Review

Back to the Future: The Game Episode 1: It’s About Time!

I am a huge fan of Telltale Games. They are responsible for classic point and click adventure games involving some of the coolest characters around. Anyone who can make a good Wallace and Gromit or Strong Bad video game is ok in my book. Whether it is a licensed title or unique IP, Telltale knows how to make great games. I am also a huge fan of the Back to the Future series. When I heard they were taking on the challenge of working with this license, despite the huge fandom that is associated with this trilogy, I crossed my fingers in hopes that they wouldn’t disappoint. I am happy to say, that Telltale has done an incredible job recreating the world of Marty, Doc, and a DeLorean that runs off of garbage!

This new adventure takes places after the 3rd BTTF film (6 months after to be exact). The title opens up with Marty having a dream about the first time he witnessed time travel with his friend Doc Brown. Doc sends Einstein (their dog) back to the past, only this time he doesn’t return a few seconds later like in the film. All of a sudden, the Doc disappears as if he was erased from history. Of course, this being a dream, Marty eventually wakes up in his room safe and sound. Telltale really wanted gamers to feel like they are stepping into Marty shoes. When Marty wakes up in his room, first thing I noticed was the Miami Vice and Weird Science posters pined to his walls. I really felt like I was back in the 80’s.

Jumping back to the story, Marty later that day finds himself at Doc’s house. It seems that Doc has been missing for a while and hasn’t made payments on his mortgage. The bank is auctioning off his stuff in attempts to pay back the loan. Marty believes that the Doc didn’t just skip town and that something has happened to him, just like in Marty’s dream. His assumptions are confirmed when the DeLorean shows up behind the Doc’s house with Einstein in the drivers seat. The DeLorean has an auto return feature that makes the car return to the present after a set time limit. Of course this is only used in case of an emergency. From the looks of things, Doc is stranded somewhere in the past and it’s up to Marty to save him.

Telltale has done a great job creating a game that feels like a full blown sequel to the BTTF series. They were able to collaborate with Bob Gale, trilogy Co-Creator/Writer, to pen the story. This makes it really easy for them to tie things back to the original films as well as give fans something new to look forward to, all while retaining the things we love about the series. The same can be said about the sound quality. The musical score has been lifted straight from the films and they even got Christopher Lloyd to voice Doc Brown. A.J. LoCascio is voicing Marty. He does an amazing job sounding like Michael J. Fox (he even yells like him). All of the voice acting was great, even for the new characters. The last thing Telltale did was make everything look like it belonged in this world. From the references to other franchises from the 80’s, to throw backs to the original films, everything screams fan service. And although the graphics are very stylized, the look and feel of the characters seems to fit the rest of the series. All of these things together make this game a must have for fans and we haven’t even got to the gameplay yet.

BTTF plays like most point and click (adventure) games for the PC/Mac. Although there are differences with each title, they mostly feature the same mechanics. Players will use clues to solve puzzles in order to move the story forward. Almost everything in the environment can be interacted with while items of importance, once found, are stored in an inventory to be used later. There is also a hint system set up to help those who are stuck on a particular puzzle. For the most part, all of this is normally what you’d expect from this type of game. One thing I noticed was that gamers don’t have to worry about missing an important object because you didn’t click on it in just the right spot. BTTF is pretty easy going in that regard. Also, the puzzles are logical. Only one puzzle had me stuck for a long period of time and that was due to me not using my inventory well and not because of poor development. The bad thing with any adventure title is that once you figure out the puzzles, there isn’t really much incentive to replay. The game is short due to its episodic nature which makes a replay attempt right after beating it less likely. And the fact that you can’t fail or change the story (like in Heavy Rain) doesn’t help matters either.

What stands out in BTTF is the story and characters that you interact with along the way. Just to see the Doc gasp (3 times in a row like in the films) after hearing bad news or seeing Marty hide the DeLorean behind yet another bill board is worth the price of admission. Because it plays out like the films, it makes sense for a fan to replay each episode just to see/hear the characters. An even bigger incentive to keep playing would probably come in the form of the other episodes (seeing as how you have to play them all to get the full story). This holds true because I couldn’t wait to spend more time with the cast. Good thing I am reviewing the other episodes!