Back to the Future – Five Part Game Series Full Review

Marty and Doc

Get ready for one of the best series I have played in a long time.  People that are not fans or have never seen the Back to the Future Films (for one are missing out) will most likely enjoy this game split up into 5 separate episodes.  They are available on the Playstation 3, PC, Mac or iPad.  You can purchase them separately or all together at this point with them all having been released.  This is a relief since, I’m just going to let it out and say every episode is a cliffhanger.  For those of you who are a fan of the movies, you are in for quite a ride as this games(s) acts as essentially a whole separate movie, which you could even consider a Back to the Future 4.  The best part is the Telltale Games has brought all the aspects from the films and made them a part of this interactive experience you are bound to love.

In the first episode, you start off in a familiar scene that is practically identical to the first scene in the first film.  This is until you realize that something is different and things start to go differently than the film, with the game even prompting you to say “This isn’t how it happened”  The only confusing part of the game I found was here, as from here on in, the game plays out like a story set directly after the last Back to the Future film.  You are then taken on an incredible journey quite possibly bringing even more originality than the films, with surprises as well as references to different things.  After Marty learns that Doc is in trouble as his best friend it is only natural for him to travel back into 1931 to help him, where Biff is a Gangster.

Choices…

You will even get to see the young Emmit Brown or Doc as Marty calls him, the inventor of the time machine, which brings you to a crucial time to make sure not to alter the past so he does indeed create it.  Along the way you will see relatives and be surprised on a number of occasions through all five episodes.  The game mechanics play out like a next generation point and click kind of game with a slight RPG element as you get to choose what to say to you but eventually the outcome is set already.  However it  is your choice to seek out and discover small Easter Eggs and little things dealing with the series that you could easily miss, but you will get a Trophy on the Playstation 3 version for doing certain things.  Back to the Future the Game could even be summed up as a mystery or puzzle title, as if you find yourself stuck, you have the option of using a Hint menu that can give you anywhere from 1 to 4 hints depending on the difficulty of the task at hand.

There was one thing that I had issues with witch were the fact that you could not select the action button while in motion on the Playstation 3 version.. you had to be standing completely still.  It also took me about an episode and a half to realize that you could use one of the trigger buttons to highlight everything you can react with, which you can then easily cycle through using the joystick (PS3) rather then walking up to an object or person.  Aside from simply interacting with things, you also have an inventory which you are forced to use certain items in your inventory on a person or object to progress.  You find things to stick in your inventory from anything from a picture, mop, talking plant, newspaper and even a sheet of song lyrics just to give you an idea of how original the game really is.

Got to have the 1931 look right?

You go on episode to episode trying to make sure that everything can go back to normal in the good old 1986 time you left, which as always proves way harder than you’d think.  Telltale Games has constructed a true masterpiece that everyone should experience with them getting the original actors to do the voice overs for Marty (Michael J. Fox) and Doc (Christopher Lloyd) to make it that much more real of an experience.  The game can go from interesting puzzles to an epic cinematic that truly reminds you of just how great the classic films were, which took me back making me feel like I was reliving the whole thing as a brand new film at times.

Whether is was Telltale Games talent that we must come to accept or simply the inspiration they had with such a classic series, Back to the Future the Game is truly a wonderful experience for people of all ages.  Going deeper into the gameplay really is not necessary as it can be demoed if I am not mistaken and it is some you will want to purchase all at once.  Try one episode and I can guarantee you will just purchase the next one as each one including the last is To Be Continued… Don’t waste anymore ‘Time’ and check it out.  The whole process would also not have been able to be done with out Einstein and the rest of the Telltale pets.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.