Back To the Future: The Game
by Estim20, HSM guest contributor
Back in the time before time, in the mystical span of time known to modern sensibilities as the 1980’s, two men flipped through one of their father’s high school yearbooks and envisioned how life must’ve been like for their fathers when they were kids. They looked so different from the current age that it brought all sorts of questions as to how they must’ve been. What must’ve been one thrilling conversation lit a mental bulb among them. What if they could meet their parents as teenagers?
The concept was fairly simple, if wrought with numerous questions. Would they like their parents? Would their parents like them? How much has changed in regards to their parents’ disposition over the years? Did they have dreams that failed to bear fruit (assuming they had dreams)? Was one of them an Elvis impersonator, with the sanguinely white suit stuffed in the closet along with the Christmas decorations?
Okay, so that last question probably never occurred (I think) but you may be wondering what this is describing. This is essentially the explanation behind the popular 1985 film, Back to the Future. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale wrote the film as a result of said perusal of one of their parent’s yearbook, wistfully wondering how life must’ve been like for them when they faced their hormonally-twisted teenager years.
They took the concept and wrote it as a time travel story: a teenager in from 1985 is sent back to 1955 to meet his parents, only to inadvertently prevent them from meeting. He thus prevents his own existence, unless he can reunite them by the time of the school dance and before he misses his opportunity to return to present day. Along the way, he discovers just how much his parents have changed over the years and how much of their own history they kept from him.
Essentially it was a feel-good comedy and drama wrapped up into a tale weaved inside the conceit of time travel. The lead character, Marty, is more a means of viewing the actions of the focus characters – namely his parents, George and Lorraine, and perennial bully Biff Tannen. His cohort in time is mad scientist Doc Emmett Lathrop Brown, who created the time machine out of a DeLorean. Over the course of three films, you’ll see the history and future of both the McFlys and the Tannens as well as that of Hill Valley itself.
A little additional history for the curious: the two Bobs concocted the basic premise shortly after they wrote another film, Used Cars, with Stephen Spielberg as producer. By the time they reached 1981, they held writing credit for several films, such as Used Cars, 1941 and I Wanna Hold Your Hand (yes, it’s related to the Beatles). Zemeckis even had television credit to his name, with Kolchak: The Night Stalker, evidently about an investigator tackling supernatural crimes.
However, they hadn’t exactly met with astonishing success at this point. The three films mentioned above garnered a cult following but nothing earth-shattering. Their prospects as bona-fide money-makers in Hollywood weren’t established and few companies were willing to give them a chance. They sent their preliminary scripts of BTTF to various companies during a time when raunchy comedies such as Animal House boomed; which meant that most people felt it was too tame for then-current trends in comedy. Only Disney disagreed because of it being too risky (the scene involving Lorraine and Marty in a car in 1955 was the sticking point) and only Stephen Spielberg approved of it, though they didn’t want to drag Spielberg down with them if they didn’t find a good script to bolster their images soon.
All that changed with Romancing the Stone. Not only did Romancing prove successful, it combined the efforts of Zemeckis and Gale with Alan Silvestri, the music composer who would later provide the soundtrack for Back to the Future. With the film proving a hit, companies demanded they produce their little time travel movie, which they previously rejected. Zemeckis and Gale, however, had other plans: they turned to the one person who stood by them when they made their initial rounds – Stephen Spielberg.
Ironically, despite the teaser ending in Part 1, the writers remain adamant they hadn’t intended a sequel with Back to the Future. They weren’t sure about its future (again, ironically) and meant the ending as a joke. However, it proved a phenomenon and the film blossomed into a trilogy, sending its title characters Marty McFly and Doc Emmett Brown to the early 21st century and to the Wild West, seeing Hill Valley and its citizens in various stages of cultural (and aesthetical) change.
So, where does this fit into the current article? As stated, back in 1985, the two Bobs anticipated very little regarding the success of Back to the Future. They weren’t expecting sequels necessarily, let alone the plethora of other media the story leaked into, such as card games, toys and, of course, video games. Naturally, as the movies proved hits in their own right, people demanded more from the source material, which lent itself well to numerous prospects.
