Making Sense of Back to the Future: Part III

The third film in the Back to the Future trilogy contains a lot of backstory for the game, so even though it doesn't include as many of the rules of the Back to the Universe as its immediate predecessor, it's still important to understand how this film works as well.

Like the second film, Back to the Future Part III begins immediately where the last film left off. Doc had sealed the DeLorean up in a cave, written Marty a note informing him that he is working as a blacksmith in 1885, and left it with the post office to be delivered 70 years into the future.

Marty enlists the help of the Doc from 1955, as the DeLorean from the cave is in bad condition and needs to be fixed with 1955 parts. However, Doc notes that the hover equipment is damaged beyond repair and the DeLorean will probably never fly again. Upon reaching the location, they find Doc's tombstone in the cemetery and are surprised to learn that the date of his death is only one week after he sent Marty the letter.  They go to the library and find a history book that proves that has a picture of Doc, taken in front of the clock of the clock tower, before it was finished being built, in 1885.  They take a picture of the tombstone, which states that Doc was "shot in the back by Buford Tannen over a matter of 80 dollars".  It also states that the tombstone was placed by Doc's "beloved Clara". Both of them have no idea who Clara is, but ultimately decide to proceed with the plan set up by the Doc from 1985, with one alteration.

The younger Doc and Marty decide to go against the wishes of the older Doc, who wanted Marty to go directly back to 1985 and leave him in the Old West. Marty instead intends to use the DeLorean to travel back to 1885 to bring Doc back home. Doc gives Marty his second silly disguise, and he takes the DeLorean time machine back to the old west. Of course, things don't work out as planned.

Upon arriving in 1885, the DeLorean winds up in the front of a group of Native Americans who are being chased by the United States Cavalry. Marty ends up driving the DeLorean into a cave before the Native Americans or the Cavalry can notice where he ended up. He finds that the gas line is leaking due to a strike by an arrow, but before he can attempt to fix it, he's chased out of the cave by a bear. Marty hits his head and is found by his great, great grandparents.

Upon entering town Marty takes the name of "Clint Eastwood", and then proceeds to embarrass Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, who chases Marty with his gang, catches him, and strings him up on a noose to hang him.  Marty is rescued by Doc, who shoots the rope from which Marty is hanging with a homemade sniper rifle.  Buford informs Doc that he owes him eighty dollars for a horse that he shot after the horse lost a shoe that Doc had put on the horse. Doc refuses to pay as Buford never paid to have the shoes put on the horse in the first place. Marty then informs Doc that he will be killed by Buford in a week due to the fact that Doc didn't pay him the money.

Doc also learns of the damage to the time machine, but Marty seems unfazed as he is under the mistaken impression that the Mr. Fusion nuclear reactor that Doc used to convert garbage to energy can be used to power the DeLorean. Doc corrects Marty, as he explains that the Mr. Fusion is only used to power the fusion generator of the time circuits in place of the plutonium that it previously used. The DeLorean itself still uses a standard combustion engine to run and needs gasoline in order to function.

Several test runs of ideas ranging from using alcohol to fuel the DeLorean, to pulling the DeLorean with horses, fail. Doc then decides to instead use a steam locomotive to push the DeLorean up to eighty-eight miles per hour. They learn that a train will be coming by the morning that Doc is supposed to die and decide that, although it is cutting it close, they should be able to make it if they head right to the train and avoid Buford.

However, Doc and Marty soon find a woman whose horses have been spooked by a snake and is about to head into the ravine.  Doc saves her and discovers that she is Clara Clayton, a school teacher. They fall in love at first sight, which Doc had originally passed off as an impossibility for his scientifically oriented mind. Marty tells Doc that the ravine is known in 1985 Clayton ravine. It was renamed from Shonash ravine after a teacher fell into it and died one hundred years earlier. Doc realizes that Clara was meant to die in that ravine, and is concerned that he had changed history.

In the previous timeline, before Marty went back to get Doc, Doc had volunteered to pick Clara up at the station. That gave them a week to get to know each other and led to Clara making the epitaph on Doc's grave when he died.  In this timeline, however, Marty's appearance caused Doc to forget to pick her up, which led to the snakes spooking the horses as they did before Doc traveled to 1885. However, Doc rescued her, leading them to fall in love as they had in the timeline before Marty arrived.

