Back to the Future game review

Just bought a ps3 and ep. 1 is a free download. It's pretty fun. Although I can play Maniac Mansion any day of the week. Didn't some of the SCTV guys make a Maniac Mansion TV show?

if i could unplay it and replay every episode i would one of the best games i have ever played it's like the back to the future movie that was never made i need a sequel NOW

looks like a LOT of FUN if you enjoy point and click adventures. like james said, how could you pull off a side scroller in bttf? simple. make it arcade action like the simpsons, teenage mutant ninja turtles, double dragon, and so on. side scrolling arcade theme would work so well for this game.

I was kinda disappointed bij the puzzles themselves, but is was nice to see some backstory of the franchise.

For people who want to try a point and click adventure for the first time, It's okay, but I think Telltale did a much better job with Tales of Monkey Island.

How about an update James?

Now all 5 parts are out a mini review would be cool to see

James' reaction when he’s told is a Back to the Future game was hilarious :P

I just finished playing them all, and personally I think they're great. But I agree with Likkyzero that this is the kind of game in which is "story" first, "playability" second.

I loved how cinematographic the whole game feels, the camera angles and everything. When I got stuck in a puzzle (usually out of sheer stupidity, because all the puzzles are really easy) I got annoyed how it interrupted the flow of the game, because, for me, it felt more like watching a movie with a little of interactivity. I didn't want to stop for a long time and interrupt the story... so I'm perfectly okay with them being really easy games. Of course the voice acting was top notch, and the attention to details is just delicious. I love how well tied the games are to the movies. (Definitely a must for any Back to the Future fan).

My only complaints: the games are really buggy, they should have beta-tested them more. Small bugs like the lip-syncing being off at times are okay, but I encountered at least three bugs that forced me to stop playing, one of them was a fatal bug in the last chapter. I had to google how to solve it without having to start again the episode. But all in all, I loved the games.

I used to love Maniac Mansion for the NES when I was a child. I was never able to do shit, and I couldn't understand a word of english back then, but I thought it was awesome because it was such a different game xD

You know… that game would make a good AVGN episode, just saying… :)

finally a good back to the future game

Thanks, James, for Covering Adventure games. My cousin and I enjoy them a lot together. We solve the mysteries with eachtother.

i just god all episodes gona have a blast playing them :)

James you're right about the Mcfly thing. George looks like Artie, Marty Jr. looks like Marty, and as we see in Episode 5, adult William looks like Seamus, (William is the first Mcfly born in America that peed on Marty for those of you who don't know, and Seamus was his father.) Since they both look like Marty, that means Marty Jr.'s son and grandson should look like George again!

and for starters this one is about the story not the gameplay

you know it would be interesting if you did a AVGN episode on this game

Sierra also spoofed the seemingly infinite carrying capacity in Leisure Suit Larry 2, with the Grotesque Gulp (5 gallon soda) item.

I've play the demo so far .. but I'm really interested in this game ..
Watching this video only makes me want me to play it now.. >..<

Also King's Quest V was on the NES.

Wow! I was a great fan of the Sierra games and liked to play click-n-play games on my NES (with limited success, because the puzzles often were so god damn complcated). This one seems really interesting.

About the equipment; In some games you actually see what the guys are carrying. For example, in RE5 you see most of the stuff that the two characters carry around. Maybe not everything, but anyway.

Thanks for a nice review. If I ever play a PC game again I will seriously consider this one.

Hey James, I've never left a comment before, but for some reason i felt now was about time. I fucking LOVE your videos, i think i'm watching them all through for the third time now.

Don't know what else to say, but keep up the awesome work and I look forward to the AVGN movie in the not too distant future.

p.s. you're awesome

I agree with Jehauri.
The BttF game sucks nuts.
Even as a HUGE point n' click fan and an even bigger BttF fan, the game just disapoints on pretty much every level.

It's too damn easy, so much so it may as well not be a game at all.
These style games main selling point is puzzles, and this game makes them so damn easy you need not stop and think.

