After a couple hesitant episode, this chapter brought finally Back to the future game near to the top of narrative adventures. Still not a great game (too on-rails and easy), but for me s a BBTF fan it is more than enough!
BEST EPISODE SO FAR! That solution with the De Lorean wheel and the battery was crazy but it made me smile, I think it was fun. All the discoveries in the new Hill Valley were fun and the story telling is top grade. Great job for Telltale because I think that with a lovable franchise like this they had to be faithful and had boundaries for episode one and two, but this one feels new and sharp now that they have cleared the way for more risky situations. Lead the way telltale!
Best episode so far. Everything about it was great. I was especially impressed with the enviroment in general: the sort of neo-art-noveau design of the buildings and stuff. The moment where Doc sees the design of his flux capacitor matches his "human" logo is a totally BAM moment, and my favorite scene so far in the series.
There were also some throwbacks to many Telltale Gags, such as being able to make Biff do the Guybrush dance (called Chicken dance), or the bottle of Banang. Yes, Banang is seen just for 1 second when Marty jumps through the decycling bin and falls into the trash container.
Best episode so far. Everything about it was great. I was especially impressed with the enviroment in general: the sort of neo-art-noveau design of the buildings and stuff. The moment where Doc sees the design of his flux capacitor matches his "human" logo is a totally BAM moment, and my favorite scene so far in the series.
The flux capacitor logo revelation moment was great. It's interesting that Doc still had the flux capacitor vision in this timeline. It raises a lot of questions about the forces of fate and destiny in the BttF universe.
I really loved this episode as well. The first two were just "nice", and with the puzzles being almost non-existent, I still liked them as being an interactive fourth movie, somewhat. But it was episode 3 which really gave me the real BTTF feeling... I could totally imagine most of it in movie form.
As for all the exposition: I loved it! I tried to exhaust all dialogue options, as it was really a joy to see how the new timeline affected everybody.
I'm a little worried about the next episode though, as we're going back to 1931 yet again. I hope they make it a bit more different this time (something episode 2 only partly managed to do).
I have to say. As with Monkey Island, there were not enough dead ends and puzzles with multiple options. The game is fantastic, I'm a huge BTTF fan, but also a huge Lucasarts tm fan, so a little disappointing on the challenge front. Not big on the Dragons Lair type of interactive movie!!. Not really a game.
All in all its great. I hope they have plans for another installment as this one will be solved way too quickly!:)
I liked the episode except the hypnotizing. That is as wrong as cutting yourself while stepping on glass while looking at the sun while swimming in the dead sea!!!! But whats the point of the last part with that. Couldn't she just agree to let him have a free ticket to punch and injure McFly as much as she wants? At least he said that saying bad stuff makes him uncomfortable. Thats the only good part. None of the hypnotizing is good though.
I liked Jenniffer! She was great! I like her hair! And the guitar stuff was a bit confusing but good once figured out! Besides the hypnotizing and the beer and being knocked out it was very good! The begginning was a bit scary (Who knows why, but it is still good.) and the beginning puzzle was kind of hard. And the computer froze or turned off a few times in the game and the words were ahead of the characters 1 or 2 times. But it is still good! How could public holding hands and hugging and owning a dog be illegal?!?! Thats something you gotta love about this episode. It would be nice if you got to where Doc was in trouble, but it was still great! I know this review has some not fantastic remarks, I am just saying what could be better. This episode is as good if not better than episode 2!!! Overall, I give it an 8 - 8.5! The way you could actually get in the golf cart was great! And I liked getting to convince Doc to believe me. It was a bit hard to do it but great! And did you notice the Einstein statues on the top of the courthouse?!?! That is absolutely Doc's idea. I know Edna does not like dogs, but why not just make it to where aggressive dogs are not aloud near her. I guess it just makes it better in the entirely unnormal timeline!
I'm going to go on the "Episode 3 is awesome!" bandwagon here. I liked the first two episodes as well, if it's something that I've caught on with Telltale, is that the first two chapters of their games are usually the build up of the plot, but I digress.
Really interesting to run around in the new Hill Valley and just as interesting to talk to the characters (from George and Lorraine to Jennifer). What really made me go "this is an amazing episode" (not going to say best juuuuust yet. We still have two more episodes after all) was the scene between Citizen Doc and Marty for the first time, as well as the confrontation between Edna, Marty, and Doc something about seeing them argue like that (and the shout...oh wow) I got goosebumps from Christopher Lloyds' performance, I tip my hat off to the man.
And I gotta give props to Telltale for creating such a batsh*t insane character. I thought Edna was just a pesky nag but after this episode, but after this episode, she became a rather frightening character for me. Someone who could be a grumpy old hag in one timeline, and a complete freakin' manipulative Big Brother in another. Frightening, interesting, and just an overall bitch.
