Flashback: The Quest for Identity

The Good
Flashback! This game is definitely in my top ten list of all time... so there must be lots of good things about it right? The graphics are top notch; rotoscoped animation is the flavour, over the top of handpainted backdrops. I'll probably get persecuted here, but I think it's much more attractive and stylish than Another World (the prequel).

The sound is good, with some digitized snippets even on the genesis and the music is really, really good, not because of the music itself, but the lack of it. By this I mean that most of the time the game is eerily silent, and only when something very significant happen does the game pipe up with the music. It gives the game a great atmosphere!

Gameplay-wise I love it! Another World was much more artsy and story driven; this is a hardcore platform game. The controls are sublime - especially the run-jump feature which is activated by running, hold jump and release run and the character will keep running and then do a running jump to a higher ledge. It's hard to explain but opens up much more possibility for navigation than in games like Prince of Persia.

It's quite a hard game and I admit to having finished it (after quite a lot of play-time!) There are a few less interesting levels (the game show level springs to mind) and your success is fairly dependant on your skills with the shield, but all in all this is as good as puzzle-based platforming gets.

I should point out too that the Genesis version is much, much better than the SNES version, despite the console's limitations (and gives the others a run for their money too!). The SNES CPU just isn't clocked fast enough to do this kind of animation. Full marks to the developers of this Genesis version!

The Bad
The only things that are a bit irritating is the repetitive nature of some of the gun fights (particularly later in the game against the blobby alien doods) and the difficulty which is pegged pretty high.

The Bottom Line
Still fun after all these years, I play through this game fairly regularly still! I was never a huge fan of Another World, but loved this game to death ever since it was released. It's a different sort of game, not much of a sequel and is more like a cyberpunk Prince of Persia. Pick it up and give it a go, you won't regret it!