I'd like to quote someone who has (well, at least in my humble opinion) a lot to say about all we've been talking about for the last 6 forum pages, maybe some of you could have read this before:
"Story games are not movies, but the two forms do share a great deal. It is not fair to completely ignore movies. We can learn a lot from them about telling stories in a visual medium. However, it is important to realize that there are many more differences than similarities. We have to choose what to borrow and what to discover for ourselves.
The single biggest difference is interaction. You can't interact with a movie. You just sit in the theater and watch it. In a story game, the player is given the freedom to explore the story. But the player doesn't always do what the designer intended, and this causes problems. It is hard to create a cohesive plot when you have no idea what part of the story the player will trip over next. This problem calls for a special kind of storytelling, and we have just begun to scratch the surface of this art form."
This one is from Ron Gilbert, the creator of the MI saga, and even if it's an old article (1989 if I'm not wrong) I think it's quite sticked to the point here. In particular the bold part: playing this (still wonderful) episode, I've found out that there's another solution, other than the special kind of storytelling that Gilbert calls for: force the player to follow the storyline you've thought. No doubt that this keep away a lot of troubles, keep development times shorter, and allows a fluid and enjoyable storytelling, but hey, that's another thing, not an adventure game.
I'm definitely not saying it's a bad game: I've really enjoyed all the good points already highlighted in the other posts, and I think that's one of the more intense games/episodes I've ever played, emotionally and scenographically speaking. It's really a great work on that side, but it's not an adventure game, it simply is another game genre. Sorry to repeat it again, but I really hope it can be of some use.
I'd even like to repeat another thing (don't remember who wrote it, and I've got no will to go back browsing...!): the most part of us would prefer to wait a little bit more, but for a complete game, under all points of view, and not for only an admirable plot admirably told!
Never jumped on a TellTale game before but it was BttF so I got it anyways.
And at the half way point I feel it's developed enough to comment on.
Having said that, I'm enjoying it for the PUZZLE GAME it is.
Sure some of the puzzles will either be REDICULOUSLY HARD (ie. The Speak easy password, or Catching Einstein) or foolishly easy, but I came here for the STORY that even the creators of my favorite trilogy backed. Not a whole bunch of walking around town or picking up random things and trying to combine them or use them on everyone Phoenix Wright style.
I bought the game to be immersed in the BttF world. And this is doing just that.
My ONE gripe with this game, ONE, is how far they pushed the interpretation of Marty and Jennifer's relationship.
I mean I know it's not uncommon for highschoolers to be sexually active but to insinuate Alternate Jennifer will put out for who ever can play Guitar better and Marty's first thought when trying to win back Jen is "4th base"?
FFS guys. While it may have been hinted at something more in the movies, it was always fairly innocent. We don't even see them kiss until the third movie (I'm pretty sure). But now, six months later canonically you're telling us them boning is incredibly common?
I know this is the "Horrible future" but I actually started to HATE the pairing after the rock battle.
I can only hope the two redeem themselves in the next episode.
Thank GOD for fellow forumer MusicallyInspired. Short and sweet 4 sentence explanation got rid of this gripe FAST.
Not only what they were going to do in the lake. They actually kissed in the first film when her father shows up in the car. The kiss actually is the cue for the Power of Love theme!
After being a little disappointed in Ep 2 (which was fairly solid, but lost that BTTF 'feel' for me), I think this is probably my favourite Ep so far. The storyline was brilliant, managing to take the BTTF story in a new direction whilst keeping the important beats, the references were fantastic, both the BTTF ones and the other cultural ones (which struck the right balance of being funny without flooding the thing), the voice acting was outstanding (Especially Christopher Lloyd at the end), and I thought the character animation was also the best so far - I was particularly a fan of Lorraine's expressions The puzzles themselves were not the most inventive I've ever seen in an adventure game, but that was more than made up for by the sheer atmosphere of the thing - there were several 'This is fucking cool!' moments in that ep as a huge BTTF Fan, and that's what I was hoping for with these games. I think I was lucky as I didn't really encounter any bugs (save for a few minor glitches here and there), maybe the mac version is a bit more solid for some reason? Anyway, bring on Ep4! HUGE well done to everyone involved at Telltale, you're fast solidifying your rep as the best thing to happen to adventure gaming since the Lucasarts heyday
I gotta say I loved this chapter. Claudia Wells sounded a little different (not bad) from BTTF 1 but I'm not surprised since it's been almost 26 years. I thought it was neat they got her. The store was very interesting and creepy. It reminded me of BTTF 2 when doc and marty go to 1985B except this time you can't go to doc for advice. There were a few times I needed to use the hint system (especially at the end with biff, they don't give you alot of time) so I'm glad they had that. Thumbs up and looking forward to Episode 4!
