I'm with the people disagreeing with calling "Another World" minimalist - what gets closer to the truth might be "pure", and maybe "focussed". I think that's what all those people citing the game as an influence try to achieve (and maybe nobody but Ueda actually achieves): Chahi's game feels very much bullshit-free.

I mean, that beginning gets me every time: Even though it might have been due to memory constraints, Chahi cuts right to the essence. He seems to be totally in control of what he wants to do and communicate, pretty much every time.

Honestly - could that first cut-scene be any more efficient? I couldn't think of much that could be added or cut to enhance it. The protagonist's way of parking his car, the way he leans back in his chair, opens his can - we know a good deal about this person in less than 30 seconds time.

We know, for once, that he is a confident person, which makes his stumbling around in the new world all the more poignant (or, if you want, ironic; either way, there’s a clear contrast between the two worlds). Btw, I like the fact that the animal stumbles, as well - it's a game of missteps and near-misses, and it's open about it from the very start.

It’s very easy to think of superfluous things that could have been added, though – first and foremost a HUD. I guess the player has to pay a price for this – the repeated deaths might be a direct result of Chahi’s refusal to (literally) spell everything out (how many designers would have put some flashy “move!”-pointers on the screen in that first scene?). It’s a small price to pay, though, because the aesthetics profit tremendously IMHO. And it may be keeping Chahi from overcomplicating stuff – in keeping the focus on a series of basic actions that are varied and iterated during the rest of the game.

A great deal of smart things have already been said here; especially Moriarty has highlighted a lot of impressions I had, too.

What I would like to add, though, is this:

“Another World” might have one of the smartest use of cut-scenes I ever encountered in a videogame. It uses them as exclamation-marks rather than whole paragraphs. I mean, that very short interlude of the lion attacking – it’s over in mere seconds, it doesn’t break the flow in the slightest, but it sure as hell gets the point across. It’s not only that the same engine is used for cut-scenes and game-play (the perspectives change drastically), but it’s all about pacing. Kojima certainly was an odd student of this mentor.

@sglasheen
I admit, the Ferrari is kinda odd. But as I wrote above, I ended up thinking  that it has a purpose: It's part of the introduction of the character. The (bad-ass) car and the way he toys around with what seems to be not only pretty damn expensive, but also apparently dangerous scientific equipment, alone at night, in a (literally) completely laid-back way, for me introduced him as a very confident person (I even could think of him as somewhat cocky).
That makes the contrast with him ending up completely lost all the more poignant; on the same time, it makes him could surviving against all odds in kinda more credible.

Than again, that might only be me extrapolating, and it still doesn't excuse the scene with the computer lamp-shading it... you might be forgiven thinking of Chahi as a fan-boy of expensive cars in general, the "Back To The Future"-movies or (gasp!) even "Knight Rider"...