I have said it multiple times before but I’ll say it again, Flashback is my all time favourite game. Originally developed for the Mega Drive way back in 1992, the version I played first was for the Commodore Amiga.
Though it didn’t go up today, I only found out about it today, Microids has revealed the first decent trailer for Flashback 2, which is weirdly the sequel to Flashback. I say weirdly, because it’s technically the second sequel as Face to Black which launched on the PS1 and PC was the original sequel. It’ll be interesting to see whether that game is now no longer cannon and Flashback 2 becomes the new official sequel.
The trailer today is the fourth trailer for the forthcoming game, but the first was just to reveal that a new game was coming, the second and third kinda showed gameplay but in a weird way that made it hard to properly get a good idea of what to expect. I’m sure this was deliberate as the game was of course, still deep in development. However, this latest trailer not only shows gameplay but it also makes sure you understand that there’s going to be similarities to the original game. Much of what is shown is in the jungle which is the first level of the original game. It’s still kind of linear but from time to time, it seems like it’s not a straight left to right path and I hope that allows for a good amount of exploration.
Movement of the protagonist also seems to be something the latest trailer goes out of the way to make you see the similarities in the way you run, jump, roll etc. On the face of it, this should be a great successor. But until the game is out and reviews start coming in, we need to take a step back and keep expectations in check. Although Paul Cuisset is the lead behind the sequel, he was also very much behind that dreadful remake on the Xbox 360 and PS3. So hopefully he’s learned what not to do and uses the original game as inspiration in creating something that’s worthy of the Flashback name.
It’s been over thirty years since we got a game that could hold up to the first, and we are so close to it being released. Just a few more months to go as it is coming out on 16th November for current and last generation consoles.