What did you think Marty and Jennifer were going to do up at the lake?
And I knew this was going to come up.
It's exactly what you WANTED it to be.
Be is long hawt sex, or just a camping trip to relax with each other. It was ambiguous.
Remember Loraine didn't approve of Jennifer in the first movie so Marty would have to lie about ANY time spent with her.
Either situation still held up.
The Needle's buddy part (forgot his name), I can get over because "evil future" and it just makes you hate the guy more, like you should.
But oversexualizing the main character... He's been gone from his time line for what, two, three days? I seem to recall a WEEK having gone by and the first thing gone for is a kiss and simply being glad to see her, not home base. But after three days all he can think of is sex? What did his hormones just kick in NOW?
Despite the fact that you may be older and don't care for such crudeness anymore, Marty and Jennifer are still teenagers and that's teenage banter. It wasn't a conversation, it was banter. Also Marty was intently trying to win her back by appealing to her breaking-the-rules side. It's not oversexualised, you're just being a mature adult towards it which is perfectly normal.
Despite the fact that you may be older and don't care for such crudeness anymore, Marty and Jennifer are still teenagers and that's teenage banter. It wasn't a conversation, it was banter. Also Marty was intently trying to win her back by appealing to her breaking-the-rules side. It's not oversexualised, you're just being a mature adult towards it which is perfectly normal.
I'd give you a hug if I could because that explanation brought the entire scene back to a survivable level. And now I don't have to dread episode 3 when I invariably play this game again.
I'd give you a hug if I could because that explanation brought the entire scene back to a survivable level. And now I don't have to dread episode 3 when I invariably play this game again.
Ok. I don't know if anyone noticed this but in the preview for episode 3 at the end of episode 2 there was a part where Marty said: A re-education program, what the hell? Then Biff said: Please don't swear Martin, it makes me uncomfortable. Well we talked about Citizen Plus but this scene never happened. Another thing: These games have no replay value; the only thing you can do different if the order you get the demerits. All in all it was a good epidode
Ok. I don't know if anyone noticed this but in the preview for episode 3 at the end of episode 2 there was a part where Marty said: A re-education program, what the hell? Then Biff said: Please don't swear Martin, it makes me uncomfortable. Well we talked about Citizen Plus but this scene never happened. Another thing: These games have no replay value; the only thing you can do different if the order you get the demerits. All in all it was a good epidode
I got that dialogue. You must have missed it. It might have been during one of the points where you can only choose one of a number of different things say. I suppose there's some replay value there if you want to go back and pick different options to hear the other lines.
Ok. I don't know if anyone noticed this but in the preview for episode 3 at the end of episode 2 there was a part where Marty said: A re-education program, what the hell? Then Biff said: Please don't swear Martin, it makes me uncomfortable. Well we talked about Citizen Plus but this scene never happened. Another thing: These games have no replay value; the only thing you can do different if the order you get the demerits. All in all it was a good epidode
I got the line as well. It was one of the last I got, but I was sure to go through every option in one pass this episode.
I think it's around the time you can goad Biff into throwing up by egging him on to do something that's been outlawed.
And any game has replayability if the story is good enough.
I mean look at shit like FF7, or Phoenix Wright.
It's just games with inherent replayability (ie. Mass Effect) get replayed a lot sooner.
I finished the third episode and I really found it much much better than episode 2. It's probably the most original of all three.
I was very happy that the gameplay was less narrow than in episode 2. Though, difficulty is still really low, even with no hint, but I guess it's a choice.
The story makes a huge different. It was much more interesting this time and so the whole episode was more enjoyable, even though, as I said, game play is no challenge.
Honestly, I don't even know if I'll bother to download and play the last two episodes when they come out anymore. There isn't a way to get part of my money back from Steam somehow is there?
This isn't Back to the Future: The Game, this is Back to the Future: The Poorly Animated Movie. There's nothing to do. Every item that you pick up (which was what, five of them?) you immediately know what it's for. The weenie is for Einstein, the flask is for demerits, the guitar is to impress Jennifer. Just about the only item in the game that the use for isn't blatantly obvious is the spray paint, but don't worry, the game won't even let you leave the area you found it in with it, you won't risk having the option of trying to use it somewhere else. Remember in Secret of Monkey Island how you got all sorts of junk you didn't need? You actually had to put some thought into "how do I achieve the goal I want with all this crap I've picked up?" No such luck here. There aren't even things to look at. What was there to click on that wasn't usable other then the signs of the stores lining the square? In every episode of Sam and Max, I would scour the office/diner/Bosco's shop for new things to click on to see what they say. There's nothing like that here.
