Back To The Future: The Game-Episode 1:It’s About Time Review (PS3, PSN)

The Doc might’ve made a time machine, but point and click games taught me how to make a spatula out of a school of fish

I hope, nay pray that we experience a second renaissance in the next four years, otherwise I don’t know what to think about my favourite movie trilogy of all time. Why do I still have to check the sizes of my clothes when they could be fitting themselves. Why can I not watch 8 channels at the same time? And why on Earth are fax machines not installed into every room of every household? Even if hoverboards don’t look like they’ll become a reality (yet), the mysteries of the space time continuum still elude us and loveable underdogs will always win over our hearts, and although a fourth film is nigh on impossible (at least, with the actors we’d love to see in it), a new instalment would be welcome. Enter Back To The Future:The Game, an episodic chapter in the lives of the two most enigmatic caretakers of the space time continuum.

Episode 1-It’s About Time jumps the story 6 months after the time and spacewide departure of Marty McFly and Doctor Emmit Brown, where the Doc’s 1986 estate and belongings are being auctioned off to the highest bidder. With the only proof of the Doc’s existence shoved in the Wild West, Marty is completely powerless in preventing his inventions going to the highest bidder. Marty is determined to prove Doctor Brown still exists, but when a freshly delivered DeLorean as good as the day it was created appears before him, it becomes clear that Marty’s case to prove the Doc is still alive maybe in vain. As sleuthing indicates the Doc will be shot by gangsters in 1931, Marty has all the tools to completely disregard the life partner he fought through a whole trilogy to reach and leap to Doc’s rescue before history takes another grisly turn for the duo.

Unlike many a movie/game tie-in, Back To The Future: The Game is serving the perfect balance of nerdy testimonial and fresh storytelling. The trademark witty dialogue of the typical Telltale Games title coinciding with the characters eclectic charm makes the game flow with tremendous joy. Some of the signature moments in the trilogy get their dues and nods which are sure to continue throughout the series.

Almost makes the game feel like the rejected plans for the third film

A great plot line is nothing without the aesthetics that made Back To The Future a perfect ensemble treat, and the game does not disappoint. The Hill Valley square is the main base of puzzle solving and object melding and has been faithfully recreated, if exceptionally browner than its flair oozing 80’s counterpart. The characters have been lovingly re-crafted as if they’ve jumped straight out of a Beano comic, well animated and diversely familiar in their Saturday morning cartoon ways.

The likeness of characters and locales are extended to the soundtrack, with the trademark songs of the films present throughout. There’s a strange warmth when the familiar uplifting twinkling boots up the game. The greatest addition to this geeks ultimate homage however, are the voiceovers. Christopher Lloyd returns to offer up an eccentric belly laugh inducing performance as the Doc in need, and juggles all his dialogue from the plot centric to the backstory tid-bits. Despite the enigmatic duo working so well with each other, the spotlight is stolen and cast upwards upon a mountain where new actor AJ LoCascio stands in epic brilliance as Marty McFly. Scenes at the beginning of the game can’t help but convince you that sound bytes for the films have been cleverly arranged together, yet as you delve deeper into the space time continuum, you’re just left amazed at just how familiar the whiny, chirpy, time travelling underdog’s voice is.

The staple point and click adventure style Telltale is renown for remains ever present, but unfortunately there’s something of a crater in term of ingenuity when it comes to the puzzle solving dilemmas. Some great set pieces kick off and finish off the first episode, yet the central segments dwindle a bit with little direction. Let loose upon Hill Valley to question the locals, your next location is always obvious, and a majority of the puzzles simply require a process of trial and error in terms of combining items with people to uncover some form of solution. When the locations are more constrained, the McFly acuteness must really shine through in order to progress. When offered the town to explore, there really aren’t many alternatives to sleuth into and answers require no more but slight initiative to unearth.

As a dramatic opener for the next five month era, Back To The Future: The Game-Episode 1 hits the right notes absolutely perfectly to offer a fantastic montage of one of the greatest film trilogies of all time. The performances, the soundtrack and the intriguing plotline so far almost make the game feel like the rejected plans for the third film. Hopefully the basic puzzle solving will stay in this episode as if it were some sort of tutorial for the rest of the game, but obviously at this time, it cannot be said. The simplicity of some of the puzzles may put off some die hard point and click adventurers, but anyone who is a die hard Back To The Future fan will find this an enjoyable ride, even if it has got some way to go before it hits 88mph.