The first of five episodes, Telltale’s entry into the Back to the Future series is proving to be a worthy one.
The 3rd film pretty much tied everything up, so the idea of a 4th Back to the Future story is a horrible one. At least to me. Fortunately, what Telltale have delivered here with Back To The Future: It’s About Time, is a pleasant surprise and shows a remarkable amount of promise for the future episodes.
Setting things approximately six months after the events in the films, the game takes Marty on an adventure across time, in a search for Doc Emmett Brown after the DeLorean materialise in 1986, containing Einstein (Doc’s dog).
With all this crafted together with some pretty nifty voice acting (including Christopher Lloyd) and a number musical cues taken right out of the Robert Zemeckis movies, the universe is complete and takes the gamer back to 1986.
Visually, the game is rather pleasing. Giving our favourite characters a somewhat stylised makeover, has actually worked in the games favour, by adding plenty of charm and a hint of nostalgia. Had Telltale Games gone with a more serious looking approach, the effect would have been lost and the game could have run the risk of feeling a little dated and outta time (pun intended).
Sadly, the game does occasionally stutter here and there. When there is a lot going on, the frame rate is dramatically reduced. Usually this is sorted by shutting down all other programs that are running on your iPad, however, this doesn’t always work and at times the game does get a little too ambitious for it’s own good.
The controls work remarkably well, you basically control Marty McFly by dragging you finger around on a virtual joystick. You can also opt to point on items and he will investigate them. Like most point and click adventures, Marty comes equipped with an inventory – meaning that many puzzle require various objects to be solved.
Overall, this first entry into the series is an entertaining one. As mentioned earlier, it suffers a little bit from an occasional reduced frame rate, but the amount of respect here for the source material is enough to win fans over.
I eagerly await the next episode.
Verdict: 7 out of 10
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