Plus the dialogue in this game... there's too damn much of it. To say that there's 2 hours of playtime in this game is being extremely generous, extract the dialogue from that and I feel like I would have had 45 minutes of playtime tops. The dialogue isn't bad. It's just that there's no game around it.
In adventure games you're supposed to go places. Instead we are stuck in the same town square we were in the last two games, but now there's a statue instead a gazebo, ooooh! This was a complaint with Sam and Max, but season 2 got better and then season 3 improved further. ToMI was much better about it too. But now it's like Telltale has decided to backslide terribly. I guess it's pretty lucky that every person of importance and every item necessary to solve his problems were in the town square today, huh? The one time you leave the square, they come up with an artificial reason to prevent you from even exploring your own home. Awesome.
I don't even get all the comments saying that this feels like Back to the Future. Remember in BTTF 1 and 2, the scenes that were in the Hill Valley square? Boy there sure was a lot of activity going on, wasn't there? There were children playing, people handing out fliers, election campaign trucks going by... not to mention the skateboard chases. This version of the town square is a barren wasteland when it comes to activity. This version of the town square has Biff standing there handing out pamphlets to the absolutely no one around. Even the first episode would at least had cars drive by now and then.
Yeah, the story is cool, but honestly, is this what you really wanted from Back to the Future: The Game?
If the whole thing had been like the last ten minutes, I would be a very happy gamer.
Spent a whole lot of time just talking to people without much action. And yeah, I played two seasons of Sam and Max, and the Wallace and Grommit titles, so I know what to expect from Telltale. This just feels like slightly interactive radio though, since Marty isn't interacting with the environment much.
For example, I was expecting to get demerits for recycling demerits as glass or something, but the game didn't let me do it. Or in the guitar battle, I was hoping Leech would kick Jennifer and end the match. Nope. This was not just gaming on rails, it was kinda gaming on rails with the safety bar down.
Disappointments said, I liked how all of the sudden, the time spent in Edna's apartment in the beginning made much more sense at the end of the story. Script wise, everything is coming along really well, and AJ was the perfect choice for Marty. AJ is carrying the role perfectly and I do keep forgetting it isn't Michael J Fox, and Chris is always great, and Claudia got more lines than in the movies, and she delivered them well. I liked the cliffhanger.
I liked the discs referring to WarGames (WOPR), Weird Science (LeBrock 2.0) and the other 80s references. Class of '84, myself... college for me was when BTTF came out.
Really nice touches, and I will remind myself we are paying roughly $5 an episode. Am I getting more than $5 of fun for each story? Yup. Absolutely. But I still wish there was more action like at the end of this one.
One more thing that just occurred to me in the "this doesn't really feel like BTTF" category. I don't remember what scene it is exactly, it's towards the end, probably after you defeat Biff and Citizen Brown is all excited about fixing the time machine. The Back to the Future theme plays... as we watch Marty walk. Slowly. That just felt so... wrong. The main theme is meant for moments like when the DeLorean races down the street just before the lightning strikes, or when Marty outraces Biff's car on a skateboard. It really took me out of the moment.
One more thing that just occurred to me in the "this doesn't really feel like BTTF" category. I don't remember what scene it is exactly, it's towards the end, probably after you defeat Biff and Citizen Brown is all excited about fixing the time machine. The Back to the Future theme plays... as we watch Marty walk. Slowly. That just felt so... wrong. The main theme is meant for moments like when the DeLorean races down the street just before the lightning strikes, or when Marty outraces Biff's car on a skateboard. It really took me out of the moment.
It also played when Doc had rescued Clara and was slowly hoverboarding away with her, if I recall correctly. In general, it also plays in moments of relief or feats accomplished. I think it fits well here.
(Ok, I think it's a different part of the theme in that case, but I just rewatched the scene from the game and it felt perfectly fine, so... matter of opinion, clearly)
I definitely think this episode was the best one so far in terms of story. I liked looking at this new version of Hill Valley, and getting to talk to alternate Jennifer was pretty cool. (Personally, unlike most people here, I actually prefer "normal" Jennifer. Guess I'm kind of a "square"! ) I agree with the majority here in that the voice acting was stellar, especially when Marty is trying to convince FCB he's from an alternate timeline.
Now, as for the puzzles...