Yeah the story is "interesting", yeah the acting is good...but it's a game frist and foremost, it's the gameplay that makes htis game such a let down.

They should have just relased this as a CG movie instead of a game...cos that is what it really is.

I've always been an adventure game fan since the days of Monkey Island, and I found the Back to the Future games disappointing for several reasons.

First of all, bugs: The first time I played the game, I got stuck forever because it somehow glitched and didn't trigger an event that was supposed to happen. I had to start all over again, and it triggered fine the second time around, but I wasted hours because I didn't even realize it was a glitch until looking online. In the other episodes, there have been a few seconds where the sound and graphics start stuttering for no reason during cutscenes, though luckily only briefly and once per episode. And all of the games seem to have missing dialogue in a few spots, as though they forgot to record those lines and rushed it out the door with just the text subtitles. None of the Sam and Max games by Telltale had these problems when I played them, so it was really a notable decrease in quality.

Second, the games were way, way, way too easy. There was almost nothing to interact with, and it posed absolutely no challenge for a veteran adventure gamer. I'm surprised they had such an extensive hint system, as I really think even a person playing Back to the Future as their very first adventure game would have little trouble. Maybe they had to keep the puzzles simple to make the story work, but they could at least have made more things examinable, just to make the world feel bigger and more engaging.

Third, not really a fan of the art style or the interface... the buttons seemed unnecessarily gigantic, for sure. That, combined with the excessive hints system, made it feel like the game was trying to insult my intelligence... which was really weird when many of the game's best jokes were actually quite clever and subtle.

Fourth, it seems like the scope of the episodes has been very limited... I could travel ANYWHERE in time, and I keep going to the 80's and the 30's. However, as the final episode hasn't come out yet as I write this, I could very well be wrong about this in the long run. Hopefully there'll be at least a brief jaunt to a more exotic time period.

My complaints are mostly with the game's mechanics, rather than the story and voice acting, which I've actually enjoyed a great deal. I think they didn't do a bad job at all when it comes to the story and dialogue, but nobody likes bugs, and it's so easy that it's almost an interactive movie rather than a game. Considering it is, after all, based on the movies, that may be intentional, but I still think they could have provided a more challenging and rich experience without sacrificing the game's good traits.

LOL at 0:45 <33

i use the WASD keys on the keyboard to move marty and i use SHIFT to run.

i love the part 50 seconds in

Awesome video James, great way to break up time between now and the movie.

*Maniac Mansion Spoiler Alert*

The key to the door is under the doormat. ;)

Oh that reminds me... When you leave a comment in the middle of the video, you shouldn't have to rewatch the whole video, it should just post and the video should keep going. I HATE REWATCHING ADVERTISEMENTS FOR JOHN BENJAMINS FUCKING VAN, I HATE THAT DOUCHEBAG

James,

I know you mentioned "Maniac Mansion" as a point-in-click console game, but I was hoping you might mention the other NES games that are a similiar style. There were 3 MacVenture games for the NES: Uninvited (1986), Shadowgate (1987), and Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True (1990). These games are definitely worth trying out...

It's rather suprising that James haven't played the Lucas Arts classics. Afterall they are really important games in gaming history. Although it's understandable as James apparently haven't had gaming PC back in the days, I assume? But anyways it's never too late to "educate" yourself with these classics. They are even not that hard, excluding few exceptions, like the Indiana Jones series.

The best part in Lucas Arts classics is the wacky humour. What it lacks in action it takes back in story and dialogue. They are like interactive slapstick insanities, which transforms into chaotic surrealism in Sam & Max Hit the Road - which is really faithful in that aspect to the original Sam & Max comics from the 80's. Tons and tons of hilarious one-liners and (positive) obscurities.

