Wednesday, January 5, 2011

It's About Time! - Back to the Future Review

I'm a product of the 80's.  I grew up in the 80's and 90's and love all of the classic movies from those time periods.  I loved Transformers, Ghostbusters, and more to the point Back to the Future.  The Back to the Future Trilogy was one of the best in American Cinema history.  Sure the story was formulaic and writing was pretty dry at times, but I loved the adventure.  Even now, 25 years later I can still sit down and watch all three movies with as much love in my heart as I did when I was a kid.  In fact, I did rewatch all three movies just a few weeks ago.  So if any game developer is stupid enough to create a game about the Back to the Future movies, they have very high expectations they have to meet in my eyes.  The good news is, that the people at Telltale met and exceeded those expectations with their new game Back to the Future the Game.

The game is for your PC or Mac and plays like a point and click adventure game.  No first person shooting here.  You control Marty by pointing and clicking your mouse on various objects and people and try to solve puzzles.  The controls work well, even if the puzzles can be a little simple at times.

The story takes place about 3 months after the end of the third film.  Doc is gone time travelling around the world and he's left Marty alone in 1986 Hill Valley.  Now this has two affects.  First, Marty misses his best friend, and the second is the town misses Doc's money, specifically when it comes to property taxes.  They can be funny like that.

So the town has seized Doc's house and is about to sell off his stuff.  Your first mission is to get over there and make sure no sensitive information (like how to build a time machine) falls into the wrong hands (like Biffs).  When you get through that, it's a convenient plot twist and a few puzzles later and then it's off to prohibition era Hill Valley to spring Doc out of jail.  To do this you need to enlist the help of 17 year old Doc and the fun really begins.

Here are the downsides to the game.  This is just the first episode of a promised six and it's very short.  You can get through the game in just a few hours.  Right when I was really digging the game and the story, it's the famous "To Be Continued..."  The second problem I have with the game is it's very easy.  There really wasn't anything that was majorly challenging.  Some puzzles were a little more difficult than others, but none were overly difficult and if any were, there is a hint system which basically tells you what to do.

Here are the positives.  It's Back to the Future!  They did a great job recreating Hill Valley and the adventure seems very authentic.  I loved walking around the town and talking to people.  The actor who does the voice over for Marty is completely spot on.  You would think it was Michael J Fox.  The animation is fantastic and the game is just very fun.  I plan on going through the game again just to play different choices and to see if anything different happens.

Overall the game is great and it's perfect for Back to the Future fans of all ages.  The next episode comes out next month and I can't wait to see where they go from here considering the cliff hanger they leave this episode off with.  I hope the game gets a little bit harder and maybe throw in a different game play element from time to time.  But overall, if you are a Back to the Future fan, this game is a must play at $25.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer 

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