Being a veteran of countless Legend of Zelda puzzles (especially the dreaded Water Temple of OOT) I don't think these are THAT bad. For me, they're not too hard or too easy. If they raise the difficulty level later, I'll be just as excited to do those puzzles! My favorite was the guitar battle.
Also, I loved all the references! (Tron, Star Wars, etc.)
I play this series not because I search for a great adventure game, but for a great adventure story and an extension of my favorite movie series.
The story is very good, and I love futuristic/apocalyptic visions. Nice. Much better than the second episode.
The problem is that it took me no more than 3 hours to finish the game - including making tea, buying cigarettes etc.!!! That is just not acceptable. This episode is by far the easiest, and not really a game at all. More like an interactive film.
I hope the next episode will be better - at least in terms of gameplay.
Well I am playing Wallace and Gromit 4 episodes game from telltale and boy it´s good and clever with REAL puzzles and keeps me wondering and searching with the characters and all the adventure is great!
So... I do love the BTTF game, really good storytelling. But if they just upgrade the difficulty with some puzzles like those of the Wallace and Gromit it will be fantastic! Hope the last 2 episodes work more on that part.
I'm sure I can't add much more to what's been said but just to throw in my opinon - far far too easy but still the best story and most enjoyable BTTF episode yet. It's definitely a different kind of game from Telltale and I eagerly await the next 2 eps
I did a review for this game a few days ago and the web browser cut-out grr, So I'll make another attempt.
Although I thought this was a great episode, the biggest negative would have to be the puzzles (except the guitar battle of course ) they didn't really challenge me in any way.
The plot, I have to admit, before it came out had me a little worried. The idea of a 1984 style Hill Valley had me concerned that it wouldnt feel like BTTF at all. But everything about the alternate time-line was very well thought out and executed, particularly the characters.
Claudia Wells is awesome as the alternative Jen, her punker attitude doesn't feel forced at all despite how different she is from the first film.
AJ's Marty voice just keeps getting better, it sounds creepily close to MJ Fox, particularly during his more colourful use of language. But the best dialogue in the game so far has got to be when he confronts FCB, the delivery is just a perfect mix of sad and funny and it really gets the tone of BTTF dead on.
Christopher Lloyd is of course great as the alternate 'Doc' even though we don't see much of him. You do feel sorry for him as he comes across just as confused and repressed as the people he looks over.
As much as it would be great to have both Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson doing the voices of the parents, both voice actors do a pretty good job trying to capture the characters in their original form in BTTF1.
I also have to say that Biff, who's voice I wasn't keen on at all at first, was a real highlight in this episode. It was hard to get beyond the fact that he sounds nothing like Tom Wilson, but all his scenes in this episode were very funny.
The animation, while still clunky in some respects have some really nice touches throughout the episode; Marty's reaction after he helplessly watches the Delorean fall to the ground - this was brilliant, Marty's staring as he notices the FCB Statue in the centre of Hill Valley, the first glimpse of 1986 Edna and pretty much all of inside FCB's office.
One thing that confused/annoyed me a little was the way in which Einstein just emerged out of nowhere, unless there's something yet to reveal here or I'm just thinking too hard. It seemed strange how he's the only dog in existence in Hill Valley and that he appeared around the time Marty arrived. Hmmm...
But yeah - The episodes atmosphere and plot was brilliantly done and great voice acting overall, can't wait for the next episode.
As far as the references go, I don't know if someone already spotted this but I definately got an "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" vibe when Edna spots Einstein and points and screams...
I'm surprised how the majority of people is saying this was the best chapter so far... simply cause it's not. While i agree with a few positive aspects (voice acting, new and old characters' "feeling", some very good scene, references and quotes etc.) it's almost embarassing that nobody here was aware of the major, HUGE plot hole this episode brought to us. This issue put me out of the experience almost instantly.
Here the list of paradoxes:
Why on earth would only Doc & Ein disappear from the delorean during the time travel back to 1986? Why not Marty as well? Why would it be just Marty unaware of the new timeline and its events if all three of them were on the delorean? How could the delorean still exist if Doc never invented the flux capacitor? Why is the flux capacitor drawing still in Doc's notebook if he never drawn it? If changing events involving someone's birth makes them (slowly) disappear, shouldn't this apply to objects too?
Let's say that what happened in the 30's made the "old" Doc disappear in the exact moment of the time travel back to the 80's, the delorean should have gone as well as a product of his researches and work (or at least all the time travel components). The Marty we are following should have disappeared too, "replaced" by his new self as happened to Doc. This new timeline would be the real, definitive and immutable one cause the effects of Doc & Edna relationship changed everything, not just Hill Valley but the history of the time travel machine as well. Marty never traveled in time, the events of the movie trilogy and the previous 2 episodes of the game never took place.
