Rarely does a game announcement instantly trigger a flood of childhood memories within me, but when Telltale Games announced their impending episodic Back To The Future game visions of flux capacitors and huge guitar amplifiers flooded my brain. Needless to say, I didn’t put up much of a fight when they asked if I could review the game. So sit down and buckle up; because when this baby hits 88 mph you’re going to see some serious <CENSORED>.
Vitals
Title: Back to the Future: The Game
Developer / Publisher: Telltale Games
Platform: PC, Mac, iOS, PSN
Available: Now (iOS & PSN this month)
The first episode, It’s About Time, starts with a retelling of the mall parking lot scene from the first Back to the Future movie, but things start to veer off track pretty quickly afterwards. Marty awakens the following day to find that Emmitt “Doc” Brown, voiced by Christopher Lloyd, has gone missing and that the city is auctioning off all of Doc’s belongings. While Marty is at Doc’s laboratory, the time-traveling DeLorean returns due to its Emergency Retrieval System being activated. This is where Marty’s adventure begins. It’s About Time centers around Marty going to prohibition-era Hill Valley, where he finds Doc locked-up in the city jail and is tasked with soliciting the help of a teenage Doc to pull off the prison break.
The game play follows the formula of a typical point and click adventure; players progress through the story by solving puzzles and talking with in-game characters using a response tree to progress to the next task. The game allows players to control the action using the solely the mouse or a combination of mouse and WASD, making it a great fit for casual and core gamers.
The game offers those unfamiliar with the movies a basic overview of the films, but fans will find details that fill in the gap between Back to the Future 3 to current day Hill Valley. The fact that the team worked closely with Bob Gale, Co-creator and co-writer of the films, really shines through callbacks and anecdotes related to the original films sprinkled throughout the story. Marty McFly is voiced by an incredible sound alike, A.J. Locascio, which helps really draw fans of the series into plot.The environment is very reminiscent of the series and uses landmarks to really create a since of being in prohibition-era Hill Valley.
If you are a fan of the flicks or a newcomer, the game is packed with a good story, funny dialog and a great 80s movie vibe. People unfamiliar with the films may not get the maximum amount of enjoyment the game has to offer, but with a month between releases you’ll have plenty of time to Back to the Future Trilogy – You really owe it to yourself to see the movies anyway. The first episode of the series has put the game on the right track.
The monthly, five-episode game is priced at $25 for Mac and PC, with the PlayStation Network version launching February 15 for $19.99 and an iPad version hitting the App Store soon after. Episode 2, Get Tannen, is scheduled to launch later this month.
This review is based on a copy of the game provided by the publisher. Images courtesy of Telltale Games.
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