Video games have an interesting history in their own right. To this day, only two games focused on Back to the Future, Part 2 exclusively exist (likewise with Part 3) and video game reviews aren’t too positive about them, if they know about the games at all – with the exception of the Back to the Future II Japanese exclusive on the SNES. There haven’t been any games on more recent consoles, unless you count the mini-game based on the ride in the Universal Studios game.
It’s here where we see Tell-Tale fill the void with its episodic release in 2010. Following the tradition set by its Sam and Max and Homestar Runner titles, Tell-Tale produced one season’s worth of point-and-click adventure games for Back to the Future. The full roster is out, equaling to five episodes total, on PS3 for all to enjoy. How well do they stack up for the modern audience and – especially – to the legacy of the films?
I’ll precede the review with a proclamation: I’m a Back to the Future fan. I knew I was getting this game when it released, one way or another. What you’ll see is my point of view as someone who knows the films well enough to get a kick out of references but not so much that I don’t mind a little variation in the themes present.
The Plot: Curiosity Killed The Doc
The games pick up more or less where the third film left off. It is several months after the end of Part 3, placing it firmly in 1986. Doc’s estate is up for sale, thanks to his inability to remain physically present between 1985 and ‘now.’ Marty naturally isn’t too keen on seeing Brown’s physical vestiges sold off to the general public, especially to someone as bumbling as Biff, but his father insists that he can’t keep them forever (especially since George McFly doesn’t know where Doc is and figures he’ll likely never return alive, if at all). As such, Marty begins his adventures at the estate, waxing nostalgically at what Doc left behind.
In enters the DeLorean in a brilliant flash, teleporting through time from an unknown point in the time-stream. Marty checks it out and finds Doc’s pet dog, Einstein, as its sole passenger. With Doc nowhere in sight, this triggers Marty’s spider senses (so to speak) and he determines to find out why the DeLorean traveled to Doc’s estate in 1986 without the man himself. However, the time display is busted and won’t display when it left, much to Marty’s dismay.
You will control Marty through the entire adventure, vacillating between 1931 and various alternate 1986s for the most part, deviating from that set-up only once near the end of the series. Various ancestors of the series’ First Families will greet you 1931, such as Irving ‘Kid’ Tannen and Arthur McFly, as do various incarnations of present-day characters, including a timeline where Biff Tannen has two brothers. Each one will sound familiar to the Back to the Future fan, though more on that later.
The Gameplay
Your first goal in the game is, as stated above, figuring out what happened to Doc that caused the Delorean to automatically return to the present day. Obviously, being a puzzle game, finding (and helping) Doc isn’t a simple matter. This is where the game gives you control and it’s up to you to deduce when the Delorean came from, to get the rest of the story going. Calling it a point-and-click adventure, though, is slightly misleading: this isn’t quite like Myst, at least for the PlayStation 3 version.
You control Marty via the left joystick and can highlight various items using L1 and R1 or having Marty face them. The second option is a bit iffy, as the highlight may not always hover over what you want Marty to see, so overall you may find yourself using the shoulder buttons far more than the joystick to expedite the process. You can make Marty run by holding the Circle button or let him leisurely stroll at your discretion upon release, though running does naturally speed things up.
Really, the game mechanics do a fine enough job that you won’t be paying too much attention to them during the course of the series. This is good because the focus of the episodes is two-fold: the story and the puzzles. The puzzles I can’t speak of too much in detail, obviously, as that would spoil the surprise (and half the point of the series), but the puzzles are, for the most part, intuitive.
What Makes Time Travel Possible: Where BTTF Succeeds
The story is fantastic and captures the essence of the original films’ style extremely well. This is in no small part due to Bob Gale helping with the writing and Christopher Lloyd reprising his role as present-day Emmett Brown (along with guest appearances by two more movie alumni in Episode 3 onward). They touch on numerous parts of Back to the Future lore, from the DeLorean to plot events in the three films.
Enough such references are made to the original films that at first, it seems tailor-made for fans of the series. This isn’t wholly inaccurate: hardcore fans are going to love the episodes, especially the references, with Lloyd’s respective return as icing on the cake. There is enough here, though, for casual and non-fans to enjoy it, especially if the genre tickles their fancy.
One of the biggest factors of the story is how it explores the consequences of time travel, going so far as to explore some of the morality behind it. You’ll be exploring the year 1931 for the most part, but you’ll also see alternate versions of 1986 before the series is over. In fact, First Citizen Brown is predicated by Marty and Doc screwing up the timeline enough that the Doc we know and love no longer exists.