In other words, the existence of those Doc, Marty and Einstein would have ended with that time jump... and somebody else would have bought that delorean since Emmett never built the time machine.
Someone could argue that the 2nd movie had a similar twist with Marty finding himself in an alternative timeline of his "present day" unaware of it, but do not forget that nothing involved Emmett Brown and his inventions. Doc had nothing to do with those changes, it was all about Biff and the sports score book. The delorean was still there cause nothing interfered with its creation and they were able to go back in time to prevent Biff to use the book.
That's why events' changes should never directly concern Emmett and the moment in which he had the flux capacitor idea... that's the linchpin of EVERYTHING. The movie trilogy had its tiny little paradoxes but never as huge as this one. They did a nice job carefully avoiding this very node but Telltale's writers fell directly in it... and it's a shame cause i LOVED the first 2 chapters of the game.
I'm so sorry but i think this last episode shouldn't have been done this way. Marty and Doc shouldn't have traveled back to 1986 cause that's the exact moment in which the whole story ends definitively. I honestly don't see how anyone could explain all of this bringing order to the mess they just made (probably they'll just leave it like this and pretend nothing ever happened).
As far as the gameplay goes puzzles were not challenging at all, making this episode the worst of the 3. The lack of places to visit and things to do doesn't help either.
Gaurro, while I agree with you that some of those things don't make sense, especially Doc changing instantly but not Marty, I think you're expecting too much time travel continuity from something Back to the Future related. BttF2 already had a similar issue, how did Old Biff return to the same 2015 that Doc and Marty were in after he gave Young Biff the Almanac? Shouldn't he have wound up in Biffworld's version of 2015?
Shouldn't he have wound up in Biffworld's version of 2015?
Bob Gale says that he did. And that when he returned Marty and Doc had already taken Jennifer from the house which could have instantly changed behind them.
BttF2 already had a similar issue, how did Old Biff return to the same 2015 that Doc and Marty were in after he gave Young Biff the Almanac? Shouldn't he have wound up in Biffworld's version of 2015?
That's exactly what i meant when i said that the movies had their little issues and paradoxes too... but, you have to agree, this one is a blatant mess, even bigger than the 2015 Biff one
Also, Bob Gale's explanation of that paradox doesn't really make much sense if you think about it.
it's almost embarassing that nobody here was aware of the major, HUGE plot hole this episode brought to us...Why on earth would only Doc & Ein disappear from the delorean during the time travel back to 1986? Why not Marty as well? Why would it be just Marty unaware of the new timeline and its events if all three of them were on the delorean? How could the delorean still exist if Doc never invented the flux capacitor? Why is the flux capacitor drawing still in Doc's notebook if he never drawn it?
Nobody? PLENTY of people have been discussing this all over the forum.
Short answers: Doc disappears because he's almost 100. In the FCB timeline, Doc doesn't live that long. Same reason Biff starts to disappear in the deleted scene in BTTF2.
The Delorean and all the components still exist, whether or not Doc bought them. Only things that actually wouldn't exist seem to disappear in BTTF logic.
The flux capacitor drawing may be fading out--most everything else in the notebook has faded out. Not everything fades at the same rate in BTTF. :P
Bob Gale says that he did. And that when he returned Marty and Doc had already taken Jennifer from the house which could have instantly changed behind them.
Bleh. Filmmakers retroactively saying that continuity errors that fans notice were right all along don't count.
Comments
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
"Story games are not movies, but the two forms do share a great deal. It is not fair to completely ignore movies. We can learn a lot from them about telling stories in a visual medium. However, it is important to realize that there are many more differences than similarities. We have to choose what to borrow and what to discover for ourselves.
The single biggest difference is interaction. You can't interact with a movie. You just sit in the theater and watch it. In a story game, the player is given the freedom to explore the story. But the player doesn't always do what the designer intended, and this causes problems. It is hard to create a cohesive plot when you have no idea what part of the story the player will trip over next. This problem calls for a special kind of storytelling, and we have just begun to scratch the surface of this art form."
This one is from Ron Gilbert, the creator of the MI saga, and even if it's an old article (1989 if I'm not wrong) I think it's quite sticked to the point here. In particular the bold part: playing this (still wonderful) episode, I've found out that there's another solution, other than the special kind of storytelling that Gilbert calls for: force the player to follow the storyline you've thought. No doubt that this keep away a lot of troubles, keep development times shorter, and allows a fluid and enjoyable storytelling, but hey, that's another thing, not an adventure game.