While on voice acting, major props to AJ and Claudia and just about everyone else in this episode, it was awesome/weird hearing Jennifer giving snarky remarks to Marty and I did have a bit of a giggle fit when Biff nearly cussed (I...erm...tend to laugh at cuss words being cut off, no clue why either).
I know for some it was boring a bit to run around in a perfect Hill Valley, but for me, it was fairly interesting. Something about it made it feel that it both is and is not 1986. The building landscapes, as someone stated earlier, had that neo-feel to it, yet at the same time (Marty's home and Doc's office for example) still had the 1986 feel to it, I also dug the contrast of the environment that Hill Valley had both the feel of wanting the best and something grimy and evil. A great example for that to me was the difference between Edna's "office" and Doc's. Doc's had the more openly aware of being in control and wanting the best for the town's folk while Edna's was dark, evil, and had a manipulative feel to it, not caring for the well being of others. I'm rambling here, but that's because I absolutely adore environments that can give vibes just by walking in the room (but that might also be to the color feel: again, Doc's was warm while Edna's was cold).
Not going to bother with the puzzles, normally I would go nuts over the puzzle, but BTTF seems to be a different case for me. While it's easy, I didn't feel too bothered by it, could it be a bit more difficult? Yes, case in point the guitar showdown, I had a bit of trouble figuring it out, but eventually I caught on. (by the way, that was also a very fun puzzle to do in my opinion) But overall, I wasn't horribly annoyed at the ease of the puzzles, at the end of the day I just want to get more into the story of BTTF, which this episode did splendidly.
Episode three is my favorite episode to date. Some of the solutions to the problems were extremely creative and the plot was really gripping. As with everyone else, I enjoyed the other Telltale game nods and references. After a month of patiently waiting, I'd say the episode was well worth it.
It's interesting that Doc still had the flux capacitor vision in this timeline. It raises a lot of questions about the forces of fate and destiny in the BttF universe.
I thought that at the first the notebook was a big paradox, but not at all, when we see Doc comment it latter.
Doc still had the vision but he doesn't complete it, maybe misguided by Edna looking at the raised armed logo, lead to believe it was the beginning of an idea of controlled city instead of time travel, the note book misses all the notes made after the bathroom accident.
And thank god for that, it would be too weird (and actually hopeless) to re-make/repair the time machine again without it happening.
I enjoy the storyline. And I love the Star Wars and Clockwork orange references, even though they were uncalled for they were hilarious. I just think it needs to be more challenging, more puzzles etc. I usually finish each chapter in a couple of hours. Three tops and then I have wait a whole month for the next chapter.
Despite the lack of action in this episode, I loved the bizarro hill valley and the story was very interesting. I enjoyed talking with the characters but I was hoping for a little more action after waiting for a whole month. But the people over at TTG are doing a wonderful job at staying loyal to the original movies. Think about it people, these series could've been a lot worse in the hands of others.
I agree it could be worse! The older BTTF games not only had not as good graphics (They were older by the way.) but it seems they were the same story as the movie. And those games are not as good (same with books having the same story except for Narnia). So I am happy not only does it have decent graphics and is newer, but I am happy at least its a new story!!!! The main thing I don't like is the hypnotizing in ep 3 and 1 or 2 glitches and it froze 1 or 2 times in ep 3. And it was harder then ep 1 and maybe harder than ep 2. I hope that the 4th ep is longer!
I thought that at the first the notebook was a big paradox, but not at all, when we see Doc comment it latter.
Doc still had the vision but he doesn't complete it, maybe misguided by Edna looking at the raised armed logo, lead to believe it was the beginning of an idea of controlled city instead of time travel, the note book misses all the notes made after the bathroom accident.
And thank god for that, it would be too weird (and actually hopeless) to re-make/repair the time machine again without it happening.
It is pretty confusing that the notebook itself didn't disappear, now that Doc never actually wrote it in this new timeline. But again, Doc drew it and it made time travel possible, by which he ended up changing his own history and became the Citizen Brown, creating a paradox, but I guess being in a paradox doesn't effect its existence as harshly as "dying early or not being born in a new timeline".
I noticed a few spelling mistakes and grammatical errors--mostly misuse of "you're" instead of "your" when talking to Lorraine and/or George, I can't remember who specifically, but also a combination of "Hill Vally" and what looked like two normal sentences merged together in one of the save/load recap paragraphs.
Simple enough puzzles, once you understood how they worked. I tried to coax Einie out with the food before I remembered the can of spray paint, and that damn guitar puzzle was a pain to start with until I realised I was thinking too hard about it.
Gotta love cliffhangers, though, and at least we'll get to spend at least some more time in this crazy timeline in the next game before going back to 1931--because, hell, we've still gotta get that Mr. Fusion off the car at least.