Clara tells Doc that she hopes that she'll see him at the Hill Valley Festival.  Doc states that she will, and both he, and Marty, as "Clint Eastwood", attend the festival.  While there, Mad Dog Tannen smuggles in a gun, which has only one small bullet that is said to take a week for the injuries to kill a man. Doc realizes that this is where he died, so he purposely keeps facing Tannen. As Mad Dog is about to shoot Doc, Marty uses a Frisbee brand pie tin to knock the gun out of his hand, causing the bullet to merely graze Doc's hat.

Mad Dog calls Marty "yellow", which gets at his weakness, which is to never allow anyone to call him chicken. He agrees to a duel on the day of the train's arrival, assuming that they will be out of there by then. However, Doc points out that it is possible that the train might be late. Marty's great-grandfather is disappointed in "Clint", and tells him the story of his brother Martin who was killed by a stabbing because he would always do foolish things simply because someone called him a coward.

Later, Marty points out that the picture of the tombstone no longer states that Doc died, so he assumes that their plan will work.  However, Doc points out that if the future was already written, it doesn't make sense for the tombstone and the date of the death, as well as for the picture itself, to still exist. Doc tells Marty that the future still is being written, and it is still possible that Marty will be the one to be killed on that day.

Doc and Clara fall even more in love when it is revealed that they both share a love of science, with him being a scientist and student of all sciences, and her loving science since her father gave her a telescope as a child.  They both also love Jules Verne novels, as his words were what inspired both of them to be interested in the pursuit of scientific knowledge.  Doc decides that he wants to take Clara with them, so he tries to tell her the truth.  She thinks that he is abusing her love of Jules Verne to make lies to break up with him, and tells Emmett that she never wants to see him again.

Doc gets depressed from his heartbreak and goes to the saloon to pour his heart out. The patrons at the bar find his stories of the future humorous, and when Marty arrives, on the day of the duel, he thinks that Doc is drunk. Marty convinces Doc that they need to go, and Doc drinks the whiskey in front of him.  He then passes out. The bartender tells Marty he only had one drink and is known for not being able to hold his liquor.

The bartender gives Doc a drink to make him sober, and everyone waits for Doc to wake up. Marty then hears Mad Dog Tannen outside and discovers that it is now "Clint Eastwood" who is stated on the photograph to die. He tries to sneak out the back, but Doc, who had awoken from his drunken sleep, is captured by Mad Dog. Doc tries to get Marty to leave and save himself, but Marty can't leave his friend behind.

Marty goes out to face Mad Dog but drops his gun telling him that he won't fight. Mad Dog then proceeds to shoot him and cockily walks up to what he thinks is "Clint's" dead body. However, Marty had taken a door from a stove, and used it as a make shift bullet proof vest, as he had seen in a Clint Eastwood film shown at Biff's Pleasure Paradise in Back to the Future Part II. Marty then knocks Mad Dog Tannen out, and the lawmen proceed to arrest Tannen and his gang.  At this point, the picture now just shows grass, which means that the future hasn't yet been completely written (possibly indicating that Doc plants the tombstone at some point in order to make sure that Marty arrives in the past to prevent a paradox).

Wearing bandanas over their mouths like outlaws, Marty and Doc hold up the train and claim that it is a science experiment.  They disconnect the engine from the other cars and drive it up to the DeLorean, which is already on the unused portion of the tracks. Doc has prepared his own type of presto logs, which are color coded to get hotter and make the train go faster once it reaches certain speeds. Marty is in the DeLorean from the start, and Doc plans on catching up once the logs reach a certain level.

However, Clara, who learned that Doc was torn up about their breakup, and discovered Doc's model DeLorean time machine in his workshop, had jumped from her horse to the moving train.  Doc is just moving to the DeLorean when he hears the whistle blow.  He sees Clara and goes back to rescue her. However, at this point, the DeLorean has passed the point of no return, and it's too late.  Marty slides the hoverboard back to Doc, and he safely glides away with Clara in his arms.  Marty then successfully goes back to 1985, as the train in 1885 crashes in the ravine.

The DeLorean crosses the now completed bridge across the ravine, which is now named "Eastwood Ravine". Marty hears a train whistle and jumps out of the DeLorean just before the collision.  However, the DeLorean is broken into pieces by the train.  Marty states that Doc has gotten his wish, as the DeLorean has been destroyed.

