Flashback remake "was important to do right"

We caught up with Simon Mackenzie, writer on the Flashback remake project, during E3 to discuss how he and the team approached developing the game.

"I love Flashback. I gush about it." He enthused. "It was that game, for me, that got me into gaming. It was such an important thing to do and make right."

The title, slated as one of the games for this August's XBLA Summer of Arcade promotion (and also due on PSN), is not a direct remake of the original, more an expansion on it. However, the team kept their eyes off the modern sci-fi genre and instead looked back to those movies that had inspired the game originally.

"I talked to Paul Cuisset, the original producer, and producer of the new version, and we talked about his influences," explains Simon of the direction. "What made him make Flashback in the first place. We did modernise it for a modern audience, but we also looked back at those great movies that inspired it - from Blade Runner, Total Recall - all those elements. If you're a fan of the genre, we put in some neat little easter eggs in there for you."

"He said this is the game he imagined back in the day when he created the original," he continued. "This is how he saw it in his head... it's how I remembered it - through my rose-tinted glasses. It was beautiful to see that with the Unreal Engine."