Loved the story. The puzzles were a little more difficult this time around, but still not enough. What was difficulty to figure out doesn't last that long because there are only so many things you can interact with. I like that the villain has shifted from a Tannen to someone else for a change, however. That was actually one of the things I suggested in that BTTF survey Telltale had way back.
Story = Better than ever
Gameplay/Puzzles = Better than before, but only marginally
Also, I noticed there were consistently absolutely no sound effects when
They also had a Dukes Of Hazzard reference aswell, When marty was stuck in the billboard Jennifer said "Which one are you, Bo or Luke?" I thought that was a good laugh.
That bit made my day! Plus, the Boss Hogg reference in Get Tannen.
I enjoyed this episode a lot more than I did the first two, which is saying something considering I enjoyed those two quite well despite the issues I had with them, me being such a big BttF fan and all.
Only had a couple minor issues. Firstly, there was some sort of odd...line drawn shape in front of Marty the whole time everywhere I went. It was a very odd, almost unnoticable graphical glitch, and I have no idea why it occurred. It didn't really bother me; I actually thought it was more funny than anything else, but still worth mentioning just in case others are bothered by that.
Secondly, I'm not sure Marty's method of getting into Hill Valley made all that much in the way of sense. I kinda thought most of the hover machinery was in the car itself, not in the tires, and that all the tire had was the booster engine or rocket or whatever it uses. Just hooking up a battery to it shouldn't have made it fly.
But other than that, nicely done. And I must say...Jennifer is very...attractive, here. Certainly a lot more than she was in the movies.
Took me three hours to finish, but... most of that was spent watching cut-scenes and listening to dialogue trees. And then when it finally got to what felt like the mid-point, it ended. No extra "three more puzzles" or anything - just a Biff fight, cliffhanger, and credits. "Citizen Brown" really feels unfinished. I was at least hoping to help Doc with some Delorean-fixing puzzles before we hit any surprise cliffhangers.
Just because of how badly paced the story is with the gameplay, I'd have to rate this one of my least favorite episodes in the TT library. It feels more like half of an interactive movie than an actual game. But maybe those feelings will change once I see how it blends into Episode 4.
I do like the new setting and I do like the characters (Edna's become a pretty credible villain) and I even like that guitar battle. That last Biff fight seems a little tacked-on, though. I was hoping he'd stay a zombie for a while and become Marty's new sidekick (Come on! It worked with Guybrush and LeChuck!) Otherwise, I'm still a bigger fan of Episodes 1 and 2.
This is like the fourth game to remind me how much I love 1984.
Speaking aside from that, this episode was brilliance. The jokes were absolutely amazing. The best line is when you confront Doc and you tell him he made a time machine out of a DeLorean and he asks "Why?". I was laughing so hard! The story had its amazingly serious moments too, though I felt the time after meeting with Doc to the end was a bit rushed. Still, the story and dialogue was just great. This alternate timeline is perfectly the opposite of BTTF and especially considering how Zemeckis set out to create an anti-Orwellian future in BTTF Part 2, it makes it even more shocking.
The graphical style in this game also seemed to be rather improved from the last two outings. Hill Valley was nice in ep1 and in ep2 it was all in gray, but Marty wasn't kidding in this one when he said the courthouse looked much better than ever. The first graphically astounding thing was when the glass broke on the DeLorean, as well as that tire which floated pretty nicely. Animation seemed to go up to, as when Officer Parker patted you down I did a double take because the movement was so crisp! In the voice department, Marty's mom was a bit weak (which is strange since the brief ep1 appearance was fine) but I love the punk Jennifer. Hopefully she sounds closer to the original though if they go back to a solid timeline.
I thought I'd be done with this episode in an hour, but it took me two and a half to get every bit of information I could out of people. Longest episode definitely. The puzzles were well constructed when they were multi-part, though the guitar one was just annoying. Having lots of dialogue choices really helped this too as it really gave me a lot to delve into even though I basically got the set-up. I always want to know more.
Okay if u havent made it past Browns Office yet stop now
When ur in browns office and u look at the pic and in the back you see Doc and Marty how is that possable because that Doc what never created in this timeline so how is that able to happen? There fore how is the Delorian even created?
any insite?(P.s and dont be stupid and tell me that its cuz marty fixes it(Or we suppose he dose)Becasue then there would be no Hilly Vally under brown power(And yes ppl have said that)
Everyone's talking about the Star Wars/Clockwork Orange/Dukes of Hazzard references, but I geeked out the most at the In-N-Out Burger reference.
Anyway. I do think the story elements here were the most gripping so far, but I just finished the game ten minutes ago and already can barely remember a single puzzle. Though I guess that means none of them stood out to me as particularly stupid. :P
But again, I'm playing this mostly for the story. Doc's emotional arc is wuite involving. AJ's voice acting was better than ever. And it was a treat to hear Claudia, albeit as a Jennifer with a completely different attitude and inflections.