Marty then goes and gets Jennifer, who at first thinks that everything was a crazy dream.  However, once they reach Marty's classmate Douglas Needles, he tries to coax Marty into drag racing him by calling him chicken.  Marty then pretends to comply, but backs up, as, after the advice given by his great, great grandfather, he has learned to not be intimidated by bullies any longer.  Marty sees Needles narrowly miss a Rolls-Royce and realizes that he would have hit it. Jennifer then realizes that it wasn't a dream and pulls out the fax she took in the future.  She sees the message that Marty has been fired become faded until it is erased.

Marty and Jennifer go to the train track to look at the wreckage of the DeLorean, and they become sad that they will never see Doc again. At that moment, Doc appears in a steam-powered time train. He and Clara now have young sons, Jules and Verne. Doc had previously come back to the 1980s to pick up Einstein and had traveled to the 2010s to have the train hover converted. Doc and his family then leave to the past, and the original trilogy comes to a close.

However, the story is continued in Back to the Future: The Game, which takes place six months after Doc leaves Jennifer and Marty in 1985 in his time train.  The story is certainly a fun one, but it takes its cues from the second film in terms of confusing moments.

But first, we'll take a detour towards IDW's comics, as they explain a lot of mysteries from the films.

Back to Part II

Tales from the Borderlands is Now On GOG.com

Tales from the Borderlands is now available at GOG.com, and is currently 50% off as part of their summer sale, which ends tomorrow. All of the Telltale games available at GOG.com are currently on sale, ranging from 50% off to 90% off, as part of the summer sale as well.

OUTATIME Review

The final episode of Back to the Future: The Game ties the season together with a visit to multiple time periods and the addition of Michael J. Fox to the voice cast.  It's certainly the most ambitious episode to date, and, for the most part, it does live up to its potential.

This game starts off in 1931 in Emmett's lab. By this point, 1931 is feeling pretty redundant, but Telltale manages to mix things up a bit as we finally get to see the science fair inside Hill Valley high school.  The science fair contains some retro-views of the future, including a house with sliding glass walls, and a home with 1930's views of "futuristic" objects, including a nice tongue-in-cheek reference to one of the objects from the 2015 future seen in Back to the Future Part II.

The puzzles in this scene are among the most fun I've had during the entire run of the series.  There's a puzzle, in particular, involving young Emmett that is kind of an anti-puzzle.  I can't say more without giving anything away, but it was nice to see Telltale thinking out-of-the box on their puzzle design.  The voice acting in this scene also shines, especially the parts where Marty and the older Emmett have to attempt to mock the voices of other characters.  Both Christopher Lloyd and AJ Locascio did a great job here.  They both managed to sound like their characters imitating other characters, which isn't an easy task to accomplish.

The game really gets going after the science fair is over. It's hard to say what happens without giving anything away, but we finally get to see a timeline change happening around Marty and Doc.  As I mentioned before, Telltale managed to get Michael J. Fox to voice a character in the game, and he has a large part in helping Marty and Doc as they attempt to find out why the timeline had changed.  It's great to see Michael J. Fox back in a Back to the Future production, and hearing Michael J Fox and AJ Locascio together really drives home just how good AJ's Marty really is.

There are three time jumps after this, one of which involves a character that was introduced in Back to the Future: The Animated Series.  It's great to see Telltale give a nod of the hat to the show.  It's even better that they managed to handle the character in a way that isn't as over-the-top as the cartoon, and actually feels like he could have fit into the films.  Despite his short appearance in only one scene in this final episode, he's actually one of my favorite characters in the entire game.  If Telltale does another season, it would be great to see more of him, but what we received here was certainly worthwhile.

The best part of the game comes in the final puzzle, which is the best final puzzle in the season.  It's well thought out, the puzzles are entertaining, it incorporates something fans have been asking for, and it feels cinematic enough that it would have easily worked in the films.  The musical score here is also excellent, further giving the scene its cinematic feel.  I've said it before, but I'll say it again.  The music in this game really shines.  Jared Emerson-Johnson and Bay Area Sound managed to blend the film's score with new music seamlessly throughout the entire season, and this episode was certainly no different.