In that aspect, it’s a continuation of the original three films, experimenting with what a story revolving around time travel can explore, and it works admirably. I found myself enjoying the ways it twists the plot to give players an idea how dangerous time travel can be, as well as a bit of morality play in the consequences.
The morality bit is interesting, as it means the story becomes darker in its final moments. It begins rather optimistically and so much like it’s only a minor annoyance to find Doc. He’s simply stuck somewhere and needs to be rescued, right? You’ll soon find Marty’s problems, along with those for all of time, aren’t quite as simple as they seem.
Episode 2 should be where you realize it’s taking a dark turn. This isn’t new to the series, with Part 2 exploring the sinister ramifications of giving the wrong person the right tool, though Episode 2 does add to the dilemma quite succinctly. Marty isn’t innocent from twisting the timestream; with his meddling in 1931, he can owe his previous experience that he doesn’t bend time until it snaps like a fragile twig. As such, he is partially culpable for what occurs in Episode 3 and Episode 4 is where he must face a delicate decision: whose timeline must he save? Is there a third option he can pursue?
Really, the series begins to ask some questions more serious than those in the films, even as the series itself isn’t too complicated. The reason no one questions changing the alternate 1985 created by Biff from 2015 is because he caused far more harm than good; dear Hill Valley is a wasteland when he gets control. However, no one also questions whether there was an option to make things happy for everyone, which is where Episode 4 enters the picture. Again, no spoilers but you’ll see Citizen Brown’s position on the matter soon enough.
As for the voice actors, everyone for the most part pulls a magnificent performance as their characters. Even though Michael J. Fox doesn’t reprise his role for Marty (for the most part – and I’m trying hard to avoid spoilers here), the actor they got for the part can sound impeccably like Fox. Christopher Lloyd hasn’t lost that luster for assuming the role of Emmett Brown and the actor they picked for young Emmett (who, incidentally, played Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Clone Wars animated series, for those into that sort of trivia) pegs the young, awkward Emmett done well and reinforces the fact that Marty wasn’t the only one who faced his teenage years with high-pitched apprehension.
Finally, the characters manage to go through some significant development as the plot progresses, especially the major players outside of Doc and Marty. We see them in various incarnations and how they influence each other, especially Edna Strickland, who goes through at least four different histories by the time she reaches the end. We even meet some of the Parkers for the first time, not to mention seeing Jennifer herself get an alternate timeline treatment in episode 3. As such, you’ll be rooting for Doc and Marty, but you also want to learn more about each character and see how they develop as time travel twists history.
The Consequences Can be Catastrophic: Where BTTF Loses Its Shine
First, a minor (non-)fault: puzzle games are prone to fits of ‘moon logic,’ wherein the means of achieving a solution – if not also the reason for doing something – is unintuitive. This is worsened slightly by how subjective a puzzle game’s logic can be; some people will find the solution immediately while others will labor on a particular puzzle for hours on end. Back to the Future isn’t immune to this, and some puzzles may become fodder for such troubles depending on whether you can get on board with the train of thought. One possible example is getting young Emmett to believe Marty knows anything about science in Episode 1 – be sure to know what your inventory holds at that point. Fortunately, there is a hint system in case you’re stuck, and it won’t interfere with trophies if you’re motivated by them.
Second, the gameplay: the camera can be disorienting as you transition from shot to shot. It’s understandable that the series attempts to duplicate the cinematic expressions of the original films, but it’s a win some, lose some approach. For cut-scenes they work well, no surprise, but for the times you control Marty you may step into one shot and find out it’s a completely different camera angle and have to adjust quickly and successfully simultaneously. You may thus find yourself accidentally walking back to a previous scene.
It can be difficult at times to move Marty in such a way as to get him to look at the right object (i.e. so that the cursor highlights what you need). It’s much easier using the shoulder buttons to move the highlight from element to element, though Marty still needs to be close enough to make that feasible. That in and of itself can be a pain in the butt, though fortunately it is rarely problematic (the one exception being the final puzzle in Episode 1).
As for the plot, expect the series to send you traveling back and forth between 1931 and 1986. While this makes sense from the perspective of the plot, anyone expecting to visit a different year each episode will be disappointed. Episode 3 does give players the opportunity to spend time in an alternate 1986, but five episodes worth of jumping back and forth can become tiring.