EDIT: I also was amused by Marty's assertion that he shouldn't be allowed to drive. Was that directed at any specific sort of gamer that may have overrun the forums in the past?
Emmett originally had no part in the arrest of Kid Tannen. Due to "Sonny/Michael/Harry's" mettling in the past, Emmett's rocket had an active role in apprehending Kid Tannen and thereby involved him in the arrest which resulted in Edna's interest in him. Without these interactions in 1931, the Citizen Brown timeline wouldn't have happened.
The scope of the episode was smaller than I expected with the majority of gameplay as exposition. In retrospect I see that the episode was setting up all along to have another one set in the same period. Going into it, I expected the episode to conclude with Marty escaping the timeline back to the 30s, or being forced to go to the future to try to fix something he couldn't fix in the 80s.
The characterization and setting was well done. Alternate Jennifer was fun, and while the relationship between Marty's parents was downright creepy, it was good to see them both. Some of the imagery and scenes were quite good, like when Marty meets up with Doc in his office. The ending for this episode felt more abrupt than the previous two.
This episode didn't have any fun inventions and was definitely darker than the other ones.
Not gonna lie, the beginning was really slow, and was nothing more than walking from character to character talking to them. But the game heated up pretty quickly and was ON FIRE by the end. I love all the little subtle things that Telltale does to make it really FEEL like BTTF--You can have a game with the BTTF characters and scenery, but there's that certain something that happens during scriptwriting that makes it really FEEL like BTTF 4 and Telltale absolutely nails it. The other thing I'll really applaud Telltale on is how they really made the dystopian 1986 world feel so real--it felt like a city that could actually exist--and it's all the little subtle things like the automated tours around the city that establish its history. It was a dystopian Hill Valley that was actually really interesting. The characters were all really well developed and the end of the game was OH SHIT AWESOME!
And *spoilers*
Did anyone else find the whole X:11 watch thing really creepy? It's something I didn't expect from a BTTF game, but I think Telltale handled it really well.
Keep in mind that, even before Telltale started making these games, the Back to the Future franchise focused more on entertainment than continuity. I mean, there are like three conflicting theories of time travel used throughout the movies. A few 'oversights' in Telltale's BTTF games are really just continuing the legacy of Back to the Future.
Now, as Martin said, the Citizen Brown timeline wouldn't have existed had the arrest of Kid Tannen been left as it originally did. ONE theory of time travel is that, by changing the past, you don't 'change the future'; you simply personally move from one dimension to another.
Think of time like a bunch of parallel train tracks. You usually stay on the one track, moving forward forever. But, assume you could rewind time so you were back at a part of the track where you were a few years ago. You flick a switch that you never touched the first time, which causes your train to deviate to one of the parallel train tracks. When you get back to where you were before you 'time traveled', you are on a different set of tracks than you were the first time.
The existence of the first train track doesn't stop just because you changed your own course, though. It's there, next to you, but you can't get back to it without going back in time to before you flicked that switch. You are on a parallel set of tracks.
That theory basically means that, even if you time travel, you can't cause your method of time travel to have never existed. You can just cause a branching universe where your method was never created, but that doesn't mean you didn't change something before your deviation point. That photo you are talking about was something done at the deviation point- that photo exists in the Citizen Brown timeline, but it can't exist in Marty's original timeline.
Hell, Marty can't even get back to his original timeline, ever. He can get back to one that seems exactly the same, but to get there, there will always be events in that timeline's past that were set in motion by a time traveler.
You know.. I LOVED how the 1st and 2nd eppy ended, VERY good cliffhangers.. Episode 3 however... reminds me of The Matrix 2... and how it was horrible ending.. Just as the action FINALLY starts.. when you finally got to the meat of something... they ended it and it was wtf. Same feeling I have right now.
Tho I will say this, The story overall. I am HIGHLY enjoying! So great job there! The way you have Marty restoring memories again is awesome!
Only 2 Eppies left, Just wondering, if the Hoverboard or some sorta skateboard scene that always happened in the movies will make its way to the game. =D Might even be cool to use that as a "Plan the correct path" type puzzle.
Also hopefully we see Docs family and get a lil more loose ends tied up there.
Otherwise story is great so far, and I love the New Jennifer.. I think Marty would prefer her vs his orig Jennifer lol.
I loved it. As others have mentioned, I think TTG is really hitting their stride with storytelling for BttF. I also thought the puzzles were solid. They could still be a touch more challenging, but they're definitely a lot better than it was in episode 1. It's more like they're treating this whole series as an interactive movie and less like a point and click puzzle game..... and I don't mean that in a bad way.