I do have to point out though, that the bugs that have been present in every episode this season are still here.  I experienced bugs that have plagued previous episodes, such as the bug that causes Marty to be called the wrong name.  The bugs aren't that bad though, but they're noticeable enough to detract you from the story, which is a shame since this episode is really well done otherwise.

OUTATIME is easily the best episode of the series.  It has plenty of time travel, incorporates things that fans have requested, and the voice and musical score really shines here.  Best of all, Michael J Fox has joined the cast for the finale.  As with every episode in Back to the Future: The Game, unfortunately, the episode is marred a bit by bugs.  The ending is also not for everyone.  It's a bit too cartoony, and it took me a while to warm up to it.  That being said, it's certainly a fitting ending to the season, which has overall been an average gaming experience, but above average in the story, art, and sound departments.  I definitely would not mind a second season.

Update December 1, 2015: Since I wrote this review, a remaster called the 30th Anniversary Edition has been released. The improved textures aren't really that noticeable, however, they also managed to get Tom Wilson to reprise his role as Biff.  Having Tom Wilson as Biff really helps to add to the authenticity, so if you want to play the game, it's worth picking up the remaster if possible. If you've already played it, it's not really worth picking up again, unless you're a big Back to the Future fan.

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5

Double Visions Review

Double Visions is the fourth episode of the episodic Back to the Future: The Game by Telltale Games.  After a troubled start, with the first two episodes being criticized for a lack of originality in puzzles and numerous bugs, things started to seem to be getting better with Episode 3: Citizen Brown.  Unfortunately, Double Visions takes many steps backward.

This game takes place in two different time eras, the Citizen Brown alternate 1986, and 1931.  The beginning section in the alternate 1986 is excellent, and the cutscene of the Marty and Citizen Brown escape is choreographed so well that it actually felt like a scene from the film.  However, the rest of the game is spent in 1931, and the game goes downhill fast from here.  I do like 1931.  I enjoy the characters of young Emmet and young Edna a lot.  However, while 1931 seemed fresh and exciting in episode 1, it's gotten really dull by this point.  Telltale did try to liven things up by having new locations.  The new locations are Emmet's new lab and the technology of the future presentation at Hill Valley High School.  The problem is that these are the only two locations for the majority of the game.  The puzzles have Marty going back and forth between the two locations, which becomes very tedious very quickly.

The main problem is that there are some bugs in these two locations that make them very frustrating.  I had to turn on pop-up text because the clickable areas for objects were incorrect.  I'd often find Marty leaving Doc's lab rather than interacting with an object since the clickable area for the door extended too far into the lab.  Turning on the pop-up text revealed where the clickable area was, but that was a bandage rather than a solution since the pop-up text is supposed to be an optional feature.  The most frustrating location was the high school.  Often I'd try to leave the area and I'd bump into Trixie who was pacing at the bottom of the screen.   This would trigger a conversation with Trixie, even though I did not press any button to make this happen.  With her walk path being right where Marty needed to be, this happened to me quite a few times.  Another very annoying bug is that there was an instance where there was no voice and only subtitles.  This was frustrating to me when I played with subtitles turned on, since it broke the story's hold on me.  With the subtitles turned off, it would be even more frustrating, since you would actually miss a part of the dialog.

On the plus side, the puzzles have more variety this time.  I enjoyed the puzzle where Marty had to find a way to leave Hill Valley High School.  The puzzle with Emmet's invention actually stumped me, and I had to end up looking up a hint.  It is nice to see Telltale adding variety and a harder difficulty level to the puzzles.  The art design, voices, and music are all top-notch once again as well.  It's a shame there aren't any new characters in this game, however.  The returning characters are the ones that I enjoyed the most in the previous games, but new characters would have gone a long way to making the return visit to 1931 a lot more enjoyable.

After an excellent third episode, it's a shame this game took such a huge step backward.  The framing sections are fun, at the beginning and end of the game.  However, it really drags in the middle.  There are only two locations for the majority of the game, and those locations are riddled with bugs.  The puzzles are more fun this time, and the music, voices, and art design are top-notch as usual.  However, there are no new characters introduced (nor are there any new alternate versions of characters already seen), and although the characters that are in the game are the most interesting of those seen so far, they are not enough to carry the game on their own.  The ending sets up the final episode excellently, as usual.  But, in the end, that's all that this episode seems to be: a way to set things up for the much more ambitious finale.

