Game Review: Back to the Future: The Game, Episode 4: Double Vision (PC)
Last time we left Marty and Doc in the Back to the Future point and click adventure from TellTale, they had just returned to 1986 after beating gangster “Kid” Tannen back in 1931. Only something happened in the timeline to make their present Hill Valley a police state, with Doc Brown in control. Now Marty has to escape the new Hill Valley and return to 1931 to prevent Emmett Brown from marrying Edna Strickland, the cause of the bad future. But it won’t be easy, as the time circuits in the DeLorean are malfunctioning and end up sending Marty into the past two months too late! Will he run out of time?
Back to the Future: The Game is a point and click adventure, which is TellTale’s specialty. Use the mouse to guide Marty around specific locations, talking to characters and clicking on objects to examine them or pick them up, and using items to solve puzzles. Just like TellTale’s other adventures, this one is episodic, meaning you download it in small chunks, with one coming out each month or so. Like an episodic TV mini-series. Or a mini-movie in this case.
The visuals and characters are a bit more cartoony this time around, but not so much that it doesn’t look out of place. Just think of it like if Pixar, or at least DreamWorks, got a hold of the license and made a CG movie out of it. The music, locations, and familiar characters help add to the authenticity, though, and they even got Christopher Lloyd to play as Doc Brown! They couldn’t get Michael J. Fox to do Marty’s voice, which is PERFECTLY understandable given his situation. But the voice actor they did get sounds exactly like him!
The only problems I had with the fourth episode was that it felt a bit short, even for a TellTale game, plus there was a couple of puzzles regarding Doc’s early inventions that were not as intuitive to figure out. But other than that, the straightforward puzzles and helpful new hint system make it easy for point and click beginners, and you’ll probably never have to exit to read a walkthrough if you get stuck. At any rate, Back to the Future: The Game is one of the few movie-based games that is actually very good! I can’t wait to see what happens in the final episode!
Kid Factor:
Past episodes of Back to the Future: The Game have been rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Alcohol Reference, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes and Mild Violence. Episode 4 hasn’t been rated yet, but I’m sure it’ll be the same rating. Basically, if you’re OK with your kids watching the movies, they’ll be OK playing the game. Characters occasionally curse like they do in the films. And some of the puzzles and gags have mild suggestive themes. Regardless, fans of the movie, both young and old, will enjoy this game.
November 11th, 2012 at 10:40 pm
It curses and they show Marty McFly PORN.