
	Platform Playstation 3 Genre Adventure Publisher Telltale Games Developer Telltale Games ESRB T (Teen) Released July 26, 2011

- Hint system makes it extremely easy to avoid frustrating choke points - An entirely new and fun time-traveling storyline that could easily serve as the script for a new Back to the Future movie

- Camera can at times get stuck in disadvantageous positions that can make it difficult to see clickable areas/items necessary to solve puzzles - Some of the more intricate and involved puzzles aren’t well explained as to what needs to be done, and early stumbling trying to find the solution can cost gamers chances at trophies

Review: Heavy Rain (PS3) Review: L.A. Noire (PS3) Review: F.E.A.R. 3 (PC)
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Back to the Future

Score: 8.5 / 10

As one of the iconic ’80s movies, Back to the Future also made Michael J. Fox a movie star and forever tethered him to his most famous character on the big screen, Marty McFly, the time-traveling, guitar-strumming, skateboard-riding teenager that revs up to 88 mph and cruises the time machine DeLorean back into the 1950s for all kinds of changing-the-future frivolity. After 25 years, Telltale Games, which has successfully resuscitated and breathed new life into the point & click gaming genre with its episodic releases, has gone back in time to give Back to the Future a gaming adventure worthy of the classic source material with the five-

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episode downloadable release on the PlayStation Network.

Instead of rehashing the storylines from the three Back to the Future movies, the developers have created an entirely new time-traveling tale that brings back the familiar cast of characters and introduces a bunch of new ones in a point & click excursion through the time stream.

It’s easy to see that this

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is a movie-inspired game, because there is plenty of dialogue-driven gameplay (about 10-12 hours of gameplay over the course of the five episodes) and cut-scenes that almost make the Back to the Future gaming series seem as if it should be on the big screen as Back to the Future 4 (plenty of references to the movie trilogy, both blatantly obvious and cleverly disguised, are rampantly placed throughout the game). But that focus on dialogue really does assist gamers in both understanding the backgrounds of the many characters and the complexities of the new storyline that primarily centers on Marty and crazy Emmett “Doc” Brown jumping back into 1931 Hill Valley from its 1986 version and trying to correct the massively messed-up time line that was inadvertently affected.

That heavy dialogue interaction in meshed with what Telltale Games has become famous for – its excellent point & click puzzling games, although most of Back to the Future’s array of puzzles are less difficult or challenging than many of the puzzles in previous titles. That could have something to do with the hint system, which once clicked, basically gives you the answer to what needs to be done to solve a particular puzzle. It’s hard to resist using that hint system, too, because there isn’t any type of penalty system for using it (much like there is in another recent Telltale Games series, Puzzle Agent).

Resisting the temptation to use the hint system does create a much tougher gameplay puzzle trial, but almost all are easily solved with a bit of thinking and surveying the surroundings for items/areas that can be interacted with. Some of the more intricate and involved puzzles aren’t well explained as to what needs to be done, however, and early stumbling (without using the hint system) trying to find the solution can cost gamers chances at trophies.

Although designed with the PC mouse and keyboard controls in mind, using the PlayStation 3 controller to move around Pine Hills is actually very easy to do, although the camera can at times get stuck in disadvantageous positions that can make it difficult to see clickable areas/items necessary to solve puzzles.

Graphically, Back to the Future uses a cartoon art style, comparing nicely to the quality of another Telltale Games franchise, Sam & Max. The voice acting throughout the entire five-episode arc is excellent, especially considering that of the three famous performances from the first film – Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, Christopher Lloyd as “Doc” Brown and Crispin Glover as George McFly – only Christopher Lloyd reprises his role in the game. The two voice actors supplying Marty and George’s performances are dead-on vocal ringers for the two missing here, though, so any fans of the films won’t even notice the replacements’ performances being anything out of the ordinary. (But do listen for a special guest appearance...)

Although the puzzles can be rather easy to solve, especially using the very generous hint system, a very good story, with fun moments throughout for fans new and old, catapults Back to the Future fast-forward 25 years into the future from its 1985 iconic film roots to establish itself as a refreshed point & click gaming series (with a finale that sets up a sequel series).

- Lee Cieniawa
lcieniawa@armchairempire.com

(September 1, 2011)