Back to the Future: The Game

There is one thing you should know about me. I like Back to the Future. Hm... No, doesn't sound right. I'm fond of Back to the Future. Hm... Something's wrong too. Oh, I got it! I LOVE Back to the Future! Especially the first movie - every scene, every line, every face expression of Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox, every little detail you notice only after Nth view (if we talk about the other movies, replace 'every' with 'most'). So, naturally, when TellTale Games announced about the development of an episodic adventure game based on the trilogy, there was no end to my excitement.

Interesting fact. When I was 10-12 years old, and was very fond of LucasArts and Sierra adventure games (Monkey Island, Space Quest and Quest for Glory, mostly), I envisioned myself an adventure game based on Back to the Future. Though, unlike TellTale's continuation of the trilogy (it's a notable fact that they've got one of the trilogy creators, Bob Gale, on board), my vision was more of a vignette - playing as a new character we would accidentally encounter Doctor Brown in the future and the adventure begins (in the five minutes between Doc leaving Marty home and taking him from there anything could happen). Then I've learned that there indeed existed Back to the Future video games for consoles and PC. But, those games stink, to say the least, and after playing them, they managed to successfully stomp every possible dream of an interactive Back to the Future experience. 

But as they say, better late than never. TellTale Games has already recommended itself as a good game developer, so I never doubted the quality of the future game. Long story short... Get the game. It's not flawless, but get it. You won't regret it. If you're a Back to the Future fan - why you're here and not in the digital store? (The game is released episodically, and won't be available on a disc until all episodes are released). If you're interested in a little more detailed review and are not afraid of some minor spoilers, read further.

The good parts. Firstly, the story. It's intriguing, the dialogs are great, the acting is superb (by the way, Doc Brown is voiced by Christopher Lloyd himself, and Marty is voiced by AJ Locascio, who does a great job), and the action is interrupted by a cliffhanger, as always (and the next episode is released in February). A pretty simple (and not surprising to any fan) plot outset which can be described as 'Marty has to go to 1931 to save Doc' promises to transform into an exciting adventure.

The visuals are awesome. TellTale really does know how to make a good stylized picture, and, truth be told, in case of Back to the Future, I prefer stylized over 'photo-realistic' (not to mention, TellTale probably doesn't have the budget for advanced 3D graphics). And everyone who calls this 'kindergarten' should be punished. Anyway, the characters and locations of Hill Valley are modeled with great love and care, they have a lot of little details (like in the movies!) Though, animation itself... It's not bad, but it could've been better. The facial expressions are superb and a joy to look at, but when it comes to the body mimic, movements and gestures, it's kind of mediocre (though it gets better in the directed cutscenes). 

Speaking of cutscenes, it should be noted that they too are implemented on a high level. It all looks very cinematographic, and there are some nods to the movies (like the first arrival to the Town Center in a given time period or a traditional chase scene in the same place). There are also little details, noticeable from repeated viewings. It's an enjoyable watch. But, let's be honest, we wanted a Back to the Future game to play, not to watch, right? Now it's time to talk about a more... controversial aspect of it - gameplay itself.

Most of the time the player will spend talking with other characters. There's nothing wrong with the idea, it's just that most of the dialogs don't have any meaning to the story (i.e. are not necessary to complete your goals, even though it's interesting to listen to them), and there are little puzzles the Adventure genre is known for (and most of the puzzles there are hardly can be called like that, they don't require any thinking). I can name three puzzles of note - the more classic adventure puzzle in the Soup Kitchen, a pretty good puzzle in Doc's Lab, and a cinematic and exciting final scene on the police truck, which does require some thinking. Personally, the latter one is my favorite, and I think TellTale should develop their puzzles in Back to the Future games in that direction.

One can't but notice a pretty strong interactivity restriction along with a restricted game world. I'm not against localizing action in a Back to the Future game (after all, it does seem more logical than going back and forth in classic Adventure games), but some freedom would not be bad. Not to mention, there are few objects to interact with, and in the Town Center there are lots of buildings Marty can enter, but only one he can actually see (and is not kicked out of). It doesn't help that as soon as some story cutscene has ended, the game world feels dead.

In the cutscene depicting Marty's first arrival to 1931, we can see people walking by the streets, talking under the pavilion, minding their business, the traffic is pretty lively... But as soon as cutscene ends - forget about all that. Unless a rare car decides to drive by or a even rarer pedestrian decided to walk a bit, you won't see anyone but the story characters. This does put a blow on the atmosphere (even more so than the restricted exploration), especially considering the fact that the locations themselves are VERY detailed. 

There's also a problem with a poor Sound Design. I'm not talking about music, mind you. The music's great, Jared Emerson-Johnson did a good job making the soundtrack in the style of the movies, and his arrangements of the original score don't disappoint. I'm talking about the lack of environmental sounds, foley. Some main story cutscenes even have a problem with that. All the listed cons mean that the gameplay is more of a bridge from a cutscene to cutscene, which the player is led through rather than him going through it himself (except some scenes I've mentioned). Considering the game's difficulty, the inclusion of a hint system can be baffling, it doesn't seem to be needed at all (though it's certainly not a bad point per se). Not to mention that the episode is VERY short - three hours is a maximum to complete it, not a minimum (even if you try to do everything you can). 

I would also like to mention two other things. One: full-screen inventory is evil. I think it's rather uncomfortable. On the other hand, you don't use the inventory that much. Two: the DeLorean. Before the game was released, I thought that Doc has build a new one. But we learn that he hasn't build anything, and the DeLorean we see in the game is, essentially, an old one. The explanation given in the game is pretty weak in my opinion, but I will accept it if it plays out in an interesting manner further during the season. 

Probably the amount of criticism could bring someone to a thought that I didn't like the first episode. Quite the contrary. I liked it a lot, and I eagerly await the second one. I've listed the bad points of the game hoping that TellTale will take them into consideration - in 95% of all the situations, every TellTale's next episode in every TellTale's series is better than the last one, both in technical aspect, and gameplay one. Besides, there is also one good point which weights down all the bad ones - the Spirit of the Trilogy. This IS Back to the Future, and not some crap, and that is great. My criticism may push away some seasoned Adventure gamers, but, in overall, the first episode of the Back to the Future series is a qualitative entertainment worth to be seen. There may be a fanboy speaking in me somewhere, but I try to be objective and not let my love towards Back to the Future to blind me. As I try to not let the objective point of view to get in the way of enjoying the game. 

Last but not least, I have a... request for TellTale. I know that all the further episodes will be better and cooler. In fact, I don't doubt it - for me Tales of Monkey Island and Sam & Max are proof enough. But still. I want to ask you something I'm sure many Back to the Future fans would appreciate. Don't leave the first episode without finalization and improvements. When the Season is finished (or earlier) release a patch which would fix the sound issues, would make the game world a bit more lively place, enhance body animations and other stuff. So by the end of the Season the first episode would be on level with other ones. Thank you for your attention. We'll go Back to the Future again in February.

PS. There is a very touching scene between young Doc and Marty near the end of the episode. TellTale has done a wonderful job making it very emotional. Thanks for that scene.