I expect this episode to be a little more polarizing than the past two have been however. This is basically the BttF 2 of all the episodes. It's a darker and a lot more plot heavy. BttF 2 was always my favorite (even though as I've grown up, I recognize that BttF is the better overall film and the true classic of the series, but I digress), so I loved this episode. I think that will hold true for most people playing the game. Those who were big fans of BttF 2 should love this episode. Those who didn't like BttF 2 and thought it was too dark probably won't be fans of Citizen Brown.
Speaking of Episode 3, who else here cringed just a little when the DeLorean fell out of the billboard and crashed?
It is pretty confusing that the notebook itself didn't disappear, now that Doc never actually wrote it in this new timeline. But again, Doc drew it and it made time travel possible, by which he ended up changing his own history and became the Citizen Brown, creating a paradox, but I guess being in a paradox doesn't effect its existence as harshly as "dying early or not being born in a new timeline".
You don't have a problem with Marty still existing as a time traveller in the new timeline, do you?
I have seen several people comment that it is confusing that the DeLorean with all its equipment still exists in the altered timeline, and now this plus one other mention about the notebook still existing even though Doc never actually wrote it. But the same could be said about Marty - if First Citizen Brown never wrote the notebook nor built the DeLorean, it shouldn't be possible for a time-travelling Marty McFly to be here. And yet he is.
Many BTTF fans often talk about "time ripples" when they try to explain how Marty can continue to exist - time's trying to "correct" itself by erasing him, but since he is displaced it takes time for the ripples to catch up with him. And you could argue that it is the same with the notebook and the DeLorean. Even though they're non-living objects, they're just as displaced as Marty is. The ripples will erase them eventually, but they will have to catch up first.
I'm actually having a bigger problem with Doc and Einstein disappearing immediately upon arriving in 1986; by my interpretation of the BTTF time physics, I would have expected them to stay around longer. Not such a big problem that I'm letting that spoil my enjoyment of the game though - not even the films were entirely consistent with themselves, so why should I let a thing like this bother me?
Liked the story / goals.
Liked the characters.
Liked the town.
Didn't like that it wasn't possible to inspect more parts and details of the town.
Didn't like that the town is that empty. There are no people - in every episode.
Another review in bullet point form - although I can never keep my bullet points at one line each.
The good stuff:
Jennifer - she was great fun.
Meeting all the crucial characters in 1986C and see how they changed.
After two episodes of almost nothing, I actually enjoyed a three-part puzzle structure.
A completely new clocktower square.
At last, the Lorraine model is completed!! High time, folks.
At first, the new present is introduced carefully and logically. Only when those watches start working, we're getting a little over the top.
Talking to Citizen Brown and getting individual responses to what I say. Gave the scene the goosebumps it needed, combined with Christopher Lloyds quiet, Judge-Doom-like performance (brilliant).
For Germans, the recycling scene is hilarious. I nearly p**d my pants laughing. What TTG perceives as a dystopian, massive exaggeration of the concept has been a fact for decades in Germany, and one that is not even thought of as much of a nuisance. Yes, we have three different public bins for three colors of glass. And I really, really don't feel oppressed because of it.
The battle of the guitars. Although quite obvious, too short and not that great on the ears, I found the effort to be quite BTTF-like.
...to be continued.
The bad stuff:
Marty getting three conversation options, but saying the same thing whatever I choose. This is just not funny anymore, please stop that.
Again, not many puzzles; it has been stated that there was more to do than in the second episode, but I'm not so sure about that. Even the speakeasy puzzles in ep. 2 felt more dedicated than what was happening in episode 3.
Exaggerated exposition. A lot less conversation, a lot more puzzles, please! I was first very content talking to Parker a little, then Jennifer a lot, then Biff a lot... bit ennerved when I was talking to Lorraine a lot... but the conversation with George was far too much. Bla, bla, bla, bla, bla, TL;DR. And I'm the patient kind.
Citizen Brown not knowing what he does and being shocked at the end. Sitting in that huge office, watching his citizens, keeping a close eye on everyone who violates the law. And it should all be Edna's fault? If she was locking him into a lab instead of that office, then maybe. But that's not what happened.
Needles not being named Needles. That hurt a little, because I really like the character. NEEDLES kissing Jennifer... that must kill Marty. "Leech"... hmph. But I do see the rights management problem, Sinaz, I really do.
- I'm a guy who tends to take his time carefully exploring and playing all possible conversational possibilities. I played through all dialog possibilities as quickly as I could, would like to be able to speed up the dialog as I mainly use subtitles (As I am deaf) and can read more than twice as fast.
- Average playtime per episode is 5 hours in three or four separate sittings. I finished this episode in less than 3.5 hours, in one sitting.
- This episode was easier than episode 1 and 2. I did not use the hint system as often, and I used Hint #3 only twice during the game.
- I saved my game only twice.
- For a change, I played this on my new Macbook Air 11.6" instead of my desktop Windows PC. Framerate is pretty good, running at between 30 and 60 fps.
