Review: Back to the Future Episode 1 - Its About Time

When adventure games specialists Telltale Games revealed that they had secured the rights to create episodic adventure game based on the Back to the Future and Jurassic Park, many were surprised that such a large company like Universal would co-operate with small Telltale to make adventure games. But history has shown that the adventure genre is exceptionally suitable for film licenses, with titles such as Blade Runner and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, so it was difficult to see on the news as anything other than very good.
It is jommen time!

Before Christmas, Telltale released the first of five: Back to the Future episodes. This is called It's About Time - a very appropriate name, considering the fact that Back to the Future universe has been in hibernation since the third movie came out in 1990. Although It's About Time takes place some time after the Back to the Future III, it is impossible not to get an immediate sense of deja vu in that game starts. The first sequences are in fact strongly influenced by the start of the Back to the Future, and if you have good memory or have recently seen the movie, it is impossible not to revel in some of the parallels.

The action begins with the relatively eccentric scientist Emmett (or "Doc") Brown has not returned from their escapades in the Wild West, and most assume that he is dead. Since he owed money to the city, they seized the chance to take over his estate, and sell his stuff on the cheap (but apparently it is only annoying arch Biff who are interested in buying something).

Fortunately it does not take very long time before we get a sign of life from the time traveler doctor. Suddenly the time machine (a converted DeLorean) up outside, with a recorded message to the main character Marty McFly. Here it appears that the professor is in trouble, and that Marty must take the time machine to the time the professor is to sort it out. The problem is that Marty does not have any idea when this is.

I will not reveal more about the era we are experiencing than the screens do, but I can at least tell us once again to wander around the Hill Valley's streets - and it is impossible not to recognize when you see the iconic courtroom and the park outside. It is clear that Telltale is not only big fans of the films, but also that they have been very careful to ensure that everything is as it should.

More than just nostalgia?

Nostalgia center in the brain enjoying itself, in other words large. But what about the rest of the little gray? Well, both. Back to the Future license may be completely new territory for Telltale Games, but the game they have created quite faithfully follows in the footsteps of their other episodic series. Also here we get, in other words a great sense of deja vu - but this is not as wonderful.

It is not the quality it stands. As usual Telltale sew together a very solid game experience with plenty of humor and charm, although entertainment value probably depends on some of the good relationship you have with the movies. Telltale know at least what they do, and it shows.

The problem is the lack of ambition. Telltale is apparently a real model they follow every episode of their games, and follow them here as well. It's About Time species is roughly the same as a random Sam & Max episode or Tales of the Monkey Island games. It is easy to play, has no difficult or complex nuts, and even without the many additional features tips that Telltale has put in to appeal to new players must be demonstrated to be caught.

It's not that I want to put me tight, for it to not have the slightest clue about what to do in an adventure game is one of the most boring thing there is - but I like adventure games that makes me feel smart when I gradually working my way through them. When I depend on nuts that put some brain to the test, and it gets a little too little of here. Nuts are mostly very simple and traditional stuff, which is addressed by using the right things at the right place or just experiment a little in the environment. Since you never get access to very many things or places at the same time, the solutions are never far away.

It is quite possible that Telltale fear that the customer base for a Back to the Future games are not experts in adventure games, but now it is once the genre they have chosen to focus on, and I think it's a bit sad if the account of any customer lack of experience prevents them from exploiting the great potential for fun, we actually find in the genre. Fortunately, this is only the first episode - I may not expect the Day of the Tentacle-like complications here, but there is nothing in the way that Telltale can increase the complexity a bit as players will warm up in jersey.
Fixing the controls soon, tell tale?

There is also another issue that must be mentioned, namely the user interface. Again, the same system as we remember from Tales of Monkey Island and the recent Sam & Max episode, that is a strange and impractical system that "direct control" over your character. Instead of pointing and clicking to send him around in circles you have to steer with the mouse or arrow keys, and hope that no combination of constant camera jumps and a basically weak control (especially if you use the mouse) makes you completely astray.

The system is just bad enough to be an increasingly annoying, but just functional enough to accept it and push away the irritation. This is, after all, no action game, so the result of that you rotate a bit while trying to get from A to B is never more serious than losing a little time. Irritating, but never critical.
Much fun anyway

After much negative I must however emphasize that the overall experience is very positive. The game never do something really memorable, but the situation that poses are fun, and although the puzzles are never advanced they are at least fun and well integrated into the rest of the game. Adventure games are also in the fortunate situation that despite the sometimes uninspired game design can be saved by good action, dialogue and performances, and this first Back to the Future episode scores high on all three areas.

Marty McFly and Doc Brown is of course the stars of the show, and in the movies, it is the eccentric doctor who has the best lines. Without giving too much away, I can say that he appears in more than one version in the course of the game, and is always fun to be with. The other characters are not exactly super exciting, but I enjoyed myself at least good when I visited a particular cliche retired early in the game.

Michael J. Fox, who played Marty McFly, is unfortunately not with the cast, although I know it's his illness or the budget to Telltale it occupies. Fortunately his replacement does a good job, almost scary at times. Good old Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown returns, and is as good as usual - even though his voice may have been a bit more obscure with age. The rest of the cast does an okay job, without being especially memorable.

Telltale has always been good at music, and here they are better than ever - the soundtrack is faithful to the movies, and just like music in a film, it follows all the time what happens on the screen. The game uses Tell Tales usual, cartoon-like style and caricatured, but generally have a higher level of detail than we are used to. It is admittedly a bit tame textures here and there, but all in all the graphics work well, and as mentioned earlier, it is not difficult to recognize themselves in communities.
Conclusion

The new Back to the Future series begins in a solid manner, and It's About Time has largely the same tendon plus and minuses as the other episodic adventure games from Telltale Games. We get lots of imaginative situations, well-written dialogues and funny characters, and it all feels very true to the movies. But while the nuts are presented a little too simple, and it is not so much that sticks to your memory here.

Considering how time travel was used as an extremely successful tool for creating great nuts in LucasArts' classic Day of the Tentacle, which Count Tales Mike Stemmle was to develop, it is a bit disappointing that Back to the Future does not attempt anything like . Fortunately, there is still time left in the series.

But in spite of little daff puzzle design and semi-frustrating controls the game still manages to engage. And perhaps most importantly of all: It feels like a true Back to the Future "adventure. Marty, Doc, time machine, and even Einstein pops the top battles, and Telltale has taken with tons of large and small references to the movies (without at any time gets tiring).

In other words, room for improvement here, and there is no doubt that you should be familiar with the movies to get the most out of the game, but all in all supplies It's About Time a pleasant experience and I look forward to the future.