Flashback: The Quest for Identity

As game systems started to take off in the mid eighties, thousands of computer gamers were getting some extremely unique to play. The game, Prince of Persia, and even though it seems pretty straight forward, never before had so much attention been put simply into animation. Prince of Persia broke boundaries, and gaming has been forever changed.

From Prince of Persia came Out of this World (or Another World), and then there was Flashback. Flashback has the great graphics and animation (that looks better than ever on the Sega CD), but it also has a superb story line. A fantastic sense of control. And action packed, yet stylish, moves!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Flashback is loosely based off of several movies you are probably familiar with. Movies like a strange mix between Blade Runner and Total Recall. The game works on that level, as well. Not only does it look and play smoothly, but it keeps you extremely interested all the way through the game.

And the game is extremely difficult, as well. The first two levels are fairly easy, but after you start making money with jobs, the game becomes extremely hard. But it's never frustrating. And by the end of the game you have felt fulfilled in a way most Hollywood movies could only wish.

And did I mention that the game controls extremely well? Any troubles people had with Prince of Persia or Out of this World were answered with this wonderful designing. There is still a learning curve, but it's pretty darn easy to understand once mastered.

And after all that, there's still not many games that compare to the greatness of Flashback. Recent games like Shenmue use the same concept as this game, but even so many years later, Flashback is still one of the best games for any system. The Sega CD version isn't much better than the Genesis version, but it does have new cinemas, and is well worth buying.