Back to the Future: Episode 1 may have been out since December 23^rd on PC and Mac, but unfortunately we don’t have access to a time-travelling DeLorean here at TheSixthAxis so you’ll have to get the review now. So, now that we’re finished with all of the content that we had over the holidays, playing with our new toys and stuffing ourselves with food, we’ve finally managed to review Telltale Games’ latest. The game is set six months after Marty and Doc travelled back to the future from the Wild West (in the third film) and has you controlling Marty as he works out one thing – just where has Doc gone?

Doc has been missing for months now, and it’s up to Marty to work out where (or rather, when) he is. With the DeLorean time machine seemingly destroyed near the climax of the third film, what will Marty do? Thankfully, it’s not too long before the DeLorean reappears, seemingly out of nowhere, but without Doc inside. This can only mean trouble for Marty and he must travel to the past to find Doc and ultimately save the future. Confusing, isn’t it? Well, thankfully some things are tied up as you progress through Episode 1, and we can assume that any other plot points (such as Clara and the children being missing) will be dealt with in the forthcoming Episodes.

Fans of the series will be pleased to know that Christopher Lloyd returns, providing the voice acting for Doc and although Michael J. Fox couldn’t voice Marty, the voice actor AJ LoCascio sounds very similar to how Fox did when he starred in the trilogy.

The game is filled to the brim with movie references and Telltale collaborated with none other than the co-writer of Back to the Future himself, so we can be sure that it’s a solid story and that it’s part of the series’ continuity.

If you’ve played any of Telltale’s other games, then you’ll know exactly what to expect in terms of gameplay. The game is a point and click adventure in which you control Marty. You can engage in conversation with some NPCs, with which you’ll have a number of dialogue choices and there will be items to use and collect along the way. The game is very dialogue heavy, which means that you’ll have to ask around before solving a puzzle.

The puzzles themselves are good and there’s one in particular near the end which is quite genius as it requires quick reactions and good hearing to complete it. It’s great to explore Hill Valley in the past too, as you are able to walk around the limited town centre and you’ll meet some characters throughout the town, although there’s really not enough of Hill Valley to get excited about. You’ll have to walk around and investigate, using your initiative to solve the puzzles throughout.

Failing that, there’s a hint system available; this can be toggled in the menu to help you by either giving you blatant statements, vague nudges towards the goal or something in between. These hints will usually point you towards the next item you need to collect or the next dialogue option you should choose and it works really well, although there’s nothing to stop you (except from guilt) from continuously looking at the hints – you’re best to only use them when you’re really stuck.

Although most of the action in the game takes place in cutscenes, with it being your job to walk around looking for clues, it still retains the feel of the movies due to some great storytelling and a superb finale. It’s probably a good thing that there’s not too much in-game action to worry about, as the movement controls aren’t perfect. When the fixed camera moves to another location, the keyboard movement becomes complicated; something that other fixed camera games usually handle well.

The sound is great; it just wouldn’t be Back to the Future if it didn’t have that theme or those little background noises and the game manages to use these very well. As mentioned before, the voice acting is fantastic and Lloyd continues to perform well as Doc, whilst LoCascio is a complete surprise; I don’t think anyone could do Marty’s voice better (unless we travelled back to 1985 and used Michael J. Fox). Visually, it’s fine; it’s nothing impressive or hyper-realistic and the speech animation isn’t great, but the characters do look similar to those from the movies, albeit more like exaggerated caricatures. It’s a good style, though, and it’s what we’ve come to expect from Telltale games, so there’s nothing to worry about here.

Pros:

• Great continuation of the Back to the Future series
• Superb voice acting and sound
• Fun puzzles and quests throughout
• Will make fans very happy
• A lot of dialogue to sink your teeth into

Cons:

• Somewhat confusing if you’re not a fan of the series
• Control problems
• Not enough of Hill Valley to explore, hopefully there will be more areas in future episodes
• A lot of dialogue to sink your teeth into

A Back to the Future game was definitely the best way to extend the series. Whilst it’s not a perfect game, it’s ultimate fan service; from the sounds to the location to the story itself. The fact that there are four more episodes releasing in the coming months, not to mention that the PSN and iPad releases are just around the corner makes it unmissable for any fan. Great Scott! I’ve even managed to avoid the 1.21 gigawatts of quotes throughout this review. This is heavy.

Score: 8/10

Thanks to Person678 for gifting me a copy of the series on Steam.