[Mr.Deviance]

For those that don't yet know it, this game was exceptionally good back in it's day and it's still good today if you like great gameplay and a nice thought provoking story with a great cyberpunk sci-fi ambient.
It was made for the amiga initially but then it was ported for all of these platforms too: Acorn Archimedes, Mega Drive/Genesis, MS-DOS (floppy disk & CD-ROM), NEC PC-9801, SNES, Mega-CD, FM Towns, 3DO, CD-i, Atari Jaguar, Mac OS, iPhone OS, Symbian, Maemo and platforms supported by REminiscence

[OpenMaw]

Holy shit!

I WANT IT!

[Mr.Deviance]

Commando Nukem, on 18 July 2013 - 07:07 PM, said:

Holy shit!

I WANT IT!

What's sad is that news about it and at least a screenshot have been out since at least as early as april and it's only now that I found out about it after gametrailers put up the upper video that I've posted.
When I saw that ubisoft holds the rights to it I was a bit amazed. Ubisoft is just the publisher.
I have been dreaming of a HD remake for this game since many years and I've always known that this is probably never going to become interesting to the new generation of cod fucktards.
So the more years passed over it, the more I was getting convinced that it will forever be forgotten after the generation that loved it will grow old and die.
I am very happy to hear that this remake is going to contain the old game packed inside it as a bonus way to play the old game on pc again.

I still own the snes version of it in a box with proper manual and everything.
I remember that It felt very rewarding after I've beaten the game because it was extremely punishing but never frurstrating in the later levels.
If you knew what you were doing and had patience and a bit of skill, you could move further without having to die 100 times.
The game took a lot of concentration and it would constantly determine you to move forward because it was very captivating.

[DavoX]

Wasn't this one these games that were made by one person? or was it out of this world?

[MusicallyInspired]

Nice!

[Ronin]

Wow, this is interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about the graphics here as I loved the original graphics and these new ones seem floaty or something, I personally would prefer if they did the remake with super detailed sprites. Flashback is one of my all time favourite games and I completed it dozens of times on the Snes. I loved the leap of faith that had me stumped in the first level, and the open world feel when you reached the city as well as the running man style mission on the gameshow, what a fucking game. This was one of those games I loved so much I could beat without dying. The music, the sound effects, the art and the gameplay (loved the shield and gunplay mechanic)all came together and already achieved perfection, so these are very big shoes to fill for me. Still I'm glad this is happening if only so people will again get the chance to play the original. For me this was the Blade Runner of games.

For those of you who like this style of game there is one called Blackthorne, available on Snes, Megadrive, and a few other platforms I think, it's well worth a shot even if the last boss is stupidly hard and nearly ruins the game with his dickheadery.

[Mr.Deviance]

Ronan, on 19 July 2013 - 03:38 PM, said:

Wow, this is interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about the graphics here as I loved the original graphics and these new ones seem floaty or something, I personally would prefer if they did the remake with super detailed sprites. Flashback is one of my all time favourite games and I completed it dozens of times on the Snes. I loved the leap of faith that had me stumped in the first level, and the open world feel when you reached the city as well as the running man style mission on the gameshow, what a fucking game. This was one of those games I loved so much I could beat without dying. The music, the sound effects, the art and the gameplay (loved the shield and gunplay mechanic)all came together and already achieved perfection, so these are very big shoes to fill for me. Still I'm glad this is happening if only so people will again get the chance to play the original. For me this was the Blade Runner of games.

I am sure you would much rather prefer to see a HD remake that would take this

And make it look like this.


I too agree that this would make a perfect HD remake with a few more key frames added to the animations of things to make them appear more fluid and with the exact same sfx and music resampled without any changes done to them.

Sadly, this new game does not appear to be a straight HD remake but rather more of a reconstruction of the game with lots of new stuff + lots of old stuff remade differently.
This new game attempts to remake the old game by following it's story and levels and basic mechanics but feels free to change the level layouts and add a shitload of new stuff like more items, weapons, and different sfx and not just resampled sfx or music from the old game.
I am a purist that likes classic games to be remade with HD graphics only if they attempt to clone the old game and just give it a face lift.
If they want to add new shit to the old game, they could just release a sequel and that would make sense.

[Ronin]

Absolutely, that is quite beautiful, where did you find that? I assume it's an art piece or something, probably a Photoshop painting. I liked the silence/ambience of the original, hearing the sounds of Conrad's footsteps and the weird noises the shields, gunshots and groans of the characters made it seem more real for the time. Still I am interested in this remake and if it brings something new to the table then great. I just hope it keeps the essence of the original which is hard to do for remakes it seems. I really like the concept art picture though. Ha, When I was a kid I got myself a jacket just like Conrad's because I wanted to be cool too.

