
They say that if you were to travel back a million years and step on a butterfly, you could wipe out an entire species and change the world forever with that one seemingly infinitesimal move. When Marty McFly took a shorter excursion, back three decades to 1955, he almost erased his own existence in a similar fashion. He also discovered some unflattering facts about his parents while he was there – his mom drank and got into cars with boys, and his dad was a peeping tom. That's a big reason as to why we still love Back to the Future: it's not just enthralling science fiction, it's very much about the human experience and finding out who people really are, ourselves included. Not to mention how much fun it is to watch a bully like Biff Tannen run his car into the back of a manure truck. Around a quarter of a century later, we have Back to the Future: The Game, a collection of episodes previously released on other platforms. And it's definitely not a baby's game.

It makes sense that a title celebrating a decades-old movie would fit into a genre that had its heyday in the early 90's – the point-and-click adventure, which Telltale has helped revitalise with series like Tales of Monkey Island and Sam & Max. As Marty, voiced expertly by AJ Locascio, you'll explore, talk to people and collect items to solve puzzles, generally in unusual ways.
It's heavily weighted in story and logic, and it largely delivers on both counts. Series screenwriter Bob Gale serves as a consultant here and it shows – certain minor characters become majorly important, people are fleshed out in interesting ways and you get to play with the effects of time. Best of all, you meet plenty of characters in the McFly, Brown and Tannen family tree, keeping things close to home as the franchise has before. Fans will spot plenty of loving references, like the trusty "what the hell is that?!" distraction technique, and with the delightful Christopher Lloyd reprising the voice of Doc this feels right at home in the Back to the Future universe, continuing and paying homage to its traditions rather than serving as another let-down of a licensed game.

We fondly regard 1993's Day of the Tentacle, a title in the same genre that also dealt with time travel, though in different ways – there you could cut a tree down in the past to prevent a character getting caught in its branches in the future, for example. Here you'll spend the majority of the episodes sticking to about one year each, mainly keeping to two periods overall, but it still works very well. Like in the films, the changes are more sweeping and universe-threatening, which works at a slower pace but with a bigger pay-off. We don't want to spoil anything, but if you like Aldous Huxley, you're going to love the new Hill Valley.
The puzzles are largely satisfying and at times quite difficult, though in the end you won't suffer too many headaches – and if you do, there's a hint system to make sure you don't get stuck. The episodic structure largely precludes sprawling, elaborate dilemmas that might cover the whole of the experience. In the adventure games of yesteryear, you could pick up an item and never use it until much later, or use it multiple times before discarding it. Here things are more compressed and event-centric, which is still a lot of fun but takes the emphasis off exploration – as do the many invisible walls you'll encounter walking around. This isn't about exploring Hill Valley, unfortunately, and a more free sense of play could have done wonders here. Besides those, the game is easy to control, mostly using a pointer system and including three ways to move Marty – the "walk to..." pointer method, the D-Pad or analogue stick and holding down A while aiming the Remote. An on-screen inventory would have been nice, but switching over isn't the worst option.