I'm definitely not saying it's a bad game: I've really enjoyed all the good points already highlighted in the other posts, and I think that's one of the more intense games/episodes I've ever played, emotionally and scenographically speaking. It's really a great work on that side, but it's not an adventure game, it simply is another game genre. Sorry to repeat it again, but I really hope it can be of some use.
I'd even like to repeat another thing (don't remember who wrote it, and I've got no will to go back browsing...!): the most part of us would prefer to wait a little bit more, but for a complete game, under all points of view, and not for only an admirable plot admirably told!
Never jumped on a TellTale game before but it was BttF so I got it anyways.
And at the half way point I feel it's developed enough to comment on.
Having said that, I'm enjoying it for the PUZZLE GAME it is.
Sure some of the puzzles will either be REDICULOUSLY HARD (ie. The Speak easy password, or Catching Einstein) or foolishly easy, but I came here for the STORY that even the creators of my favorite trilogy backed. Not a whole bunch of walking around town or picking up random things and trying to combine them or use them on everyone Phoenix Wright style.
I bought the game to be immersed in the BttF world. And this is doing just that.
My ONE gripe with this game, ONE, is how far they pushed the interpretation of Marty and Jennifer's relationship.
I mean I know it's not uncommon for highschoolers to be sexually active but to insinuate Alternate Jennifer will put out for who ever can play Guitar better and Marty's first thought when trying to win back Jen is "4th base"?
FFS guys. While it may have been hinted at something more in the movies, it was always fairly innocent. We don't even see them kiss until the third movie (I'm pretty sure). But now, six months later canonically you're telling us them boning is incredibly common?
I know this is the "Horrible future" but I actually started to HATE the pairing after the rock battle.
I can only hope the two redeem themselves in the next episode.
Thank GOD for fellow forumer MusicallyInspired. Short and sweet 4 sentence explanation got rid of this gripe FAST.
Okay I had forgotten the kiss cue.
And I knew this was going to come up.
It's exactly what you WANTED it to be.
Be is long hawt sex, or just a camping trip to relax with each other.
It was ambiguous.
Remember Loraine didn't approve of Jennifer in the first movie so Marty would have to lie about ANY time spent with her.
Either situation still held up.
The Needle's buddy part (forgot his name), I can get over because "evil future" and it just makes you hate the guy more, like you should.
But oversexualizing the main character... He's been gone from his time line for what, two, three days? I seem to recall a WEEK having gone by and the first thing gone for is a kiss and simply being glad to see her, not home base. But after three days all he can think of is sex? What did his hormones just kick in NOW?
I'd give you a hug if I could because that explanation brought the entire scene back to a survivable level. And now I don't have to dread episode 3 when I invariably play this game again.
Thanks bro.
The presentation is outstanding.
This really *feels* like Back to the Future.
WTG Telltale!
Pleasure.
I got that dialogue. You must have missed it. It might have been during one of the points where you can only choose one of a number of different things say. I suppose there's some replay value there if you want to go back and pick different options to hear the other lines.
It's my first review of any game, so I hope it's not too bad.
Game Critique #1: Back To The Future: The Game
I got the line as well. It was one of the last I got, but I was sure to go through every option in one pass this episode.
I think it's around the time you can goad Biff into throwing up by egging him on to do something that's been outlawed.
And any game has replayability if the story is good enough.
I mean look at shit like FF7, or Phoenix Wright.
It's just games with inherent replayability (ie. Mass Effect) get replayed a lot sooner.
I finished the third episode and I really found it much much better than episode 2. It's probably the most original of all three.
I was very happy that the gameplay was less narrow than in episode 2. Though, difficulty is still really low, even with no hint, but I guess it's a choice.
The story makes a huge different. It was much more interesting this time and so the whole episode was more enjoyable, even though, as I said, game play is no challenge.
Waiting for episode 4 now
I was pretty disheartened after ep 2
This isn't Back to the Future: The Game, this is Back to the Future: The Poorly Animated Movie. There's nothing to do. Every item that you pick up (which was what, five of them?) you immediately know what it's for. The weenie is for Einstein, the flask is for demerits, the guitar is to impress Jennifer. Just about the only item in the game that the use for isn't blatantly obvious is the spray paint, but don't worry, the game won't even let you leave the area you found it in with it, you won't risk having the option of trying to use it somewhere else. Remember in Secret of Monkey Island how you got all sorts of junk you didn't need? You actually had to put some thought into "how do I achieve the goal I want with all this crap I've picked up?" No such luck here. There aren't even things to look at. What was there to click on that wasn't usable other then the signs of the stores lining the square? In every episode of Sam and Max, I would scour the office/diner/Bosco's shop for new things to click on to see what they say. There's nothing like that here.
