Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 4: Double Visions

Well, it would seem that Telltale has managed to do something interesting with the episode. I am still a little disappointed with certain areas, but I have at least noticed a change in story progression. After a month-long wait for this episode, it's like getting a mixed bag more than anything.

The story for the episode is as follows. Marty McFly wakes up in a room in the dystopian Hill Valley where he is to be prepped for Citizen Plus treatment. He manages to escape, thus avoiding becoming a mindless drone, and needs to work with Doc Brown in order to stop 1931 Emmett from falling in love with Edna Strickland and see Frankenstein instead. At the same time, the DeLorean's time circuits have been malfunctioning, so Marty needs to also find a way to get it fixed so he can return to 1986 when he fixes the timeline.

I still liked the fantastic writing of this episode. However, that's really all this episode has going for it. There is no change in the graphics, save for a slightly limited animation pool leading to a point where Edna is in a conversation with an invisible Doc Brown, and the music is still great to listen to. The voice acting is still excellent, although there was one time where the sound dropped out for some reason, always on the same line of dialogue. But the puzzles are still too easy and serves to only make the game more noticably linear. Overall though, I was more engaged by the 2-hour chunk of story this time around, so I guess the episode did its job.

Continuing players will definitely need to check the episode out, as it continues the story for them. I would still like to have non-players take a purchase of the season into consideration or wait until opinions of the 5th and final episode have been put up. Telltale knows how to craft a story, but it disappoints me that that is the only thing keeping the episode engaging. I would like them to do something new with the final episode, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. It would be cool, however, if they decided to go the extra mile for the ending and play Back In Time from the movies. Small thing, I know, but at least the episode would go out with a bang.

Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 3: Citizen Brown

Giving an Episode-by-Episode review of the Back to the Future game by Telltale is no easy task, especially considering that there is a month-long gap between episodes. While I can't really complain about this business model, I still get a little impatient at times while I wait. Now, last time I said that Episode 2 met some of my expectations, but failed to meet others. After another month of waiting to play this episode, I can say that still not much has changed.

To give a quick summary of the story is actually quite easy. Marty McFly has landed in an alternate 1986 caused by the events of Episode 2. After escaping from the DeLorean, which has crashed into the side of a billboard, Marty quickly notices that everything about Hill Valley has changed, from the aesthetic and cleanliness of the city to the look and personality of Jennifer, who has dumped him in this timeline for being too much of a "square". It turns out that as a result of not watching the movie Frankenstein, Doc Brown is now married to Edna Strickland and is in full control of the city, which can be described as a Municipality thanks to various law and tax loopholes. It is now up to Marty to find a way to get a council with Emmet Brown and convince him to see the error of his ways.

Again, the story is still well-written, with a great twist at the end to fuel the next episode, and the voice acting is as top-notch as ever. However, the puzzles are still incredibly easy, making for another two-and-a-half hours of gameplay. While I did like the story, I was able to notice the game become a lot more straightforward and linear, but I can't say whether or not this borders on railroading. And again, the graphics have not changed at all, but I did notice a couple of hiccups in the gameplay. These instances are the camera staying on a close-up of Doc Brown for about 3 extra seconds and Biff Tannen standing up while Marty is still going through the motions of struggling with him. While this was rather odd, I don't think other people will encounter the same problems, but it is something to watch out for.

True, the game felt longer than before, but instead of being excited I actually almost fell asleep in front of my laptop, as did my brother who was merely watching. And I hate to sound like a broken record, but I kept wishing for the puzzles to be more difficult, rather than being pathetically easy. It may be too much, but I can't help of think back at how interestingly engaging the puzzles were in Sam & Max, wishing I could at least have something like that. Anyway, I think three episodes in, Telltale would be ready to take a small risk in the gameplay rather than continue to play it safe. It's not getting any better like Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People (SBCG4AP) did as it went on, but I still expected something more.

I would still recommend the episode to be played by continuing players, and people still waiting to buy it should still take a purchase of the full season into consideration. When the whole thing is through, there will be plenty of game to go around, enough to last you an afternoon. But as far as this Episode-by-Episode analysis is concerned, I like what Telltale has been doing so far with the game, but they really need to up the ante in the gameplay for those waiting a month to see the next part of the story. Frankly, I wonder how much longer the magic of the Back to the Future license will last for this game. I guess we'll have to wait for Episode 4 to look for any improvement.

Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 2: Get Tannen!

From what I had played in the previous episode of Telltale's Back to the Future Game, I had some expectations for the now available Episode 2. The first one had some rather easy puzzles, but was faithful to the spirit of the original Back to the Future movies, including a great score and talented voice acting. Did this episode improve on the first? Well, I would love to say it did, but in the end I don't have much to say.

“Get Tannen!” begins immediately where “It's About Time” left off. Marty is in danger of disappearing from the timeline and has to make a necessary alteration to ensure his existence, at the same time avoiding his other self and 1931 Emmett Brown. He succeeds and returns to 1986 Hill Valley, only to find that things aren't the same from when he left them. To undo the Tannen family reigning over the town, Doc Brown and Marty return to 1931 Hill Valley, 2 months after Episode1, to restore 1986 to its original state. The new events of the story take over from here.

The story is still written extremely well, and it was still interesting to me how it explores the prohibition era. This time in American history is portrayed excellently, as far as I can tell, and influences a good majority of the puzzles. While we get a couple of new characters to take into account for the entire episode, they are handled in a way that doesn't make them annoying or otherwise unlikable. On the note of voice acting in the game, the quality of it is consistent with the previous entry, but there was a scene with Kid Tannen and Edna Strickland near the end that seemed to have an underwhelming delivery. Other than that, they did a terrific job.

I can't say anything about the graphics, but I can remark that the gameplay hasn't changed. The puzzles are still simple as ever and the episode still only took about 2 to 2-and-a-half hours to beat. While it may have been a little longer, I can't help but think of how the puzzles in Sam & Max, another Telltale series, got more elaborate over time. Even so, I enjoyed the puzzles as a way of seeing what would happen next in the story, which is actually the whole point, really. I commend Telltale for playing it safe, but it would be nice to have more of a challenge come Episode 3.

Overall, the game is more of the same, but in doing so it sticks true to the charm of Back to the Future and should be enough to satisfy any continuing player. I have my expectations again for the third episode, but I am mostly looking forward to the team at Telltale expanding on the big twist at the end of the episode. For those who have purchased the full season already, I don't really think you'll be disappointed with this entry. If you are still on the fence about it, I suggest that this is a good time to purchase the season now. It's simply hard to not like this game.