Update: December 1, 2015: Since I wrote this review, a remaster called the 30th Anniversary Edition has been released. The improved textures aren't really that noticeable, however, they also managed to get Tom Wilson to reprise his role as Biff. Biff only appears in a silent cameo in this episode, but since the episodes are only available as a package deal, if you want to play it, it's worth getting the remaster if you've never played the game before. If you've already played it, it's not really worth picking up again, unless you're a big Back to the Future fan.

Final Verdict:

3 out of 5

Citizen Brown Review

Citizen Brown is the third episode of Back to the Future: The Game, the five-part episodic adventure game by Telltale Games.  For the first time in this series, the episode takes place in only one timeline, an alternate timeline where Hill Valley has become a strict land ruled by order and discipline.

The game continues to shine in the areas where the previous games have excelled. The art style once again works well, and the new Hill Valley contrasts greatly against both the Hill Valley shown in the previous episodes of the game, as well as the Hill Valley of the movies.  The town is recognizably the same, yet also very different, much like the alternate Hill Valley shown in Back to the Future Part II.  Unlike that film's Hill Valley though, this one is neat and clean, which was a wise choice since that cleanliness fits the art style of this series perfectly.

Once again the voice work shines.  Doc and Marty are voiced excellently once more, and AJ Locascio gets to flex his ability as an actor with a duo role as both Marty and of one of Marty's high school acquaintances.  Even though it's an alternate reality, it was still great to see Marty socializing with his peers, since not much of that aspect of teen life was shown in the movies.  The greatest addition to this game, in my opinion, was Marty's girlfriend Jennifer, who is voiced by Claudia Wells, the original Jennifer from the first movie.  They have digitally altered her voice to sound like she did when she was a teenager, and they did a great job.  She sounds just like she did in the film.  As I said before, I enjoy Andrew Chaikin's wimpy Biff, and since this alternate Biff fits that bill, he does the job well.  The rest of the cast performed just as well, including some new takes on some previously introduced characters, as well as a character that was only just briefly seen in the first film.

The music is wonderful as always, and the musical cues and sound effects from the movies are used to great effect here.  The issues I had with the technical side of the sound finally seemed to have been rectified here, as I played the game twice and didn't notice the characters calling Marty the wrong name this time.  He was called by the name I chose in my first playthrough of the first episode consistently.  I also didn't encounter any lipsynching glitches in this episode either.  This seems to be the most polished episode thus far.

The puzzles have improved, and fan feedback was taken into effect.  There are no repeats of puzzles from previous episodes here (the Einstein sniffing puzzles are thankfully behind us now it seems), and the puzzles that are there require a bit more thought.  The game is still easier than most Telltale games (especially at this point in the season), but the game no longer seems to hold your hand for each puzzle unless you have the optional hint objectives turned on.

Citizen Brown doesn't have any time travel, but nonetheless, it features the best story of the season so far.  It also seems to be better play-tested, since I didn't encounter any bugs or glitches in this episode.  The voice acting is excellent as usual, the art is wonderful, and the musical score and sound effects are used to great effect.  It is most certainly the most polished episode of the series so far.  The game's main drawback is still the puzzles.  They are more difficult than previous episodes, but they are still easier than other Telltale games, especially considering we are now in the middle of the season.

Update: December 1, 2015: Since I wrote this review, a remaster called the 30th Anniversary Edition has been released. The improved textures aren't really that noticeable, however, they also managed to get Tom Wilson to reprise his role as Biff. I originally thought that Andrew Chaikin was fine in this episode, as he does wimpy Biff well. However, Tom Wilson manages to have a variety in the performance of even a pacified Biff.  He really helps to convey the creepiness of the Citizen Plus program.  Plus, of course, in a few instances, we get to see a tough Biff that works a lot better with Tom Wilson's performance. If you've already played it, it's not really worth picking up again, unless you're a big Back to the Future fan.

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5

Get Tannen Review

Get Tannen is the second episode in Telltale's Back to the Future: The Game, an episodic adventure game series that chronicles the adventures of Marty and Doc after the Back to the Future movies.  This episode takes place immediately where the last episode left off and manages to capture the charm of the first episode while having a bigger story and beefier gameplay.

