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Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 1: It's About Time!
Genre: Adventure
Platform(s): PC
Allegiance: Telltale Games
Vintage: 2010
Rating: T
Intelligence Agency Report by: Drake
It has been six months since Marty McFly’s time traveling adventures with Doc Brown. In Doc Brown’s absence, his lab and home have been seized by the bank and have been announced to be put up for estate sale. As all hope of Doc ever returning fades away, the DeLorean suddenly appears with Doc’s dog Einstein and a message that the good doctor is in trouble. It is now up to Marty to travel back to June 13th, 1931 and enlist the help of a younger Emmett Brown in rescuing Doc Brown.

Weapons Expert Report by: Zarhn X
Story/Premise Gameplay Impact Visual Audio	8.00 8.00 7.50 9.00 8.50
Overall	8.00
(not an average)
Version Reviewed: PC Ah, the 1980s: the era of hair metal, classic comedies, and Back to the Future. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd star in the classic 1980s comedy/action movie, which still holds up to today’s comedy standards. With the 25th anniversary of the classic movie comes the newest game from adventure video game developer Telltale Games: Back to the Future: The Game - Episode One: It's About Time!, the first in a five-part series of point and click adventure games. Back to the Future: The Game - Episode One: It's About Time! .is a definite throwback to the old 1980s movie. It starts off with a pleasant scene that should bring back some memories; however, it turns out that it's just a dream. The game starts out six months after the third movie ends and (spoiler alert!) after Doctor Emmett “Doc” Brown vanishes. You play as Marty McFly, and your major goal of this five hour episode is to find the Doc and bring him back to the year 1985. You do this by moving Marty with the directional keys and pointing and clicking your way to victory. All the classic staples return, including Biff, the DeLorian, and even Einstein the dog! Michael J. Fox, however, does not return as Marty McFly, although the actor who mimics him pulls off a wonderful performance. Christopher Lloyd does return as the Doc, however, and his performance is just as good as it was 25 years ago. The controls are easy to learn and master, and the art style is tweaked in such a way that, even if you have an old computer, you’ll still be able to enjoy it. Speaking of the art style, it's beautifully done. The characters all look like they belong in the 1930s (in which the game is primarily set), and they all look like they're taken straight from the movie. I only noticed about three or four times when the graphics glitched out and caused me to restart my game. The voice acting in this game is incredible, as is the score for the game. As soon as I heard the theme from Back to the Future, I almost jumped out of my seat in excitement. Christopher Lloyd does a great job as Doc and seems to really put all of his emotion into the character, as he did so many years ago. The actor who mimics Michael J. Fox does a great job too, and although in some parts he can't nail it 100%, he does a good job overall. The story seems like it's ripped straight from the Back to the Future mythos. Without spoiling too much for the Future-fans, Marty McFly must go back to 1930 and prevent the Doc from being executed by the mob for an arson case involving Doc Brown and a speakeasy. Along the way you'll meet 1930s Biff, as well as a younger version of someone you may have met before. The story is generally good, although some of the newer characters fall flat (1930s Biff is okay, but I like 1985 Biff a lot better), and the cliffhanger ending had me pulling out my hair. Overall, this is a good game, and a steal at $22 (current price on Steam) for all five monthly episodes. The games will most likely total about 20 to 30 hours of gameplay, which combined is quite a bit longer than a fourth movie would have been—and considering that Michael J. Fox can't really act for the length of another movie, this is the best we're going to get. (And please don't let there be a remake of BttF!)

Weapons Expert Report by: Drake
Story/Premise Gameplay Impact Visual Audio	8.50 8.50 8.75 9.00 10.00
Overall	8.75
(not an average)
Version Reviewed: PC I’ll be honest, I did not actually see the Back to the Future movie trilogy until last year when ABC family was running marathons to promote the 25th Anniversary release of the films onto Blu-ray. Needless to say, I was disappointed in myself for taking so long to uncover this movie series. However, little did I realize at the time how perfect my timing was on watching the movies. Why, do you ask? Well, within two to three months of seeing the movies, Episode One of the Back to the Future Game was released, and while I was heavily skeptical of a sequel video game to this amazing movie series, I was soon put to ease, as was my fear of a terrible game adaption to one of the best movies out there. The game starts off with the famous scene from the first movie, where Doc is testing the DeLorean’s time-travel capabilities, but quickly we are made aware that this was all a dream and Marty wakes up. From that point on, the game hits hard, giving a heavy dose of nostalgia with plot elements like Biff, Doc’s lab, references to old adventures, the movie theme song, and even Christopher Lloyd (actor of Doc in the trilogy) returns to voice his video game counterpart. However, Michael J. Fox does not come reprise his role of Marty, though the voice actor selected in place of him is pretty spot-on. The story itself, as mentioned before, borrows heavily from the movies for elements of the game, but we also get some new things never before seen. The biggest is coming to 1930 to save Doc yet again from his time-travel shenanigans. Along the way we’re introduced to a slew of new characters, and a much younger version of a character we all know and love…yup, Doc Brown! Aesthetically this game is also very well done, with some great 3d renderings of the locations we visit, from Doc’s lab to the general feel of Hill Valley in the 1930’s, that are really pleasing to the eyes. Though, to me, that was secondary to the music. The original soundtrack returns, and I gotta say it was amazing to hear the original theme and not be riddled by some modern day version of it. The biggest pro for this game is the gameplay. The animation, soundtrack, acting, plot, and characters can all be top notch, but the game can really suffer from horrible gameplay, or gameplay that is difficult or not intuitive. Thankfully, neither is the case here. Using directional keys and a point and click, any gamer can enjoy this game without worrying about a learning curve to play, making it accessible for hardcore gamers and casual gamers alike, while keeping a challenging set of puzzles to solve to continue. All in all, this is a great start to the five-part story of an awesome game, and perfect for a rainy Saturday night, taking roughly five hours to go through and beat. At about $20.00 for all five parts on steam, you really get your money’s worth. I would honestly have been willing to shell out $20 per episode. So DEFINETLY go buy and play this game, and gear up for the remaining four installments!