Flashback is an action-platform, adventure game developed in 1992 for the Amiga, by Delphine Software. Later versions include DOS, MAC, Acorn 32bit, Mega Drive, SNES, PC-98, 3DO, CD-i and the Atari Jaguar. Flashback has great visuals, sound and animation and plays and feels much like other gems like Another World, BlackThorne and Prince of Persia.
Review
STORY / GAMEPLAY The year is 2142 AD. Conrad Hart, a research scientist who has spent the last few months preparing his thesis, accidentally found out -by using his new Molecular Density Analyzer- that some people have too high densities to be humans...! Yes, we have another alien plot to conquer humanity. He also realized that these individuals are actually top-ranking members, including military strategists, politicians and more. Afraid of being uncovered, the mysterious alien-likes kidnap Conrad, erase his memory and imprison him inside a high security hospital, from where he eventually manages to escape. The game starts showing Conrad's escape sequence where guards are pursuing him and he flies away with his hover-bike, finally crashing into the jungle. Conrad is presumed dead and left on his own. And here's where the action begins! The whole adventure takes place on an artificial jungle in a colony of planet Titan (Saturn's moon)! Conrad must go back to Earth to warn the authorities for the aliens' plans. He must exit the jungle and head to the capital city. During his quest, Conrad will jump onto several platforms and avoid or shoot down aliens using his gun, sometimes by sneaking behind them. The hero jumps and climbs everywhere he can and some of his movements demand great attention. Conrad can collect several items and solve puzzles by activating certain items to open locked paths, bridges etc. He must be also careful to look for generators in order to recharge his protective shield. Flashback is an awesome action adventure that offers a nearly cinematic "taste". The game is full of non-interactive animation sequences between its six levels, that will unveil the plot. The passwords are provided when you complete a level and also there are scattered some SAVE POINTS (consoles) in order to save your progress. Honestly the game successfully combines some of the beautiful features found in Another World and Prince of Persia!
GRAPHICS / SOUND Delphine Software managed to make another gaming masterpiece. Its visuals are awesome, with many colors on screen, beautiful environments, greatly done sprites, fluid animation and digitized sound effects and an outstanding intro music. Especially the character's animation is stunning. All his movements, including running, tumbling, jumping, climbing and shooting are highly realistic and among the best I've ever seen on a computer game (much like the older but also great, Prince of Persia and Another World). Take your time to practice the game's controls and soon you'll master it. Overall, Flashback is a tough game, but at the same time it's one of the best games ever created for the Amiga OCS computers.
CPU: Motorola MC68000 7.16 MHz MEMORY: 512KB of Chip RAM (OCS chipset - A500), 512 KB of Slow RAM or Trapdoor RAM can be added via the trapdoor expansion, up to 8 MB of Fast RAM or a Hard drive can be added via the side expansion slot. The ECS chipset (A500+) offered 1MB on board to 2MB (extended) of Chip RAM. GRAPHICS: The OCS chipset (Amiga 500) features planar graphics (codename Denise custom chip), with up to 5 bit-planes (4 in hires), allowing 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 color screens, from a 12bit RGB palette of 4096 colors. Resolutions varied from 320x256 (PAL, non-interlaced, up to 4096 colors) to 640x512 (interlace, up to 4 colors). Two special graphics modes where also included: Extra Half Bright with 64 colors and HAM with all 4096 colors on-screen. The ECS chipset models (Amiga 500+) offered same features but also extra high resolution screens up to 1280x512 pixels (4 colors at once). SOUND: (Paula) 4 hardware-mixed channels of 8-bit sound at up to 28 kHz. The hardware channels had independent volumes (65 levels) and sampling rates, and mixed down to two fully left and fully right stereo outputs