November 22nd 2023.
It's impossible to review a game without being influenced by our preconceived notions of the franchise. That's especially true for Flashback, one of our favourite games on the Amiga. It's a spiritual successor to Another World, with a similar art style and 2D platforming action. It was ahead of its time in terms of its cinematic presentation and open-ended gameplay.
Flashback received a sequel, Fade To Black, a few years later, which was a fully fledged 3D adventure a full year before Super Mario 64 and Tomb Raider. However, the 3D movement and camera system weren't all they needed to be and both it and Flashback were quickly forgotten. A remake of Flashback was released in 2013 but it was terrible and seemed to completely misunderstand the appeal of the original.
Paul Cuisset, the director of the original Flashback, is back with a sequel - Flashback 2. Unfortunately, this modern game struggles to justify itself from the very first moment. The original Flashback was cutting edge in terms of visuals and game design. But the budget of the sequel isn't enough to mirror it and there's no incentive to innovate.
The plot is almost identical to the original. You're still controlling Conrad B. Hart in the 22nd century, and you're still battling shape-changing aliens trying to take over the planet. Much of the structure is similar too, with your first instruction after the initial tutorials being to get a job and earn some money. The Running Man style TV show has been replaced with a simplistic mech-battling mini-game.
The key problem is the shonky controls and action. The game is no longer strictly 2D and you can now move into the screen. But this adds nothing other than frustration, as you stumble about trying to position yourself. The combat is inspired by dual stick shooters but it all feels horribly imprecise and fiddly. Enemies are almost completely mindless and you take damage very quickly. The animation is awkward and clunky and there are plenty of bugs.
Overall, Flashback 2 is a depressingly awful sequel that's considerably less entertaining than the original. It suffers from a lack of budget and development time. It's an inferior rerun of the original in terms of plot and ideas. Cheaper PS5 Black Friday 2023 deals are available at GAME but this isn't one of them. It's better to just remember the good times, which for Flashback was a very long time ago.
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