[Mr.Deviance]

Ronan, on 19 July 2013 - 04:02 PM, said:

Absolutely, that is quite beautiful, where did you find that? I assume it's an art piece or something, probably a Photoshop painting. I liked the silence/ambience of the original, hearing the sounds of Conrad's footsteps and the weird noises the shields, gunshots and groans of the characters made it seem more real for the time. Still I am interested in this remake and if it brings something new to the table then great. I just hope it keeps the essence of the original which is hard to do for remakes it seems. I really like the concept art picture though.

You won't see HD remakes that look like this because devs don't think they are profitable sadly...
A pure HD remake like the Deviantart picture from above, would only be interesting to the fans of the original game.
This new remake is also said to have a hugely reduced difficulty so that it can cater to the new generation of cod and halo fans...
If you look in my first post you can notice Conrad has a laserbeam attached to his pistol for ease of aiming at the distance...
I am also under the impression that this remake will contain health that recharges itself when you are not taking damage and shitloads of shields and shit...
A true fan of the first game, would even be bothered if the first level would be missing that silence accompanied only by those alien frogs or birds or what ever they are that make noises with small pauses.
That silence combined with very few and rare sfx and extremely rare and very short music clips when something new happens on the screen, gave the original game a very intimate experience that is very unique and hard to explain.
I have always said that FlashBack was the best example of how a sequel to prince of persia should have behaved.

Here are the 2 other HD remake art pics made by that guy that made the one I posted above



It's clear to me that this guy understands perfectly, just what a HD remake should be about.

[Ronin]

Mr.Deviance, on 19 July 2013 - 04:10 PM, said:

That silence combined with very few and rare sfx and extremely rare and very short music clips when something new happens on the screen, gave the original game a very intimate experience that is very unique and hard to explain.

Exactly, like Blade Runner there is just something intangible about it. All the elements work so well together. If you haven't you should play Blackthorne, it has a similar lonely atmosphere and some excellent puzzles as I said previously it's only let down by an out of character last boss that ignores everything you learned up to that point and is just pure trial and error or dozens of lives (or maybe I am just crap). Blackthorne is the only game that I played that felt like Flashback, I believe the best version is the Sega Cd but I only played it on the Snes.

Those pics above are stunning, I hope that guy gets a job in that area. I believe for 2D games, sprites are the only way forward, check out Dragons Crown as an example of what can be achieved in this area.
About the lazer sight, I suppose that allows for easier 360 aiming which I don't think was in the original and without it could make some of the new puzzles too frustrating for today's kids, I wonder will they keep the leap of faith without a prompt arrow.

Seeing those pics has inspired me to do some new Photoshop painting, I might try to recreate one of my favourite Flashback scenes myself. I will post it here if I do though I'm not sure if I can reach that standard with my skill level at the moment.

This is my favourite music from the game.

[MusicallyInspired]

I never liked Blade Runner. Don't know what all the fuss is about.

[faked]

WOWEE! That is beautiful!

[Mr.Deviance]

grouchbag, on 19 July 2013 - 08:46 PM, said:

WOWEE! That is beautiful!

I wouldn't explode with hype just yet.
Lately games tend to dissapoint more than to satisfy the general public(me especially)
Knowing how today's remakes factor in the lack of true skill gamers from this new generation have, we an expect some really intense hand holding mechanics along the way through this remake.
What I never understood is why the fuck can't devs add options to a menu that allow old gamers like myself to chose between the shitty rechargeable health mechanic and the classic health mechanic that requires you to pick up health packs or to charge your shield battery in the case of flashback like in the original.
Allow me to turn off the new generation "improvements" and either turn them off entirely or replace them with the old mechanics that appeal to me and make the game feel a bit harder.
When I know that my health never recharges by itself, I suddenly start taking the whole game experience much more seriously and I play much more carefully.

If you played the old flashback, you will know just how much of a gameplay mechanic the actual health was.
You could not recharge your health just by standing in one place and you could not even recharge it by picking up healthpacks.
You had this permanent shield item that you had to switch to and hope and pray that you can make it alive to the closest shield battery recharger.
This made the game more intense and caused players to be on their toes and care to develop at least a minimal movement strategy through the level, instead of going apeshit in all directions without giving a shit.

[Kathy]

Mr.Deviance, on 20 July 2013 - 09:11 PM, said:

What I never understood is why the fuck can't devs add options to a menu that allow old gamers like myself to chose between the shitty rechargeable health mechanic and the classic health mechanic that requires you to pick up health packs or to charge your shield battery in the case of flashback like in the original.

Because htat means more time for development. You basically have to make two different systems with different pickups and gameplay balance.

[Mr.Deviance]

Kathy, on 20 July 2013 - 09:47 PM, said:

Because htat means more time for development. You basically have to make two different systems with different pickups and gameplay balance.

