Back to the Future: Episode 1 – It’s About Time! Review

From the very second I heard Marty’s voice (voiced by AJ LoCascio) and saw the panning into the Twin Pines Mall parking lot I was excited. Christopher Lloyd voices Doc Brown once again and you begin the game as he sends Einstein into the future. Doc has made a miscalculation and Einstein has failed to return. Not only that, but Doc fades away as well claiming to have made a big mistake. A few months pass and the town starts selling off all of Docs belongings. Marty wakes up to try and stop them but it is too late. The real game begins here.

You move around in a point and click manner in Back to the Future: Episode 1  looking for clues that could lead to where Doc has gone. You stumble upon a notebook inside the City Hall model Doc had created and Biff takes it from you. Your goal now being to get it back from him. You will spend your time pointing and clicking different objects in the house figuring out ways to get it back from him and this seems to be the core mechanic for gameplay. Honestly this is not what I expected at all but I do enjoy games like this so, while not being what I had exactly hoped for, it is as engaging as I had dreamed it could be. The characters in this game are very well done and the humor feels like the movies. The visit with Edna (The Cat lady) put a smile on my face in a few spots while revealing some history of the area at the same time.

 

 

The control of this game takes some getting used to unfortunately. Sometimes it feels as if it is relative to your view while at other times it seems to be the opposite. Luckily, where this game is mostly point and click it doesn’t hinder the experience very much and only makes a few moments fairly aggravating. Being a point and click style game and being based on one of my favorite movies from childhood the story was the most important part in this game. And in episode 1 it delivered 100%. The interactions between Marty and the other characters seemed genuine and the humor continued to deliver all the way to the very end.

 

The overall enviornment of this game truly feels like you are playing in the movie. I know the animation feels a bit cartoonish at times but the atmosphere that Telltale Games has created is impressive to say the least. After all of these years it looks like a Back to the Future game could live up to the standard the movie set. I still have an awful taste in my mouth over the NES releases as I’m sure many of you may as well.

Your travels take you into the prohibition where you are in skirmishes with gangsters (who are familiar faces) where you help old relatives and discover younger versions of people you know. The true nature of the movies is captured so perfectly in episode one that I feel you would be doing yourself an injustice not to play it if you were a fan of the films. Considering you can pick this game up for free on the Playstation network at the moment (if you are a Playstation Plus member of course) I think this is a no brainer indeed.

Rating: 9.25