The cartoony visual style mostly works, but a few dreary colour palettes and some downright ugly, undetailed textures mean that the game isn't exactly beautiful. The voice acting is excellent, and the music even swells cinematically at a few moments. It's something we'd have liked to see more of, but what's there is nice.
From the first screen – a bland, music-free episode selection – it feels like Telltale has put in the bare minimum of work to bring this game to Wii. Once you finish an episode, hitting Continue brings you back to the last auto-save; you have to back up to the main selector to progress. Characters talk while you walk around, often entertainingly so and generally dropping subtle gameplay hints, but you won't hear most of it as any action you perform cuts it off. Usually, the last fragment of sound will disappear from bits of dialogue. Worst of all, load times are frequent and range from irritating to awful. Sometimes just walking around will cause it to stutter. Whenever someone talks or the perspective changes – as it often does when you navigate the town – the game will pause. It's often only for two to five seconds, give or take, but those add up. They don't ruin the experience, but there's no excuse for their regularity. You'll find yourself dreading entering rooms to search around because of the irritating wait you'll have to sit through. It's really a shame that in a game about high-speed time travel you'll do so much waiting around.
Conclusion
Back to the Future: The Game successfully translates what made the original movie great into a fun, challenging, imaginative and funny adventure game that's often a joy to play. Telltale has crafted a loving tribute to the film, then, but this is a loveless port, marred with frequent load times and small presentational glitches. It's still worth playing through and very entertaining, but its flaws keep it from shining as brightly as it should.
Comments 19
Check out the life preserver. Dork thinks he's gonna drown.
Great scott
Wii still have games?
But great review Zach, goo to see Wii isn't fill of only shovleware
I picked this game up late last year for Wii. Having played the first episode of the PC version (offered for free at one point) and the Wii version, the PC version doesn't quite have the same level of loading or glitch issues as the Wii version, and there is a difference in the graphics, but at it's heart, the gameplay and story are the same and I'd recommend the Wii port to any fan of point-and-clicks or Back to the Future who asked me if they should buy it.
Plus, a $20 game. Not a bad deal. Although, I still think Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People is the superior TellTale Game series this generation... then again, I haven't finished Back to the Future OR Monkey Island yet. ^^;
Also only played the first free episode on a pc (Mac actually but probably the same). So the slowdown concerns me, but it's so fun otherwise and the voice acting is really cool, so 20$ for the whole thing seems like a great time on the cheap. I do also wish we could have strong bad in this form. I only got the first 2 but I'd like to have them all in one for this price, the humor is so great and rare in any modern video game. Traditional game designers just don't cut it when it comes to real humor beyond poop jokes and adolescent chauvanism.
Thankfully, this game isn't manure (Get it )
Why the McFly is this game rated T? Doesn't look like it has blood/violence/profanity/cussing/gore/drugs/etc. Just sayin'... (But it was a famiy movie.)
Oh and btw, you got the Back to the Future theme song in my head. grumble,grumble...
I would definitely have picked this Wii port up, but I got it on PSN+ for free a few weeks ago. I'd have preferred it on the Wii too, as the pointer controls work better than dual analogue for this type of game. Not really worth me buying now though as I know the story and there's a lot of other games that I want more
I'd certainly recommend it to anyone who likes point n' click adventures or the Back to the Future series though.
Telltale never leaves us disappointed.
@GrooseMariofan The first BTTF film had some swearing (I can't remember if the other two did) so that could be why.
@mariofanatic128 The third one did as well, same with the second.
When he's in the bar for example in #3 "He's an a$$hole! I don't care what he says, or whatever anyone else says either!"
It's make like a tree and get outta here, doofus! you sound like a moron when you say it wrong! wait, i think i said it wrong too... irregardless (arrest me stewie!) this game looks worth $20 For a bttf megafan like me.
@mariofanatic128: Every single one includes the immortal "what the hell is that?!" that line has gotten me out of more than one scrape over the years. its one of the things that made this trilogy great.
I bought the DVD set of all three movies in 2010, and it was a blast. Still it's beginning to get closer to 2015 and still no sign of hover cars that fly off the ground though. All in all, I'm giving this game a pass due to the glitches and that I'm not a huge fan of point-and-click adventures.
"You mean you have to use your haaaands?! That's a kid's game!"
Great review Zach. I especially love the introduction and the mention of Day of the Tentacle. Maybe the best classic adventure game ever made.
While i would gladly have waited for a WiiU version without the flaws or maybe a 3DS version, don't know if it can handle the game better than the Wii. i just might have to get this.
The sub title doesn't make any sense, so I'm guessing it's a reference to something that was said in the movie.
WHAT IT NEEDS
Things to run into for no reason
A bar level where you have to be 100% accurate or you die
Music that has nothing to do with the film and loops endlessly throughout the game
A black shirt to replace Marty's jacket
hmmm thinking about getting this i loved the movies so this seems legit
Why the scott's is this rated a 16+?
I guess this is the baddonkey version.
Is it worth £15?
@Nick-Clegg I'll say. There's a lot of alcohol, some cursing, and a Prohibition-era burlesque dancer, so that's probably why.
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