Nukezilla Review: Back to the Future Episode 2: Get Tannen! (PC)

Remember that golden time, back in December, when I started reviewing the new Back to the Future game? It was a simpler time, back before the plausible (but decidedly unverified) rumors of me having horrible writer’s block combined with an overarching ennui resulting from the playing of the second game.

It’s been a few months since the first episode of Telltale Games’ Back to the Future: The Game first launched, and despite my problems with the first installment, I found myself ready for a new chapter, hoping that perhaps Telltale had tweaked some things around prior to release (spoiler alert: they didn’t).

This episode picks up where the last one ended: due to screwing with the time stream once again, Marty is now in danger of fading out of existence. During the events of the first episode, Marty served a subpoena to his grandfather, Artie McFly, which resulted in the man’s death at the hands of mobster Kid Tannen. Marty and Doc must go back to 1931 to save Artie’s life, while figuring out exactly why Biff (and his newly-minted brothers, Cliff and Riff) is now at the head of the mafia family running Hill Valley.

My problems with the first game are still present: the puzzles are far too easy (again, the game takes about two hours; less if you’re a particularly seasoned adventure gamer) and the over-saturation of available hints is alive and well (and will be for the remaining three games, it seems). I also couldn’t help but feel disappointed that Marty’s brief return to 1986 showed only relatively minor changes in terms of how the saga of the McFly family played out — 1955 is a huge year in the Back to the Future world, and I would have liked to have seen how the continued reign of Kid Tannen and his ilk impacted the events that would play out twenty-four years later during the events of the first movie. Perhaps I’m over-thinking it, but one simply cannot ignore that Marty’s screwing around in 1931 would in fact have some sort of impact in 1955, not just in Marty’s 1986 present.

Going back to the puzzles for a moment, I feel there’s one specific instance I must point out. In the beginning of the game, Marty finds himself trapped between a rock and a hard place — close to his past self from the first episode. Fans of the films will recall that a large part of Back to the Future II involved Marty avoiding his past self from the original Back to the Future, and given that the entirety of the first game took place in 1931, I expected more instances of Marty having to avoid his past self. I feel Telltale Games made a huge error in diluting it down to a quick one-step puzzle at the beginning of the game; they don’t seem to be playing around with the effects of time travel as much as they should be — as much as has been established in the film trilogy. Which honestly surprises me, considering the amount of work Telltale Games has generally put into the series thus far to appeal to fans of the movies — why not play around with one of the main staples of the second movie?

However, that’s not to say that the second episode is a bad rehash of the first. Yes, it’s just as easy, and yes, it’s way too short, but there’s a sense of immediacy present that was simply absent in the first game; the feeling that the player could actually botch a task and completely mess up the time stream (and erase Marty from existence) provides an impetus to finish the episode. There’s also decidedly more action in this installment — there’s more going on with the characters in-game, and it becomes evident fairly quickly that the player needs to start paying attention to the story.

Ultimately, however, the addition of action and larger purpose simply can’t excuse this otherwise lackluster installment, and I must say the trailer for the third episode was the best thing about Get Tannen. Despite an increasingly grim outlook, I’ll continue to hold on to hope for the rest of the series.

Disclosure: We were provided with a free copy of the game by Telltale Games.