Among the most influential Amiga games of the late Amiga period was the original Flashback (1992). This sci-fi cinematic platform game won several Game of the Year honors and smashed records in terms of popularity. It was also recognized as the all-time best-selling French game by Guinness World Records! Fade to Black, its less successful sequel, and Flashback Legends, the much anticipated real sequel, were both shelved in 2003. A comprehensive remaster was released in 2013 to commemorate the vicennial of the original for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. The Flashback's creator, monsieur Paul Cuisset, has now determined that a rebirth is warranted, thirty years after the original design was created.

Sadly, Flashback 2 is a catastrophe—or, in French, le désastre. These days, it's really very uncommon for a well-known release to do thus remarkably poorly. Flashback 2 is just the second instance of a really cataclysmic letdown in 2023 (that I am aware of), after the Gollum fiasco in late May. Everything that could go wrong did so, turning the game into a poster child for poor QA and development procedures everywhere. It's so awful that it's kind of amazing.

The Body Snatchers' Invasion

Rewind 2 is not a continuation. Instead, with an extra-dimensional twist, the game is a "direct prequel" to Flashback, following the same basic storyline. The setting for the "invasion of the body snatchers" is the same, with the exception of a (poor) narrative trick that I won't go into detail about for obvious reasons. It takes place in a future, interplanetary Humanity that is threatened by Master Brain. Let's just say that you'll be taking on the role of Conrad B. Hart, a young intelligence operative, once again. As you go closer to the epicenter of the corruption, you'll leap over platforms, flick switches, shoot droids, cyber troops, and other various abominations.

But this time, all of it will be possible in the magnificent 2,5D. I suppose the third pseudo-dimension was included to create some intrigue. Theoretically, things should be a little more difficult now that shooting calls for directional aim, and platform-hopping and navigation have been given greater complexity. The 2,5D was applied in a manner that made it quite challenging in real life. To begin with, you will find it difficult to move about and will run into objects all the time. The location detection in the game is very peculiar; to ascend a basic flight of stairs, for example, one must often stumble on the bottom edge and twist the thumbstick to conform to the "stair-texture." Both climbing and leaping may be somewhat difficult, particularly if you attempt to ascend up a vertical shaft that is hidden by an item in front of you.

The third aspect of issues

Combat is also affected by 2,5D. In this game, your only true objective is to point the gun in the general direction of your enemies and hope that your rounds find their target. Nonetheless, you have an infinite supply of ammunition, so the only things you lose are some time and effort. And the degree of difficulty is negligible. There are med packs with fast healing all throughout the place. Even after dying, you may instantly revive without facing any repercussions. Like so much else in Flashback 2, I'm not sure whether this is a feature or a problem.

Speaking of bugs, even with a few post-launch updates, there are still a ton of them. Ignoring the faux-3D issues, there are issues with almost every part of the engine, from broken event triggers to fractures in the surrounding material. This place is notorious for its falling through textures and leaving you in a pitch-black limbo. The real fun starts when you get to the first of the game's few escort sequences. The plot NPCs that follow you often quit following you for no apparent reason, even if they are untouchable. They may freeze in position or get trapped in the landscape. You should have the patience of a monk when it comes to mentally reloading checkpoints.

Discourse leaders

Though seen from a new angle, Flashback 2 maintains the original storyline in terms of narrative consistency. Though, if you understand what I mean, the lovely naivete of pulp sci-fi from the 1990s is everywhere, it's strangely more mundane than nostalgic. Unlike the original, which had a mute protagonist, this narrative is delivered mostly via speech. Sadly, the story is now being advanced by simple talking heads in place of stunning cinematics. It is evident that all of the lines were translated from French, therefore sometimes strange word choices are to be expected. But when you consider everything else, it is a small issue.

Flashback 2's design is rather misleading, as it seems to be a contemporary take on Metroidvania based just on screenshots. The journey through the levels is straightforward, with a few little detours connected to sometimes choose whether to focus on goal A or B first. Though they suffer from the terrible "bug or feature?" problem, the levels themselves are often OK. I would sometimes get stuck in a section and wonder whether there was anything I was missing or if an event had failed to activate. That's the last word on joy and flow.

It won't matter if the developer fixes every bug; Flashback 2 will still be a terrible game overall. I'm not sure why Microids discolored the memory of the well-known original game by releasing it in this condition. How in the world did they get Paul Cuisset to approve the release? His main claim to fame was the original, and he is acknowledged as the lead. What a tragic way to destroy your heritage.