- My favourite parts were exploring the Orwellian version of the city for the first time, Jennifer the naughty girl, and Doc's office.
- I'm going to miss this 1986 when going back to 1931. Thankfully it seems there is a little of both (1931 and 1986) in Episode 4.
Comments
Good work Telltale.
The flux capacitor logo revelation moment was great. It's interesting that Doc still had the flux capacitor vision in this timeline. It raises a lot of questions about the forces of fate and destiny in the BttF universe.
As for all the exposition: I loved it! I tried to exhaust all dialogue options, as it was really a joy to see how the new timeline affected everybody.
I'm a little worried about the next episode though, as we're going back to 1931 yet again. I hope they make it a bit more different this time (something episode 2 only partly managed to do).
All in all its great. I hope they have plans for another installment as this one will be solved way too quickly!:)
I liked Jenniffer! She was great! I like her hair! And the guitar stuff was a bit confusing but good once figured out! Besides the hypnotizing and the beer and being knocked out it was very good! The begginning was a bit scary (Who knows why, but it is still good.) and the beginning puzzle was kind of hard. And the computer froze or turned off a few times in the game and the words were ahead of the characters 1 or 2 times. But it is still good! How could public holding hands and hugging and owning a dog be illegal?!?! Thats something you gotta love about this episode. It would be nice if you got to where Doc was in trouble, but it was still great! I know this review has some not fantastic remarks, I am just saying what could be better. This episode is as good if not better than episode 2!!! Overall, I give it an 8 - 8.5! The way you could actually get in the golf cart was great! And I liked getting to convince Doc to believe me. It was a bit hard to do it but great! And did you notice the Einstein statues on the top of the courthouse?!?! That is absolutely Doc's idea. I know Edna does not like dogs, but why not just make it to where aggressive dogs are not aloud near her. I guess it just makes it better in the entirely unnormal timeline!
Really interesting to run around in the new Hill Valley and just as interesting to talk to the characters (from George and Lorraine to Jennifer). What really made me go "this is an amazing episode" (not going to say best juuuuust yet. We still have two more episodes after all) was the scene between Citizen Doc and Marty for the first time, as well as the confrontation between Edna, Marty, and Doc something about seeing them argue like that (and the shout...oh wow) I got goosebumps from Christopher Lloyds' performance, I tip my hat off to the man.
And I gotta give props to Telltale for creating such a batsh*t insane character. I thought Edna was just a pesky nag but after this episode, but after this episode, she became a rather frightening character for me. Someone who could be a grumpy old hag in one timeline, and a complete freakin' manipulative Big Brother in another. Frightening, interesting, and just an overall bitch.
While on voice acting, major props to AJ and Claudia and just about everyone else in this episode, it was awesome/weird hearing Jennifer giving snarky remarks to Marty and I did have a bit of a giggle fit when Biff nearly cussed (I...erm...tend to laugh at cuss words being cut off, no clue why either).
I know for some it was boring a bit to run around in a perfect Hill Valley, but for me, it was fairly interesting. Something about it made it feel that it both is and is not 1986. The building landscapes, as someone stated earlier, had that neo-feel to it, yet at the same time (Marty's home and Doc's office for example) still had the 1986 feel to it, I also dug the contrast of the environment that Hill Valley had both the feel of wanting the best and something grimy and evil. A great example for that to me was the difference between Edna's "office" and Doc's. Doc's had the more openly aware of being in control and wanting the best for the town's folk while Edna's was dark, evil, and had a manipulative feel to it, not caring for the well being of others. I'm rambling here, but that's because I absolutely adore environments that can give vibes just by walking in the room (but that might also be to the color feel: again, Doc's was warm while Edna's was cold).
Not going to bother with the puzzles, normally I would go nuts over the puzzle, but BTTF seems to be a different case for me. While it's easy, I didn't feel too bothered by it, could it be a bit more difficult? Yes, case in point the guitar showdown, I had a bit of trouble figuring it out, but eventually I caught on. (by the way, that was also a very fun puzzle to do in my opinion) But overall, I wasn't horribly annoyed at the ease of the puzzles, at the end of the day I just want to get more into the story of BTTF, which this episode did splendidly.
...Yeah I think I'm done rambling.
I thought that at the first the notebook was a big paradox, but not at all, when we see Doc comment it latter.
Doc still had the vision but he doesn't complete it, maybe misguided by Edna looking at the raised armed logo, lead to believe it was the beginning of an idea of controlled city instead of time travel, the note book misses all the notes made after the bathroom accident.
And thank god for that, it would be too weird (and actually hopeless) to re-make/repair the time machine again without it happening.