Plus the dialogue in this game... there's too damn much of it. To say that there's 2 hours of playtime in this game is being extremely generous, extract the dialogue from that and I feel like I would have had 45 minutes of playtime tops. The dialogue isn't bad. It's just that there's no game around it.
In adventure games you're supposed to go places. Instead we are stuck in the same town square we were in the last two games, but now there's a statue instead a gazebo, ooooh! This was a complaint with Sam and Max, but season 2 got better and then season 3 improved further. ToMI was much better about it too. But now it's like Telltale has decided to backslide terribly. I guess it's pretty lucky that every person of importance and every item necessary to solve his problems were in the town square today, huh? The one time you leave the square, they come up with an artificial reason to prevent you from even exploring your own home. Awesome.
I don't even get all the comments saying that this feels like Back to the Future. Remember in BTTF 1 and 2, the scenes that were in the Hill Valley square? Boy there sure was a lot of activity going on, wasn't there? There were children playing, people handing out fliers, election campaign trucks going by... not to mention the skateboard chases. This version of the town square is a barren wasteland when it comes to activity. This version of the town square has Biff standing there handing out pamphlets to the absolutely no one around. Even the first episode would at least had cars drive by now and then.
Yeah, the story is cool, but honestly, is this what you really wanted from Back to the Future: The Game?
Spent a whole lot of time just talking to people without much action. And yeah, I played two seasons of Sam and Max, and the Wallace and Grommit titles, so I know what to expect from Telltale. This just feels like slightly interactive radio though, since Marty isn't interacting with the environment much.
For example, I was expecting to get demerits for recycling demerits as glass or something, but the game didn't let me do it. Or in the guitar battle, I was hoping Leech would kick Jennifer and end the match. Nope. This was not just gaming on rails, it was kinda gaming on rails with the safety bar down.
Disappointments said, I liked how all of the sudden, the time spent in Edna's apartment in the beginning made much more sense at the end of the story. Script wise, everything is coming along really well, and AJ was the perfect choice for Marty. AJ is carrying the role perfectly and I do keep forgetting it isn't Michael J Fox, and Chris is always great, and Claudia got more lines than in the movies, and she delivered them well. I liked the cliffhanger.
I liked the discs referring to WarGames (WOPR), Weird Science (LeBrock 2.0) and the other 80s references. Class of '84, myself... college for me was when BTTF came out.
Really nice touches, and I will remind myself we are paying roughly $5 an episode. Am I getting more than $5 of fun for each story? Yup. Absolutely. But I still wish there was more action like at the end of this one.
It also played when Doc had rescued Clara and was slowly hoverboarding away with her, if I recall correctly. In general, it also plays in moments of relief or feats accomplished. I think it fits well here.
(Ok, I think it's a different part of the theme in that case, but I just rewatched the scene from the game and it felt perfectly fine, so... matter of opinion, clearly)
Now, as for the puzzles...
Being a veteran of countless Legend of Zelda puzzles (especially the dreaded Water Temple of OOT) I don't think these are THAT bad. For me, they're not too hard or too easy. If they raise the difficulty level later, I'll be just as excited to do those puzzles! My favorite was the guitar battle.
Also, I loved all the references! (Tron, Star Wars, etc.)
I play this series not because I search for a great adventure game, but for a great adventure story and an extension of my favorite movie series.
The problem is that it took me no more than 3 hours to finish the game - including making tea, buying cigarettes etc.!!! That is just not acceptable. This episode is by far the easiest, and not really a game at all. More like an interactive film.
I hope the next episode will be better - at least in terms of gameplay.
Jesper.
I have to agree that Episode 3 was alot of talking to people and didn't feel so "action-packed" as Episode 2 was, but it certainly wasn't bad either.
You did a great job so far Telltale and everyone else involved.
So... I do love the BTTF game, really good storytelling. But if they just upgrade the difficulty with some puzzles like those of the Wallace and Gromit it will be fantastic! Hope the last 2 episodes work more on that part.
Although I thought this was a great episode, the biggest negative would have to be the puzzles (except the guitar battle of course
The plot, I have to admit, before it came out had me a little worried. The idea of a 1984 style Hill Valley had me concerned that it wouldnt feel like BTTF at all. But everything about the alternate time-line was very well thought out and executed, particularly the characters.
Claudia Wells is awesome as the alternative Jen, her punker attitude doesn't feel forced at all despite how different she is from the first film.
