Flashback remake announced by Ubisoft

The '90s adventure Flashback is being revived for current-gen consoles to celebrate the original game's 20th anniversary, Ubisoft has announced.

Flashback, which is being developed using the Unreal engine by French developer VectorCell, will be released for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network later this year.

The game is a reimagining of the 1992 original and features 3D graphics, new controls, and a levelling mechanic for protagonist Conrad B. Hart. Vector Cell claims the game is now more accessible and features platforming challenges that are slightly less demanding than in the original.

Conrad's enemies will once again be the shape-shifting morphs, and all the characters from the original game will make an appearance in the remake alongside new additions.

Speaking in a statement, Vector Cell said simply porting the original would have made a game that was "rather punishing through today's lenses."

Despite all the new changes, however, Vector Cell is confident that it was "able to keep Flashback's soul and put it into a new body." Five of the staff at the 15-strong development team worked on the original game, including original creator Paul Cuisset.

Flashback was originally developed by Delphine Software Interactive, which also produced Eric Chahi's '90s hit Another World. Both games used a distinctive rotoscope animation style similar to the original Prince of Persia, which also received an HD remake back in 2007.

Vector Cell's last title was 2012's survival horror downloadable game AMY, which received a score of 3.0 in its GameSpot review.