I agree it could be worse! The older BTTF games not only had not as good graphics (They were older by the way.) but it seems they were the same story as the movie. And those games are not as good (same with books having the same story except for Narnia). So I am happy not only does it have decent graphics and is newer, but I am happy at least its a new story!!!! The main thing I don't like is the hypnotizing in ep 3 and 1 or 2 glitches and it froze 1 or 2 times in ep 3. And it was harder then ep 1 and maybe harder than ep 2. I hope that the 4th ep is longer!
It is pretty confusing that the notebook itself didn't disappear, now that Doc never actually wrote it in this new timeline. But again, Doc drew it and it made time travel possible, by which he ended up changing his own history and became the Citizen Brown, creating a paradox, but I guess being in a paradox doesn't effect its existence as harshly as "dying early or not being born in a new timeline".
Simple enough puzzles, once you understood how they worked. I tried to coax Einie out with the food before I remembered the can of spray paint, and that damn guitar puzzle was a pain to start with until I realised I was thinking too hard about it.
Gotta love cliffhangers, though, and at least we'll get to spend at least some more time in this crazy timeline in the next game before going back to 1931--because, hell, we've still gotta get that Mr. Fusion off the car at least.
Story = Better than ever
Gameplay/Puzzles = Better than before, but only marginally
Also, I noticed there were consistently absolutely no sound effects when
That bit made my day! Plus, the Boss Hogg reference in Get Tannen.
Only had a couple minor issues. Firstly, there was some sort of odd...line drawn shape in front of Marty the whole time everywhere I went. It was a very odd, almost unnoticable graphical glitch, and I have no idea why it occurred. It didn't really bother me; I actually thought it was more funny than anything else, but still worth mentioning just in case others are bothered by that.
Secondly, I'm not sure Marty's method of getting into Hill Valley made all that much in the way of sense. I kinda thought most of the hover machinery was in the car itself, not in the tires, and that all the tire had was the booster engine or rocket or whatever it uses. Just hooking up a battery to it shouldn't have made it fly.
But other than that, nicely done. And I must say...Jennifer is very...attractive, here. Certainly a lot more than she was in the movies.
Just because of how badly paced the story is with the gameplay, I'd have to rate this one of my least favorite episodes in the TT library. It feels more like half of an interactive movie than an actual game. But maybe those feelings will change once I see how it blends into Episode 4.
I do like the new setting and I do like the characters (Edna's become a pretty credible villain) and I even like that guitar battle. That last Biff fight seems a little tacked-on, though. I was hoping he'd stay a zombie for a while and become Marty's new sidekick (Come on! It worked with Guybrush and LeChuck!) Otherwise, I'm still a bigger fan of Episodes 1 and 2.
Speaking aside from that, this episode was brilliance. The jokes were absolutely amazing. The best line is when you confront Doc and you tell him he made a time machine out of a DeLorean and he asks "Why?". I was laughing so hard! The story had its amazingly serious moments too, though I felt the time after meeting with Doc to the end was a bit rushed. Still, the story and dialogue was just great. This alternate timeline is perfectly the opposite of BTTF and especially considering how Zemeckis set out to create an anti-Orwellian future in BTTF Part 2, it makes it even more shocking.
The graphical style in this game also seemed to be rather improved from the last two outings. Hill Valley was nice in ep1 and in ep2 it was all in gray, but Marty wasn't kidding in this one when he said the courthouse looked much better than ever. The first graphically astounding thing was when the glass broke on the DeLorean, as well as that tire which floated pretty nicely. Animation seemed to go up to, as when Officer Parker patted you down I did a double take because the movement was so crisp! In the voice department, Marty's mom was a bit weak (which is strange since the brief ep1 appearance was fine) but I love the punk Jennifer. Hopefully she sounds closer to the original though if they go back to a solid timeline.
I thought I'd be done with this episode in an hour, but it took me two and a half to get every bit of information I could out of people. Longest episode definitely. The puzzles were well constructed when they were multi-part, though the guitar one was just annoying. Having lots of dialogue choices really helped this too as it really gave me a lot to delve into even though I basically got the set-up. I always want to know more.
Absolutely stellar episode.
When ur in browns office and u look at the pic and in the back you see Doc and Marty how is that possable because that Doc what never created in this timeline so how is that able to happen? There fore how is the Delorian even created?
any insite?(P.s and dont be stupid and tell me that its cuz marty fixes it(Or we suppose he dose)Becasue then there would be no Hilly Vally under brown power(And yes ppl have said that)
Anyway. I do think the story elements here were the most gripping so far, but I just finished the game ten minutes ago and already can barely remember a single puzzle. Though I guess that means none of them stood out to me as particularly stupid. :P
But again, I'm playing this mostly for the story. Doc's emotional arc is wuite involving. AJ's voice acting was better than ever. And it was a treat to hear Claudia, albeit as a Jennifer with a completely different attitude and inflections.
EDIT: I also was amused by Marty's assertion that he shouldn't be allowed to drive. Was that directed at any specific sort of gamer that may have overrun the forums in the past?