AJ's Marty voice just keeps getting better, it sounds creepily close to MJ Fox, particularly during his more colourful use of language. But the best dialogue in the game so far has got to be when he confronts FCB, the delivery is just a perfect mix of sad and funny and it really gets the tone of BTTF dead on.
Christopher Lloyd is of course great as the alternate 'Doc' even though we don't see much of him. You do feel sorry for him as he comes across just as confused and repressed as the people he looks over.
As much as it would be great to have both Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson doing the voices of the parents, both voice actors do a pretty good job trying to capture the characters in their original form in BTTF1.
I also have to say that Biff, who's voice I wasn't keen on at all at first, was a real highlight in this episode. It was hard to get beyond the fact that he sounds nothing like Tom Wilson, but all his scenes in this episode were very funny.
The animation, while still clunky in some respects have some really nice touches throughout the episode; Marty's reaction after he helplessly watches the Delorean fall to the ground - this was brilliant, Marty's staring as he notices the FCB Statue in the centre of Hill Valley, the first glimpse of 1986 Edna and pretty much all of inside FCB's office.
One thing that confused/annoyed me a little was the way in which Einstein just emerged out of nowhere, unless there's something yet to reveal here or I'm just thinking too hard. It seemed strange how he's the only dog in existence in Hill Valley and that he appeared around the time Marty arrived. Hmmm...
But yeah - The episodes atmosphere and plot was brilliantly done and great voice acting overall, can't wait for the next episode.
Here the list of paradoxes:
Why on earth would only Doc & Ein disappear from the delorean during the time travel back to 1986? Why not Marty as well? Why would it be just Marty unaware of the new timeline and its events if all three of them were on the delorean? How could the delorean still exist if Doc never invented the flux capacitor? Why is the flux capacitor drawing still in Doc's notebook if he never drawn it? If changing events involving someone's birth makes them (slowly) disappear, shouldn't this apply to objects too?
Let's say that what happened in the 30's made the "old" Doc disappear in the exact moment of the time travel back to the 80's, the delorean should have gone as well as a product of his researches and work (or at least all the time travel components). The Marty we are following should have disappeared too, "replaced" by his new self as happened to Doc. This new timeline would be the real, definitive and immutable one cause the effects of Doc & Edna relationship changed everything, not just Hill Valley but the history of the time travel machine as well. Marty never traveled in time, the events of the movie trilogy and the previous 2 episodes of the game never took place.
In other words, the existence of those Doc, Marty and Einstein would have ended with that time jump... and somebody else would have bought that delorean since Emmett never built the time machine.
Someone could argue that the 2nd movie had a similar twist with Marty finding himself in an alternative timeline of his "present day" unaware of it, but do not forget that nothing involved Emmett Brown and his inventions. Doc had nothing to do with those changes, it was all about Biff and the sports score book. The delorean was still there cause nothing interfered with its creation and they were able to go back in time to prevent Biff to use the book.
That's why events' changes should never directly concern Emmett and the moment in which he had the flux capacitor idea... that's the linchpin of EVERYTHING. The movie trilogy had its tiny little paradoxes but never as huge as this one. They did a nice job carefully avoiding this very node but Telltale's writers fell directly in it... and it's a shame cause i LOVED the first 2 chapters of the game.
I'm so sorry but i think this last episode shouldn't have been done this way. Marty and Doc shouldn't have traveled back to 1986 cause that's the exact moment in which the whole story ends definitively. I honestly don't see how anyone could explain all of this bringing order to the mess they just made (probably they'll just leave it like this and pretend nothing ever happened).
As far as the gameplay goes puzzles were not challenging at all, making this episode the worst of the 3. The lack of places to visit and things to do doesn't help either.
Bob Gale says that he did. And that when he returned Marty and Doc had already taken Jennifer from the house which could have instantly changed behind them.
That's exactly what i meant when i said that the movies had their little issues and paradoxes too... but, you have to agree, this one is a blatant mess, even bigger than the 2015 Biff one
Also, Bob Gale's explanation of that paradox doesn't really make much sense if you think about it.
Nobody? PLENTY of people have been discussing this all over the forum.
Short answers: Doc disappears because he's almost 100. In the FCB timeline, Doc doesn't live that long. Same reason Biff starts to disappear in the deleted scene in BTTF2.
The Delorean and all the components still exist, whether or not Doc bought them. Only things that actually wouldn't exist seem to disappear in BTTF logic.
The flux capacitor drawing may be fading out--most everything else in the notebook has faded out. Not everything fades at the same rate in BTTF. :P
Bleh. Filmmakers retroactively saying that continuity errors that fans notice were right all along don't count.