The art style is really starting to grow on me by this point.  The style seemed to fit the game in the first episode, but here it just shines.  We finally get to see the underbelly of the prohibition-era Hill Valley, and with that comes some interesting new locations and new characters.  The models of the new characters are great, and their personalities would be right at home in one of the movies. I really enjoyed the character of Trixie Trotter, and it was great to see Jennifer's relatives visit in a Back to the Future story for once. 

The voices are all great once again.  The new voices fit their characters and don't feel forced, and Marty and Doc sound great as usual.  We get to see Biff as an antagonist in this game, and it feels a bit jarring at first that he still sounds like wimpy Biff.  The feeling was short-lived for me, however, as I realized that this is an alternate Biff from the ones we've seen, and his character changes make sense for him to be a bit of a wimp.

As for the music, the main Back to the Future score is still used here as it was in the first game, and once again it is used remarkably well.  Beyond that, Back to the Future always has music playing from the era that Marty finds himself in, and this game doesn't disappoint there.  Trixie Trotter sings various musical numbers when she's on stage, and I enjoyed each one of them.

The puzzles are still easier than usual, but they are improving.  I particularly enjoyed one puzzle that was an homage to a puzzle in Monkey Island 2 and required thought rather than just the usual object clicking.  The one thing that I didn't like in this episode was that some of the puzzles seem very repetitive by now, which was a trait that also kept Doctor Who: The Adventure games from being as good as they could have been. The Einstein sniffing puzzle was fun the first time, but they were brought back several times in this episode, and they just feel overused now.  This game also suffers from the same animation and script glitches that the first episode had.  I liked the idea of the characters calling you by the name you chose in the first episode, but since I played through the first episode twice and chose a different name the second time, the characters will alternate between those two names in this episode rather than staying consistent.  These glitches didn't keep me from enjoying the game, but they were definitely a minor hindrance.

Get Tannen keeps the tradition of great storytelling and excellent music and voice work that Telltale is known for.  Unfortunately, the game suffers from some repetitive puzzles and a few annoying glitches.  They aren't bad enough to stop anyone from enjoying the game, because the excellent story, voiceovers, and music make up for it.  Telltale's games have a tendency to improve from the third episode onward, so hopefully, in the next episode, the puzzles and presentation will match the bar set by the story and sound teams.

Update: December 1, 2015: Since I wrote this review, a remaster called the 30th Anniversary Edition has been released. The improved textures aren't really that noticeable, however, they also managed to get Tom Wilson to reprise his role as Biff. The authenticity of having Tom voice Biff works really well, especially in the alternate reality where we get to hear the tough Biff.  The danger of the scene really works a lot better when you have the angry tones that Tom Wilson does so well.  If you have yet to play the game, pick up the remastered version if you can. If you've already played it, it's not really worth picking up again, unless you're a big Back to the Future fan.

Final Verdict:

3 out of 5

It's About Time Review

Back to the Future: The Game: Episode 1: It's About Time is Telltale's first game to be released as part of their partnership with Universal. It is a direct continuation of the story as featured in the films, taking place six months after the events of Back to the Future Part III. Like Tales of Monkey Island before it, the Telltale crew has consulted one of the creators of the license, in this case Back to the Future co-creator Bob Gale, in order to keep the game faithful to the films. The result is very impressive, but there are a few hiccups in Telltale's first foray into the Back to the Future universe.

Telltale has opted to interpret the game in the art style of their other humorous adventures, rather than using realistic characters and scenes like their CSI games. The result is very pleasing, especially considering Telltale targets low-end hardware as much as high-end hardware so they can attract as many audiences as possible. This is a good thing, as it helps keep the game out of the uncanny valley. Telltale has captured the look of the Back to the Future characters very well in this style, and the characters do exude more emotion in their faces and movements than in Telltale's previous games. The animation is still stiff, but they still managed to capture the erratic nature of Doc Brown well. The background images also are done well. They captured the look of the iconic images from the films, and the reimagining of the town of Hill Valley in a different time period was just as fun to see as it was in the films.  I did notice one hiccup with the animation where the mouth of a character was moving when no words were being spoken.  It didn't happen too long, and it only happened once, so it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the game too much.

