Nukezilla Review: Back to the Future Episode 1: It’s About Time (PC)

I love Back to the Future. Love it. Love the cast, love the sequels, love nearly everything about the franchise. Except for the series’ videogames, which can go take a long walk off a short pier. Anyone who knows me knows I love Telltale Games, so when it was announced back in June that they had acquired the license to make a Back to the Future game, my faith in the series being able to produce a good videogame was somewhat restored.

As previously reported, Episode One takes place six months after the events of Back to the Future III, with Marty finding that Doc’s possessions are being sold by the bank. The DeLorean soon appears, bearing a message from Doc, who is stranded in the 1930s Prohibition era, facing off against Kid Tannen, ancestor to Biff. Marty must team up with Doc’s younger, 1931-era self in order to release his old friend — and at the same time, avoid his own ancestors, lest he start another time paradox that could erase his very existence.

Visually, Episode One looks great. The characters are stylized, which may turn off some, but will prove to be a treat for the rest of us. As previously announced, Christopher Lloyd returns as Doc (though not his younger counterpart), and Telltale’s personal Jack Sparrow does a great job taking over for Michael J. Fox. It is also worth noting that while I was incorrect in my assumption/hope/wild speculation that Telltale had licensed the score as well, the soundtrack is still very fitting for the context of the game and the series.

My biggest gripe with Episode One (and, I fear, the series in general, though only time will tell) is that it was far too easy. Clearly, the same kind of Monkey Island “combine X and Y to receive unlikely outcome Z” logic can’t really fly in the world of Back to the Future. I understand that. However, Telltale has seen fit to introduce not only their normal hint system, but objective markers and pop-up messages as well, for puzzles that quite frankly don’t require a whole lot of thinking or experimentation.

Telltale has given the gamer the option of being completely led through the game. Hints are one thing but a back-up hint system is quite another, proving nothing more than a definite annoyance to anyone who has ever played a Telltale (or, indeed, adventure) game before.

The nature (and perhaps more importantly, pricing) of Telltale’s episodic games ensures that they are able to get away with having games that clock in on the shorter side. Though, even for Telltale, this game is short. I beat it in a little over two hours. Perhaps this chapter was meant to serve as a prologue for things to come, and the next installments will be longer.

However, I worry this is the result of Telltale rushing to get the game out the door — the game was only announced last June, remember — and the timely release has been achieved at the expense of a more fleshed-out story. I hope I am simply being overly cautious or paranoid, and that Telltale will surprise me in the next episode; otherwise, I will have to mourn what may ostensibly be a decision to put the profit ahead of the game.

It’s the worst-kept secret and arguably the biggest in-joke among gamers that videogames based off of another license — be it film, novel, or even artwork — tend to suck. Nevertheless, Telltale has managed to keep the overall feel of Back to the Future intact, which should be enough to garner praise. However, they continue to go forward and prove, down to the most minute of details, that they clearly know the movie trilogy, and are staying as faithful to it as they possibly can. And while I have my issues with some of the voice acting (seriously, what was Tom Wilson doing that he couldn’t take a bit of time to record dialogue?) and my previously-stated issues with both the game’s length and puzzles, it can only get better from here — in the good way — and I for one cannot wait to see what lies in store in the upcoming episodes.