The characterization and setting was well done. Alternate Jennifer was fun, and while the relationship between Marty's parents was downright creepy, it was good to see them both. Some of the imagery and scenes were quite good, like when Marty meets up with Doc in his office. The ending for this episode felt more abrupt than the previous two.
This episode didn't have any fun inventions and was definitely darker than the other ones.
And *spoilers*
Did anyone else find the whole X:11 watch thing really creepy? It's something I didn't expect from a BTTF game, but I think Telltale handled it really well.
Now, as Martin said, the Citizen Brown timeline wouldn't have existed had the arrest of Kid Tannen been left as it originally did. ONE theory of time travel is that, by changing the past, you don't 'change the future'; you simply personally move from one dimension to another.
Think of time like a bunch of parallel train tracks. You usually stay on the one track, moving forward forever. But, assume you could rewind time so you were back at a part of the track where you were a few years ago. You flick a switch that you never touched the first time, which causes your train to deviate to one of the parallel train tracks. When you get back to where you were before you 'time traveled', you are on a different set of tracks than you were the first time.
The existence of the first train track doesn't stop just because you changed your own course, though. It's there, next to you, but you can't get back to it without going back in time to before you flicked that switch. You are on a parallel set of tracks.
That theory basically means that, even if you time travel, you can't cause your method of time travel to have never existed. You can just cause a branching universe where your method was never created, but that doesn't mean you didn't change something before your deviation point. That photo you are talking about was something done at the deviation point- that photo exists in the Citizen Brown timeline, but it can't exist in Marty's original timeline.
Hell, Marty can't even get back to his original timeline, ever. He can get back to one that seems exactly the same, but to get there, there will always be events in that timeline's past that were set in motion by a time traveler.
Tho I will say this, The story overall. I am HIGHLY enjoying! So great job there! The way you have Marty restoring memories again is awesome!
Also hopefully we see Docs family and get a lil more loose ends tied up there.
Otherwise story is great so far, and I love the New Jennifer.. I think Marty would prefer her vs his orig Jennifer lol.
I expect this episode to be a little more polarizing than the past two have been however. This is basically the BttF 2 of all the episodes. It's a darker and a lot more plot heavy. BttF 2 was always my favorite (even though as I've grown up, I recognize that BttF is the better overall film and the true classic of the series, but I digress), so I loved this episode. I think that will hold true for most people playing the game. Those who were big fans of BttF 2 should love this episode. Those who didn't like BttF 2 and thought it was too dark probably won't be fans of Citizen Brown.
Speaking of Episode 3, who else here cringed just a little when the DeLorean fell out of the billboard and crashed?
I have seen several people comment that it is confusing that the DeLorean with all its equipment still exists in the altered timeline, and now this plus one other mention about the notebook still existing even though Doc never actually wrote it. But the same could be said about Marty - if First Citizen Brown never wrote the notebook nor built the DeLorean, it shouldn't be possible for a time-travelling Marty McFly to be here. And yet he is.
Many BTTF fans often talk about "time ripples" when they try to explain how Marty can continue to exist - time's trying to "correct" itself by erasing him, but since he is displaced it takes time for the ripples to catch up with him. And you could argue that it is the same with the notebook and the DeLorean. Even though they're non-living objects, they're just as displaced as Marty is. The ripples will erase them eventually, but they will have to catch up first.
I'm actually having a bigger problem with Doc and Einstein disappearing immediately upon arriving in 1986; by my interpretation of the BTTF time physics, I would have expected them to stay around longer. Not such a big problem that I'm letting that spoil my enjoyment of the game though - not even the films were entirely consistent with themselves, so why should I let a thing like this bother me?
Liked the story / goals.
Liked the characters.
Liked the town.
Didn't like that it wasn't possible to inspect more parts and details of the town.
Didn't like that the town is that empty. There are no people - in every episode.
The good stuff:
The bad stuff:
- I'm a guy who tends to take his time carefully exploring and playing all possible conversational possibilities. I played through all dialog possibilities as quickly as I could, would like to be able to speed up the dialog as I mainly use subtitles (As I am deaf) and can read more than twice as fast.
- Average playtime per episode is 5 hours in three or four separate sittings. I finished this episode in less than 3.5 hours, in one sitting.
- This episode was easier than episode 1 and 2. I did not use the hint system as often, and I used Hint #3 only twice during the game.
- I saved my game only twice.
- For a change, I played this on my new Macbook Air 11.6" instead of my desktop Windows PC. Framerate is pretty good, running at between 30 and 60 fps.
- My favourite parts were exploring the Orwellian version of the city for the first time, Jennifer the naughty girl, and Doc's office.
- I'm going to miss this 1986 when going back to 1931. Thankfully it seems there is a little of both (1931 and 1986) in Episode 4.
Looking forward to the remaining episodes.