“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

Cross-platform games are nothing new, but looking back at Flashback: The Quest For Identity is a little ridiculous. While originally for the Amiga, Flashback has appeared on everything from DOS to the Sega CD. I played the version for the Super Nintendo, as it was my main gaming console of the era, so that is the version I played for review.

Flashback was developed by Delphine Software International, the same people behind the similar (though graphically simpler) title, Another World.

Flashback opens with a cinematic (rare for us non-PC gamers of the era) showing our hero and agent for the “Galaxia Bureau of Investigation”, Conrad B. Hart, being chased by laser fire and eventually shot down off his space bike into the jungle.

When most people think of Flashback, they think of the iconic first level in a strange alien jungle. There is good reason for this. Not only does the level look fantastic and have a memorable art style, but the game is really difficult. My theory is that most players back in the day never made it past the first level. I’ve talked to several people who spoke as if the entire game took place there.

After making your way through the jungle of Titan, Conrad buys a gravity belt from a crazy old man which he uses to jump down a giant hole that leads to the first city you come across in the game, New Washington.

Once you find your friend, Ian (spoke of in a holo-recorder you find in the jungle), you get your memories back, and learn of an alien plot to destroy mankind. Apparently shape-shifters are disguised as high ranking officials and want to wipe out Earth for some reason.

You make your way back to Earth by participating in a “Running Man” style game show called “Cyber Tower” (originally called “Death Tower”, but the big N was still censoring this sort of thing). After arriving on Earth, Conrad discovers more of the alien plot and hitches a ride to the alien home planet to put a stop to their shenanigans.

After navigating the alien home world and fighting off a ton of shape-shifters and other strange creatures, you end up finding an injured man who was also trying to stop them. He gives you some explosives, which you then go on to use to kill the aliens and save the day.

Why Did I Pick This Game?

When I first rented Flashback in the early 90′s, I was blown away by the quality of the animation. It was the same thing that happened when I had played Prince of Persia and Out of This World (aka Another World). They all used the rotoscoping technique of drawing over video footage to get the highly smooth look.

What appealed to me most was the adventure game and platforming/exploration elements. This is one of those games I loved as a kid, but was never able to finish.

In fact on this play-through, I discovered what I thought was the last level was actually next to last. I will admit right now that at the time of this writing, I was still unable to finish the game. It gets that hard by the end.

How Does It Hold Up With Time?

While the cut scenes look very dated, the sprite work still holds up and the rotoscope animation looks fantastic. The controls are a little hard to pick back up. I spent the first ten minutes just trying to remember how to do everything. Playing through is a bit of a commitment, and not meant for a casual player. Save points are few and far between.

It has a lot of elements reminiscent of point and click adventure games. You’ll find items hidden on one screen that are used to open a door or solve a puzzle on another. These and the exploration elements are what make me still enjoy this game. The combat, however, is a lot harder than I remember. I was constantly getting killed once I was fighting space cops with jetpacks and shields, not to mention the shape shifting aliens.

If you are looking for a tough game with a lot of character, Flashback may be right up your alley.

Tags: adventure, Flashback, Friday Old Games, Genesis, platformer, Rotoscoping, SNES

This entry was posted on Friday, December 25th, 2009 at 2:53 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.