, etc.
- Use of the jump button.
- Additional items, weapons, and enemy variety.
- Additional health early on and perhaps a few enemies in the first building.
- More crates and hiding spots in wide-open areas, such as the room immediately after the teleportal.

And I will hope to see the following things continued:
- Challenging and well placed enemies.
- Well distributed health and ammo.
- Good use of lighting, animation, and graphics in general.

The sample size is probably too small for me to issue a rating, but I am going to go with 2.5 stars for now. The graphics are certainly above average for an indie game, but the gameplay is fairly average and the glitches and lack of story integration drag down the score a little bit. Keep up the good work - I hope to see improvement in future levels!