Flashback: The Quest for Closure
[ Company: U.S. Gold | Year: 1992 | Grade: A ]
Flashback: The Quest for Identity (Genesis)
The spiritual successor to Out of this World, Flashback: Quest for Identity still remains a science fiction masterpiece. Delphine Software offered a complex narrative at a time when most game stories fit on a single page of the instruction manual. Although the controls may seem archaic by today's standard, Flashback remains one of the most intriguing games of the 16-bit era. Find out how it ends in this eighth day of the 32 Game Endings of Christmas!
Previously On Flashback:
You awake in a mysterious forest, unsure who you are or how you got there. All around you are armed guards and deadly animals. It's a tough situation to be in, but one that Conrad B. Hart knows all too well. While we may know his name and the year (2142, in case you're wondering), that's news to Conrad. It's his job to find his way back to civilization and figure out what's going on.
After dealing with the guards and picking up a few helpful items, Conrad makes his way to New Washington to meet up with an old friend. He also finds a job, which leads him to a futuristic (read: deadly) TV game show of the future. Eventually he makes his way back to Earth, where he's hunted by a bunch of corrupt cops. To get out of trouble he jumps through a teleporter, which sends him directly to the planet of Morph. He befriends another human prisoner and gets the one piece of information he needs to escape this planet for good. Yeah, it's one of those kinds of days.
How It Ended:
After successfully escaping the planet, Conrad isn't sure where to go next. He sits adrift in space typing a
I'm sure Conrad's identity is just beyond the next corner!
message, one that suggests he'll never get all of the answers he seeks. He's lost in a part of the galaxy that has yet to be charted, thankful to be alive and yet still fearing the worst. Instead of just waiting around to die, our hero decides to go to sleep and hope his small craft winds up on course. The end.
After watching one of the most depressing endings of all time, the developers decided to lighten the mood by replaying the best-of cinemas under a catchy theme
Want closure? Don't look for it in Fade to Black!
song. We see all of the well-animated cut scenes that took long hours to fully realize; each still impressive all these years later. These amazing cinemas will be little solace to those looking for some sort of closure. I guess that's what Fade to Black is for.
How It Should Have Ended:
Conrad wakes up in a cold sweat as he suddenly remembers who he is and what happened to him. He's a paranoid schizophrenic who went off his medication and got lost in the park. The year is actually 1985 and the armed guards are actually statues. The night took a dark turn as our hero found a loaded gun and started shooting at fish in the lake. This brought the cops out, forcing Conrad to take refuge in this space ship forever lost in the solar system. Yeah, that's what really happened. Wait ... why would he be in a space ship and aren't going to do something about that alien standing behind you? I guess not.
