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Flashback gets a do-over on XBLA, PSN
Ubisoft has a remake of Flashback in the works for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. This Unreal-powered version is helmed by VectorCell, the French studio behind horror game Amy. It is owned by the original Flashback's lead designer, Paul Cuisset.Flashback was first developed by Delphine Software and released over 20 years ago on the Amiga. The stylized platformer, which was later ported to Genesis, Mega-CD, PC and Mac (amongst others) centers on Conrad B. Hart, an amnesiac who finds a message – recorded by himself – warning of an alien plot threatening Earth.%Gallery-185241%
Amy review: Survival boredom
Video games, in general, require that we suspend our disbelief to some degree. We can forgive the unbelievable or the improbable so long as the experience remains entertaining. Games are full of trivial details that make no sense -- eating food magically heals wounds, a three-foot tall wall is insurmountable by a grown adult, etc. -- but we overlook these small annoyances for the sake of enjoyment. The thesis of Amy, based on my experience, is very simple: Take every one of those annoyances and build an entire game out of them.%Gallery-131352%
Latest Amy trailer delves into the game's key relationship
It's dangerous to spend time in the world of Amy without the game's eponymous little girl. For instance, the disease that's killing the game's other main character? That will totally ravage you should you step away for too long. Talk about strict punishment for poor babysitting!
Meet Amy's shiny-eyed support characters, Father John and Prof. Raymond
We still don't have much solid information about Amy, the survival horror/adventure title due on PSN this fall and XBLA "eventually," but thanks to the videos posted up top and down below, we do know that the game's developer is taking the human face very seriously. Father John (above) is convinced that rampant global catastrophes and the viral outbreak affecting Silver City are sure-fire signs of the End of Days, and like any good man of the cloth he's taken it upon himself to train survivors from the safety of his "shelter-church." Professor Raymond (after the break) is shrouded in even more mystery, if you can believe it: all we know so far is that he's sometimes mentioned by the main character during phone calls, and that he looks completely unimpressed with floating through a featureless black void. We can't help but be impressed with how much facial fidelity is being squeezed into a PSN title, but publisher Lexis Numerique claims that emotive non-verbal communication is of "critical importance" to the title's design philosophy. "If Amy sees a gruesome creature behind you, she won't have to yell: you will know."
'Amy' dev Paul Cuisset discusses game's autistic character, female leads
Flashback designer Paul Cuisset heads up French studio Vector Cell, developer of forthcoming PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade title Amy. Beyond the scary monsters and spooky name, Amy is a game about two female protagonists in the near future. One is a little girl named Amy, who suffers from autism, and the other is Lana, a woman who must protect Amy from the monsters that have appeared. Cuisset speaks to his unique character choices in a recent interview with Edge, explaining, "Amy is verbally impaired but she's not completely autistic ... you discover in the story why she doesn't want to speak." While he understands the risks involved with making a game starring two ladies without guns who run away from monsters, Cuisset says "the story of Amy and Lana is very important to us, and it justifies the risk we've taken because I think it's a good one." To him, "most games look the same and tell more or less the same story" nowadays, and he's grateful for digital platforms like PSN, which have room for games that might be deemed risky. Cuisset makes a point we can't help but agree with, and wish we heard more from developers. "A good story needs good characters, and good characters need good relations to build something. I think that we tend to forget that we can do something different in games." Amy arrives this summer on PSN first, and on XBLA "eventually."
