Flashback™

I remember playing Flashback in the 90s. It had impressive graphics, an intriguing story, and super realistic controls. I also don't remember ever finishing it. Replaying now, almost 30 years later, the game does show its age. Obviously the graphics can't wow the way they once did, though I think the solid graphical design holds up pretty well. The story starts and ends well, but waffles a bit in the middle; plus it's mostly a thing framing device. The biggest problem I had replaying were the controls; there's a certain stiffness and slowness that makes the trickier sections quite frustrating. The last level is pretty brutal, especially the morph enemy type. On the other hand, the challenge did demand I focus, and pay attention to healing and save points. And I definitely remember finishing it now!

I finished this game few times in my Megadrive/Genesis. It was pretty fun in those ages. However, now I feel Conrad is clumsy. I had 3 crashes while I finished the game this time (6 hours play time, normal difficulty). For these never played Flashback: It has a VERY good level design. You may struggle in the first level and the last one. The built-in tutorial is very welcome. However I miss a bit more of text to introduce you in the story. For veterans, it only improves a bit the graphics and the music. While it have more difficulty levels, I don't feel I replay it again.

I remember vividly playing this game when it originally came out. The gameplay is still unique with regards to its controls and movement dynamics but still fun in it's own right. The real gem of Flashback is the music.

The very definition of a good old game. GOG should make it its banner.

This is the best example of how to update an old classic I've seen yet. All the updates have done is shine the game up a little and make it playable on modern systems while leaving the original game and what made it great intact. Another important touch is the ability to selectively disable the enhancements to play it the way you want. My only issue is that selecting the 8 bit sounds option didn't make the game sound exactly the same as running through Dosbox, which was a little disappointing as I would've prefered using them. Special mention for the CRT filter though as it's more important than people realise to recreating the look of a game designed for CRT screens as they had a natural blending/antialiasing effect that leaving old school graphics looking a little worse without it.