No, it doesn't mean more time for development. Not in the case of this game.
Let's be real about it. To place 10 or 20 battery chargers through the scenery and only have them pop up when you select the classic gameplay mode in the menu, is something that I could personally get done in less than 2 hours from top to bottom.
2 lost hours to make an entire generation of gamers happy is an obvious decision.
As a dev studio that also made the original game, I would even lose 1 week for such an added bonus feature just to know that I am also pleasing the original fans of the game and not just the new generation.
You know that when you please the old fans, you also get more sales.
The truth is, they just don't give a shit about gamers that used to buy and play their game back in the 90's
This is the hard truth.

[Kathy]

The absolute minimum is to have a switch between original and remake. Like it was done in The Secret Of Monkey Island.

[Bloodshot]

Meh, I would have rather had something like the recent re-release of out of this world/another world with hires 2d art.

I played flashback on the amiga, and it's just one of those games that really wouldn't be the same if you change too much. Plus the voice acting in the trailers for this new one sound bad.

Oh well.

[Mr.Deviance]

Bloodshot, on 21 July 2013 - 05:59 PM, said:

Meh, I would have rather had something like the recent re-release of out of this world/another world with hires 2d art.

I played flashback on the amiga, and it's just one of those games that really wouldn't be the same if you change too much. Plus the voice acting in the trailers for this new one sound bad.

Oh well.

And when you think that such a remake would be aimed precisely at the people that know it aka the guys that played it 20 years ago and not the new generation that just sees it as another modern platformer in the sea of new platformers...
This is just a poor decision on their part to make it a modern game for the new generation considering that chances are the new generation doesn't care about flashback at all.
But then again, has anybody seen the only other game that VectorCell did?
Amy scored a consolidated 33/100 on metacritic for the ps3 and a whooping 25/100 for the xbox 360 and the user grades for both platforms aren't any bigger either...
I have yet to see games with lower grades than that...
By those standards, I think that from what I've seen of this Flashback remake, getting a 60/100 on metacritic for it would be a major improvement for them seeing how bad this new VectorCell studio debuted with their first game...

The original delphine software started as a bunch of dudes making games in their basement out of passion and that's how all legendary games from the 90's and 80's started as it can be seen time and time again.
The problem is that even though delphine sofware has a team of talented people, they somehow managed to make 2 consecutive legendary platformer games that were preceded and followed only by mediocre games...
Another World and Flashback are both two legendary games, Another World being the much more popular and well known among the new generation of gamers.
Now, this new VectorCell dev studio contains some or all? of the devs that worked at Delphine Software plus a bunch of new young devs that obviously have their own vision on how a remake of a classic game should look like, sometimes being completely unfamiliar with the elements that made the original so good.

[Ronin]

The sequel Fade to Black (PSX) is probably the worst game I have ever played in my life, it's an abominations abortion.

[Mr.Deviance]

Ronan, on 22 July 2013 - 09:36 AM, said:

The sequel Fade to Black (PSX) is probably the worst game I have ever played in my life, it's an abominations abortion.

Very true. And somehow I am not really sure if they could have made a better sequel if they made it today either.

[Ronin]

Yeah, it's funny it's like they were trying to embrace technology that they didn't understand. They made the game a horrible, clunky, 3d mess just because they obviously thought that a 2d flash Back would not be good enough. It would seem they are doing the same again judging by the placement of Conrad's foot in that screenshot you posted. It's a small error but not something they should show to people who might be looking forward to the game. Still I guess there is a chance it could be decent, I guess we will find out soon enough.

[Yatta]

The new Flashback looks great running on 360:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=sn_kJILanuA

[Mr.Deviance]

Yatta, on 23 July 2013 - 10:32 PM, said:

The new Flashback looks great running on 360:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=sn_kJILanuA

I thought that was an actual video of the new flashback for the 360 until I clicked it.
Fade to Black is a well known disaster since way back when it actually came out.
It's so bad that I could not even manage to sit through videos of the entire game being played from start to finish, let alone beat it myself.
The level design is so fucking boring and ugly and the gameplay is so repetitive and accompanied by broken controls, that it might just be the worst third person shooter game ever to be released.
What makes it worse is that it was made by the actual devs of Flashback a few years later after the masterpiece that was Flasback...
To think that the devs that made Another World and Flashback could come up with such an abomination is mind boggling.

[OpenMaw]

I don't know. My inner-abused child rather enjoyed Fade to Black.

Just look at that intro!

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=WylzGjX0s6Y

Between this, Area 51, Ace Combat, Spyro, Broken Helix, Syphon Filter, Colony Wars, and Duke Nukem Time to Kill, those are my fondest playstation memories.

[Mr.Deviance]

Commando Nukem, on 23 July 2013 - 11:16 PM, said:

I don't know. My inner-abused child rather enjoyed Fade to Black.

Just look at that intro!