In this case, the time period that is visited is the 1930s during the prohibition era. We also get a glimpse of the 1980s at the start of the game and hear from all of the main cast except for Marty's girlfriend Jennifer. Telltale did a remarkable job of finding voice sound-alikes. The only actor to return from the films was Christopher Lloyd as Doctor Emmett L. Brown, and he still does the character brilliantly. A.J. Locascio is just as spot-on as the marketing for the game led you to believe. It really is amazing how much he sounds like Michael J. Fox as Marty. The rest of the cast isn't as eerily accurate, but they do sound like the characters from the films. We only get to hear Lorraine, Marty's mom, in the opening, but she does a classic line from the film, and she nails it.  George McFly is very convincing as well, and we get to hear more from his middle-aged self than we ever do in the films.  We only get to hear Biff as his pushover middle-aged self, but Andrew Chaikin has his voice afflictions down.  

The new characters are also all voiced very well.  I especially like James Arnold Taylor as the 17-year-old Emmett L. Brown.  He has Doc's vocal oddities down pat and really does sound like a young Christopher Lloyd.  Members of the Tannen and McFly family always show up in the past, so here we get Artie McFly, Marty's grandfather, who looks very much like Marty's dad, and sounds a lot like Crispin Glover in George McFly's teenage years.  We also finally get to see Biff's father, who was absent in the films.  He's a gangster named Kid Tannen, who surprisingly doesn't look or sound like Biff, but rather has a New York accent.  It's a bit of a departure from the films, which always had the actors portray their relatives.  However, it works well.  My favorite new character is Edna Strickland.  Her 1980s elderly voice is a bit jarring, as it sounds a bit forced.  However, the voice is given a lot of range, so it doesn't quite jar as much as the Soda Poppers did in Telltale's Sam & Max series.  Her 1930s voice, on the other hand, is very well done.  Her voice fits her character perfectly, and in retrospect, the 1980s voice does as well since we see how her character got to be the way she is 55 years later.  As long as Telltale doesn't overuse elderly Edna in future episodes, I'm sure her character will sit just fine with most people.

The music is always a high point in games by Telltale Games, and it certainly doesn't disappoint here.  The thing I was glad about was that get to hear period music in the 1930s, as was the case in the movies, and fans will be glad to know there's a bit of Huey Lewis and the News in there as well.  As far as orchestration, Jared Emerson-Johnson does a great job blending the film's soundtrack with new music.  The soundtrack that is taken from the films is the original orchestrated score, which helps bring a sense of grandeur to the game.  The new music is not performed by a full orchestra, but it fits in the game just fine.  As evidenced by Poker Night at the Inventory, Jared is skilled at blending different music styles together, and he does the same remarkable job here.

Telltale's first episodes in any season always have easier puzzles than usual, but since they were aiming to attract an even more casual crowd than usual, the puzzles are easier than most of their first episodes.  A previous interview mentioned that Telltale was taking steps to attract even non-gamers, and the problems mentioned have been addressed here.  There is now an objective screen, which will tell players what they have to do next.  This can be turned off in the options, with the exclusion of the intro tutorial which is similar to that found in the first episode of Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse.  Even when the objectives are turned off, they can still be viewed by clicking the exclamation point in the right corner of the screen.  

The hints system has also been overhauled, getting a system similar to the Universal Hint System format, where the player can get a simple hint, a more detailed hint, or a hint that tells the player what to do.  I have always liked the UHS format because players can choose how detailed of a hint they want, so I'm glad to see Telltale adopt the format in-game.  I personally didn't have a problem with the easy puzzles and the catering to casual gamers, as the rest of the game design made up for it in my opinion, but it may be a problem for some.

It's About Time is a great start to what looks to be another great series for Telltale Games.  The story, voice acting, art design, and music all stay faithful to the source material.  The story is engrossing, and it makes you want more.  There are a few technical hiccups that take you out of the experience somewhat, but they happen few and far between.  The puzzles are easier than a lot of adventure gamers would like, but in my opinion, the rest of the game design makes up for it.  The game shouldn't disappoint most people who are fans of Back to the Future and the adventure genre.

Update: December 1, 2015: Since I wrote this review, a remaster called the 30th Anniversary Edition has been released.  The improved textures aren't really that noticeable, however, they also managed to get Tom Wilson to reprise his role as Biff.  The authenticity of having Tom voice Biff works really well in the situations where we get to hear the tough Biff, which we only get a taste of here, but is much more noticeable in later episodes.  If you have yet to play the game, pick up the remastered version if you can. If you've already played it, it's not really worth picking up again, unless you're a big Back to the Future fan.

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5