Back To The Future:The Game-Episode 4:Double Visions Review (PSN)

Breaking up is hard to, especially if it has to stop time collapsing in on itself

***SPOILER ALERT*** Even if you’ve got some sort of compulsive disorder to scroll the sidebar right to the very bottom of the screen, I wouldn’t recommend scratching that itch until you’ve played the first 3 episodes of Back To The Future:The Game.

Note to scientists: STOP SCIENCE…ing. Step away from the beakers, do Sudoku over your periodic tables and I will shoot ANYONE who dares approach that Hadron Collider. If there’s one thing Back To The Future seems to be hinting at, it’s that science doesn’t pay. Whereas making milestones in such fields has led us to great things nowadays, it seems pushing it any further will make us the victims of our own demise. Still, it did bring about my favourite film franchise of all time, and the eagerly awaited fourth episode of the game of said franchise. Swings and roundabouts, really.

Back To The Future:The Game-Episode 4:Double Visionsshows that nothing in 1986 can be saved thanks to the insane mind warping plans of the Doc’s wife Edna, and that now the troublesome duo have a pretty damn good excuse to travel back in time. With a newly rejuvenated Doc broken out of whipped love for the bitter woman, the only solution is to prevent the love lacked couple from ever getting with each other in order to save the day. Warping back to 1931 seems to screw the time circuits on the Delorean, however, throwing them further away from their destination and giving Marty only a few hours to gain the ‘Hill Valley’s Worst Wingman Of The Year’ Award and halt the event that changed the future forever; Emmett asking for Edna’s hand in marriage.

Though returning to an era of Hill Valley that’s already been pretty extensively explored, Episode 4: Double Visions pays visit to an iconic ‘Hill Valley High School’ and the Doc’s own lab. After a long stint in an alternate 1986, if feels strangely fresh yet familiar to land back in such retro territory. The high school doesn’t offer much in the way of true technical dilemmas, but you can see the Doc’s lab has been constructed with loving care, a mechanical wonderland that’s ironically similar to Emmett’s own brain, a garage that’s ingenious in its own frantic mess.

It has just hit its stride

Finally, after months of my brain thinking it was on a luxury spa break every time I fire up each episode of Back To The Future:The Game, I’ve encountered a journey that’s dusting the cobwebs off the internal gears and slowly but surely getting them clicking. The Doc’s lab is something of a haven for the frenzied point ‘n’ clicker. A litter ground of seemingly random doodads you’ll be forced to sift through and learn about if you wish to progress, and a section where you have to practically break out of 1986 is a fun little segment. Various people will find it something of a slight breeze, some will find themselves going to and throw between locations wondering if there was something they missed, but they now feel in their element and will hopefully continue into the finale.

Paragraphs to do with voicework and the narrative are always hard to write for this game every month. We already know the deal. They’re both damn good, but that really isn’t unexpected. The calibre was launched into the atmosphere of Saturn and hasn’t done much to fall from grace. It’s not exactly something I can put in the ‘Pros’ box anymore, the quality is so reliable. Just expect yet another funny and nostalgic ride. One notable moment, however, was when the Doc was explaining exactly what had gone wrong with the Time Circuits in the Delorean. I sat there, dumbfounded, with absolutely no idea what the hell he was talking about. Complex sentences were chucked into the air like jigsaw puzzle pieces struggling to fit together, and yet it just added to the enjoyment. It was such a natural performance from Christopher Lloyd and a monologue that fitted so well with the Doc it felt like it was bridging that gap between the movies and the films, a slight segment to make you feel you yourself were the underdog trapped in time and not Marty. It’s special moments like that I really hope to see in the finale, and moments which could tie the experience up as a whole.

Reflecting on the penultimate episode and the series together, Episode 4 feels likes it’s beginning to tie everything up in that beautiful way only Back To The Future does. It’s strange to see just how far the series has come since its humble beginnings. Episode 4 finally hits the nail on the head with great humour, great performances and, finally, puzzles worthy of the point ‘n’ click tagline…and yet it feels like it can do better. Like it has just hit its stride and it’s saving its big guns for the finale. Perhaps we won’t have to force a steam train to hit 88mph to warp a broken down Delorean back to a better future before reaching an open chasm, perhaps the finale won’t be quite that on the nose. But after this episode, I have faith that Telltale Games know how to round up this series.