As for characters, they do go through some development as the story ensues, but the first episode doesn’t exactly give high hopes, admittedly. The first episode is more or less ‘fan service central’ and the characters are no exception. How many times do we need to see the Tannens pick on the McFlys exactly? This factor remains the same in some fashion throughout the series, though fortunately they do take some different directions with the characters present in 1931 to make the first episode’s source material gags seem fortunately restricted in scope. By the time you reach the series’ conclusion, you will see the likes of Edna and Kid change their tune in 1986.
Time to Wrap Things Up
Ultimately the series is a welcome addition to the point-and-click adventure series and manages to capture the charm and atmosphere of the original films while maintaining a new plot. I personally enjoyed the experience and hope they capitalize on it by making a sequel, though they may be just pulling our legs with the ending (again, no spoilers). The story’s well-written, the characters are well-acted (kudos especially for the one who plays 1986 Marty) and the puzzles are intuitive enough that you won’t likely be spending much time on the hints screen.
If they never make a Back to the Future IV, which is in all likelihood the case, this is a great alternative. I highly recommend it for both Back to the Future fans and gamers, especially if you have a soft spot for point-and-click adventure games. Really, this can be the game you could use to introduce someone to the genre, especially Tell-Tall’s take it. All in all, this is an easy recommendation.
September 4th, 2011 by Estim20 | 6 comments
What a thorough and robust article! Well written Estim. I agree with what you said, mostly. Your pre-history of the game was interesting and almost an article in and of itself.
These types of games, which are of the Graphic Adventure genre, are known for their “How would I even think of doing that?” Logic. It’s where the solution makes sense AFTER you figure it out and then facepalms commence. I am an alum of the old 1990’s Lucasarts Graphic Adventures so for me the controls took some getting used to. I can’t tell you how many times the screen would change from one perspective to another and the direction I was pressing the control stick would make Marty flip around.
I did, however, think the puzzles were a tad on the easy side.
There were a few times I had to wander around to figure out what I needed to do but for the most part the game was pretty direct. There was one instance where I felt the story was giving you clues on how to solve one particular puzzle only to have the solution come out of left field. Also, the majority of the puzzles were one part-ers. You have this so you do this.
Maybe it’s that my head is in the clouds so it’s a bit closer to the moon, but I thought the puzzles were MUCH more grounded in “reality” then some of the puzzles I’ve seen in other games and they kept the spirit of the films. None were too over the top crazy or silly. No “find the random gorilla (joke on manila) envelope with a banana in it to hypnotize a piano playing monkey by shoving the banana onto the metronome atop the piano to then use the hypnotized monkey on the water pump to the waterfall to turn off the water flow” here. Get it? monkey wrench.
I think Tell Tale Games is still a young company and their capability is growing with each game. I had a blast with it. Glad to hear others did too!
Thanks for the kind words! It’s also good to hear from a fan of the genre. I haven’t played point-and-click adventures nearly as often as some, but I do remember Myst and Monkey Island, and fondly at that. Speaking of, they did re-release the first two Monkey Island games . . .
If Back to the Future seems on the easy side, incidents of ‘moon logic’ aside, I attribute that to two main factors. It’s clear the story’s part of the fun, maybe to the extent that giving it a slightly heavy focus at the expense of making the puzzles too easy, especially for genre veterans. This isn’t necessarily bad but for people who are used to going through the motions, it won’t boggle them too much.
Also, perhaps they intended this partially as a means of introducing a new audience to a decades-old genre (older than I am, maybe?). You can view Tell-Tale’s series as a means of reviving a genre that’s been on decline and the younger crowd may not be as familiar as we are with it. Choosing a license that’s fairly recognizable does work to its advantage if that’s the case, as more people probably heard of Back to the Future than, regrettably in a way, Sam and Max (which extends to LucasArts’ Hit the Road almost as much as it does to the original comics).
And I do agree on the notion that the game feels more grounded in ‘reality,’ though it does have its ludicrous moments. These moments are mostly in the kinds of situations Marty finds himself in, oddly enough, not in the puzzles themselves; the puzzles seem to flow naturally and play upon what Marty is getting involved with.