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=WylzGjX0s6Y

Between this, Area 51, Ace Combat, Spyro, Broken Helix, Syphon Filter, Colony Wars, and Duke Nukem Time to Kill, those are my fondest playstation memories.

I understand how you feel about this poor game and I also understand how it's possible that somebody might have fond memories of a shitty game.
When I was younger and I used to play the first 3d games and my first experiences with a ps1 for ex, I would play random games I knew nothing about prior to playing them and then I would judge by myself if I liked them or not.
I personally played and partly enjoyed Fighting Force 2 on the ps1 which is well known to be a shitty game even by my own standards today.
I have nostalgia for that game even though it was shit.
I also enjoyed the mummy games on ps1 even though many say they were shit.
Back then when games were so few and you would get just a few new games per year, even playing a shitty game would be an option and you would start and see the good parts in a really bad game, simply because that was the only new game you had for weeks on end and you were forced by the circumstances to try and beat it.

I own Flashback on the snes since back then and to this day I've managed to keep it in great shape.
Flashback is one of my all time favorites that I've played from start to finish and loved.
When I got the ps1 some years later, I never actually knew about Fade to Black because if I did I would have bought it in a heart bit and would have definitely attempted to beat it simply because I was much more of an obsessed Flashback fan back then than I am now and I also had much more time and patience with games in general than I do now.

I first learned about Fade to Black about 10 years ago when it was already outdated like shit(frankly it was outdated since day 1 of it's release) and that didn't help my opinion on it either.
I got it and tried it on Epsxe and after playing it for 30 minutes I just gave up due to how boring it was and how shitty the controls and graphics were.
Some years later I attempted to watch a long play of it on youtube to at least claim that I've seen it from start to finish and after 1 hour or so, I was getting so bored of the repetitive ugly maze boxes called levels that I decided to stop watching it.

[pjVgt]

Mr.Deviance, on 24 July 2013 - 12:06 AM, said:

I first learned about Fade to Black about 10 years ago when it was already outdated like shit(frankly it was outdated since day 1 of it's release) and that didn't help my opinion on it either.
I got it and tried it on Epsxe and after playing it for 30 minutes I just gave up due to how boring it was and how shitty the controls and graphics were.
Some years later I attempted to watch a long play of it on youtube to at least claim that I've seen it from start to finish and after 1 hour or so, I was getting so bored of the repetitive ugly maze boxes called levels that I decided to stop watching it.

No. Know because I was there in 1995. People bought it because there was nothing like it before - Tomb Raider came almost a year later. When I saw this game on my P60 it emptied my prostate fluids instantly with power of SVGA awesomness. For that time game had astounding graphics, very good sound and music, ballcrushingly good FMVs and story to boot. Game sold well in Europe it even went over 100,000 copies in the UK (on a PC). Game was a financial success even on the PSX and kept Delphine running until everyone got bored with their motoracer games. Of course now the graphics are dated and gameplay mechanics are antiquated but so does almost everything that is 15 years old. Duke Nukem 3D is nowadays unplayable for the Call of Halo crowd - regardless how great this game was in 1996. Does it mean that Duke Nukem 3D licks rhesus balls?

[----]

Mr.Deviance, on 23 July 2013 - 10:57 PM, said:

To think that the devs that made Another World and Flashback could come up with such an abomination is mind boggling.

Those two games had have the same devs? I thought the devs are completely seperate and only the publisher was the same and the games had nothing in common otherwise (apart from a few references to Another World in Flashback). And the sequel to Another World is Heart Of Alien, which is also 2D.

[pjVgt]

fuegerstef, on 27 July 2013 - 02:05 PM, said:

Those two games had have the same devs? I thought the devs are completely seperate and only the publisher was the same and the games had nothing in common otherwise (apart from a few references to Another World in Flashback). And the sequel to Another World is Heart Of Alien, which is also 2D.

No. No one from two people responsible for Another World were in the Flashback team nor Heart of Alien team. Flashback had the same company but neither Chahi or Freitas were involved.

[----]

pjVgt, on 27 July 2013 - 02:14 PM, said:

No one from two people responsible for Another World were in the Flashback team nor Heart of Alien team.

Wasn't Heart Of Alien made by the same guy who made Another World?

EDIT: I looked it up. You are right. The dev agreed to let them make a sequel but wasn't involved himself. That's where I got it mixed up.

[pjVgt]

fuegerstef, on 27 July 2013 - 02:36 PM, said:

Wasn't Heart Of Alien made by the same guy who made Another World?

EDIT: I looked it up. You are right. The dev agreed to let them make a sequel but wasn't involved himself. That's where I got it mixed up.

No. It wasn't even made by Delphine Software either only licensed. Chahi had no creative control over it. It was developed by internals in Interplay and released only in US. And BTW it sucks turds hard.