Back to the Future: The Game

This year, I finally caught up and finished watching the Back to the Future films.  The trilogy quickly became one of my favorites because of its tight continuity and lovable characters, and I wished I had seen them when I was younger.  However, after playing Telltale's Back to the Future game, I'm actually glad I waited. Having the films fresh in mind made the games a blast to play, and if you're a fan of BTTF who hasn't tried them yet, I suggest doing so when you have time. Without spoiling anything, it's safe to say the game feels like a legitimate continuation of the films' story and the creators put a lot of love and care in to making Hill Valley come alive again. While I do think Telltale knocked The Walking Dead out of the park a bit more, this game was a great warm-up for them, and they didn't repeat the mistakes made in it.

Back to the Future: The Game's greatest flaw is its typical adventure game clunkiness.  Controlling Marty is slow, sometimes unresponsive, and kind of frustrating at times. Many puzzles require traversing maps over and over again, which gets tedious and made me long for the simpler interface of games like King's Quest 6. I'm not sure that 3D graphics are worth sacrificing ease of use, but they do help to make the game feel more like the films, so it's a bit of a trade-off. It's a shame, as the game has a number of interesting puzzles, but they are hampered by odd design decisions. There are also points where I'd get ahead of the characters' logic and try to solve puzzles they weren't ready for yet. It's always annoying when this happens in games, but it's more pronounced in this genre. Sadly, you have to get past nagging issues like this to enjoy the game, but if you can, you're in for a nice ride.

Wisely, the creators focus much of the story on Doc Brown. He was always the most interesting character in the franchise, and it's great to learn about his backstory and see alternate versions of him. Christopher Lloyd graciously reprises the role here and it's as if no time has passed; he's a truly great actor, bringing the same level of goofiness and passion the character is known for. It's remarkable how consistent the other cast members are with their film personalities too, from Biff and his kin to the McFly family and so on. The other major character in the game is the newly introduced Edna, a grouchy woman who is so maniacally against alcoholism that even I (a strict anti-drug dude) was getting sick of her. While she annoyed me, I have to say I loved where the writers took her character later on in the game, and she proved herself a satisfying antagonist by the end. Like in the films, almost all of the introduced characters have some importance to Marty, Doc, or somebody else central to the story.  Too often, games like this will meander with side plots and one-note characters, but Telltale sidesteps that trapping well and shows that (like in The Walking Dead) they have actual writing talent on staff.

If you are a fan of Back to the Future and familiar with all three movies, this is about as close to Back to the Future 4 as you're likely to see, and honestly, I'm okay with considering it that. Enough members of the original staff (including a head writer) are there to make it feel legitimate, and a live action version would have been impossible due to Michael J Fox's health and age. However, if you aren't a fan of Back to the Future, there's really not much to see here. It's a decent adventure game that thrives on being part of a great series.

7.5