I give the example of the final puzzle in episode 1 (slight SPOILER ALERT). You could see Emmett having to face his father one way or another, and it wasn’t going to be the last, so incorporating a puzzle around it is interesting and in a way clever. You are witnessing character development while working on a puzzle, the former also preparing for an analogous scene in Episode 4, which is in line with how Zemeckis and Gale wrote the films.
If there ever was a Back to the Future IV movie, then I would like to see Marty McFly save uncle ‘Joey’.. Yes I got the gag in 1955 that he had to ‘get used to those bars’ but as an audience, and for the life of me, U will never really know what he went to jail for? And if so, can Marty steer him away from a life of crime? But that’s my two cents on that one..
I did play the demo of the 1st game, but there isnt enough that i could truly comment on it. I’m too much of a klutz to play this game. (Hell i had to google answers for modt of the puzzles presented in the ‘Uncharted’ games because I thought ‘they’ were too tough!, and don’t get me started on the original Resident Evil series lol)
From the impression i had (from the demo anyways) was that the game tries too hard in ‘Holding’ your hand a little. But what can i say? it takes me an hour to figure anything out :p
But I will re consider giving this another look from reading your review.
For what it is, its definately something for Back to the Future fans, it has all the music and charm of the movies.
Great Article Estim
Thanks so much for the appreciation!
You know, I’m mildly surprised they never referenced Uncle Joey in the games. This isn’t much of a spoiler, since I highly doubt he would’ve factored into the plot in any suitable fashion even if present, but they don’t even make a comparable character for him in 1931. Then again, that’s probably to its benefit. It’ll doubtless prove more fruitful for a film if they decided to produce a fourth.
As for the puzzles, I can see a few of them feeling confounding. Tell-Tale does seem to some degree make these games for those not significantly involved with the genre, to which I commend them. However, that decision can bite them for various reasons and they almost inevitably tried to keep it in line with what adventure fans expect to maintain some sense of difficulty.
As a result, it isn’t immune to the list of transgressions that plague such titles. The primary problems you’ll see are ‘solve the soup cans’ and ‘moon logic’ type of puzzle, as TV Tropes call ‘em. Those are probably what stump people the most, the former largely because they see it and think: “They just had to put a puzzle here, didn’t they? It doesn’t even make sense being here.”
Fortunately Back to the Future avoids the Soup Cans variety for the most part. I don’t really recall a puzzle that made me question why it’s there, since they managed to tie virtually everything to the plot.
“Moon Logic,” though, I can see being a problem, if thankfully one minor enough to prevent the series from sinking. Sometimes the logic just doesn’t work in its favor during the process of solving it, though moon logic puzzles are usually the ones that make you exclaim: “How was I supposed to know that?” I remember one involving to convince Emmett that Marty knows science. The solution makes sense in context but it may not be necessarily obvious and thus create a wall.
Though I have never been a fan of these types of games you make them sound interesting Estim, and your description is fun and detailed. I doubt this is something I would buy for myself and money as limited and I am picky what I spend on games, there are too many good ones to play and not enough hours in the day as it is. Thanks for your newest contribution to the reviews, it is always good to have new voices in this particular genre of articles.
Thanks Burbie!
Yeah, the adventure genre is one of those genres that, at first blush, people either love them or simply accept its existence. To that end, non-fans may not necessarily be won over by this game, although the license likely will help, as will the fact Tell-Tale developed it. I can certainly see someone watching another person play it and think: “Eh, it’s okay. The story’s good but it still isn’t my favorite genre.”
Still, as far as this genre goes, this is one of the better options for anyone hoping to start now. Getting them to play, say, King’s Quest or Space Quest (any of Sierra’s early games, really) won’t be as effective as if they played them when they debuted.
Oddly, this made me think of a point I could’ve added to the review, more as a means of showing why playing the game versus watching the movie can be a different experience:
Watching the story play out with all the gameplay periods edited out as necessary makes you realize how disjointed it can feel if they adapted it as a movie without making adjustments. This is especially true when you play all the dialogue options one after the other during character interactions outside of cut-scenes. Hearing the conversations flow using the choices from top to bottom lacks a natural feel to it during these scenes if you watched it as such.
All in all though, the series is fine and compared to other games in the genres, this feels more like it goes out of its way to appeal to non-fans. Although it doesn’t exactly help if you aren’t a fan of Back to the Future fan either. lol