Daniel Keast

Flashback: The Quest for Identity

Games I've Completed

This is a platformer for the Mega Drive from the early 90s. It’s a cyberpunk dystopian story where you have lost all your memories and are being attacked by aliens that appear human without a special headset. The moves are all very deliberate, with characters moving in mostly very human ways. This is in contrast with games like Mario where he is very acrobatic and can jump many times his height. According to Wikipedia this particular style of platformer is called a Cinematic Platformer which is a term I never heard at the time. I seem to remember people talking about this as if it was a sequel to Another World at the time, although the games are completely separate.

There are animated cut scenes in this game, graphically it’s extremely impressive for the platform. I also like the level design, the second level in particular has you performing jobs around a city for cash. It has a working subway system, and a handful of characters that you interact with.

Unfortunately the game ramps up the difficulty with each level by adding more and more enemies to fight. This is all a bit frustrating since the fighting mechanics are the worst part of the game I think.