I’m the first to admit i’m not a fan of Adventure games but this is Marty McFly and Doc we are talking about so definitely deserves my respect and attention as i’m a fan of the films, the hoverboard and of course the iconic DeLorean so here we go.
Our lovable characters look great in this five episode installment from Telltale Games and so does the world that we are exploring. Back to the future is basically a point and click adventure game shuffling through Docs stuff and helping him in this add on to the third film. It seems curious at how they could carry on this franchise when in the final film Doc sails off into the sun set in his choo choo train with his family. End of, so we thought…
Marty is missing his pal Doc, he is having nightmares of the moment Doc transcended into the highways of time in front of his eyes in the parking lot. The only trouble is the city of Hill Valley are unhappy at Doc not keeping up on mortgage payments and have thus decided to sell off some of his old crap. Que the players first mission is to prevent all of the important items being auctioned off, you have to sieve through the garage interacting with what’s in front of you clicking on objects and people to investigate, maybe use them from your inventory to get a different response or result from the interaction.
After rummaging through a few old memorabilia Marty comes across a model of the town, with the town hall a centre piece and a wrist watch as the clock Marty discovers a notebook hidden in roof the model town hall. Enter Mr annoying himself aka BIFF who takes the notebook much to Marty’s annoyance and he then proceeds to try and bargain with the douche bag to get his hands on Docs bible. Getting the Notebook is no easy task and the player’s first real challenge so i will let you enjoy trying to figure that out! The game offers up help with a hint system which will give you clues to aid your progress which i find helpful but then again i like to figure out scenarios for myself so won’t be using it much. Think of the game as one big puzzle and everything has to be solved before you progress, it makes it enjoyable as this game does offer up some frustrating riddles which are a pest to get complete.
Eventually the Delorean turns up and we find out that the main man Doc is in trouble and our very own superfly Marty McFly has to figure out when the trouble is going to happen and how he can help. This is like watching a new movie but interacting with the characters as you initiate the dialogue via a conversation tree choosing from multiple sentences which is actually kind of fun. Everything about this game is keeping in touch with the films, the music and voices of the characters are all authentic.
Previous titles-attempts at making this type of game have never done the Back To The Future franchise much justice but this latest attempt is by far the best.
Telltale are not trying to follow on the story from the three movies, instead giving us some fun little side stories which are highly entertaining and shows the fans that there really is a lot of potential with a time travelling series to maybe, possibly, not suggesting 4th movie? maybe? Only time will tell!
Graphically this game explores a cartoon cinematic not trying to impress the audience with authentic likeness but more of an interactive cartoon personality that your whole family can enjoy which will appeal to a wide range of ages and bring the family together.
Summary
Didn’t think this game would appeal to me as it’s out of my genre pool for gaming but as a fan of the movies i was pleasantly surprised with what has been produced. Possibly the price could prove to be a sticky point as it’s basically a glorified movie with perks, but for me and the kids we thoroughly enjoyed it.