I love these types of games. I grew up playing Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. I still play it today, even though I've completed it and everything. It's just too awesome! Definitely one of my favorite games.
Oh, but about this...thanks for the review! I'm downloading the 1st episode of this now to play for myself. You can download it FREE from the Telltale Games BTTF website. You just need to register, but that only takes a few seconds.

funny that James says the thing about the McFly generations looking identical every two generations since Marty's great grandfather Willie looks just like him as does his great-great grandfather Seamus

I love Back to the Future. Good job with the TMNT stuff

James, if you want a console-like experience with this game, plug in an Xbox 360 USB controller on the computer. The game supports it, and it actually is easier that way (holding the left trigger will display all the items you can interact with in the game, and you can use the left and right shoulder buttons to move between them).

I've just finished the 1st episode, and man, love this game <3

I love the old Point and Click Games, but I'm not so fond of the transition to 3D since I always have the feeling it got way easier in those games. Especially the early 3D games were way too easy.

And I'm not so fond of the episode thing telltale keeps doing, I didn't like it with Sam and Max and it was basically the reason why I didn't buy BTTF. Now that they're all out I may give it a try.

So how does this one hold up, is it a challenge or one of those "One thing to interact in the room" kind of 3D games?

I lol'd hard when James briefly turned into the Nerd for a second at the beginning. It's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One mention of a bad game and he goes from nice James to pissed off Nerd. lol

Matt, I don't know which game Telltale made first (although a quick google-search would do the trick), but Sam & Max are definitely not the first games. I played the episodic game(s) "Bone" back in the day before they got the licenses to these Lucasarts games and what-have you. So Sam & Max definitely wasn't the first. :)

PS: Now Telltale are making a game based on The Walking Dead. I wonder how that will turn out. Certainly a new twist for the zombie-genre! They're also currently making a Jurassic Park game.

@ scronan: Christopher Llyod performed the voice of Doc Brown. All the other voice actors are indeed sound-alikes, but (spoiler?) Michael J. Fox does make a cameo appearance (sort of) as another character you've seen in the movies near the end of the game.

That guy looks like he's related to Motherfucker Mike. Is it Motherfucker Ike perhaps?

I've been playing thru the BttF games on my PS3. They come out a little later than the PC ones. I really like it so far! I wonder tho -- will we see a follow up video when you finish them?!!?!?

Matt Conant try The Neverhood its veeery funny P & C adventure game

My brother really liked the Journeyman Project Turbo series of point and click games.

And he liked Shadowcaster a lot too. Anybody remember those?

We played these games on our 75MHz Pentium processor with 8 MB of RAM and a 750MB hard drive! The computer was a Packard Bell. Man we were high tech when we got that!

i played under a killing moon, myst, and 7th guest!

Hope to see more videos like this. It's cool to see James's first impressions and stuff.

These adventure games took a long way from Zak McKraken and the Alien Mindbenders throught the Sierra games. In the early games you could die or waste a key item and you wouldn't be able to finish the game. Good thing Monkey Island came up with good puzzles you can't mess up and no dying. Guybrush even put away a dog in his coat in MI 2 :)

@ scronan

They did indeed get Christopher Lloyd to do the voice of Doc. But I think the rest of them are all sound alikes. I know James did an interview with the guy who voiced Marty for this series some time back and put up the audio for that. He is actually pretty good at doing the voice.

Lol I just beat episode 4 Today. :D

Interesting game, thanks for sharing. One observation though - are any of the actors from the movie doing any voice acting for this game? It sounded like they were not but you hardly shared any of the voices so it was kind of hard to tell. I did like the video, but I kept hoping you'd let the characters talk a bit more so we could hear their voices and compare it to how they used to sound. Maybe you couldn't do it for legal reasons and I understand if that's the case, but I kept getting pissed since I really wanted to hear what Marty and Doc sound like and it felt like you guys were talking a bit too much. The few seconds I heard felt like a tease and it was really frustrating!

Again, if you couldn't share more for legal reasons I understand - I'm not trying to come across like a dick or anything - just some honest feedback! So if there was no specific reason not to allow us to hear more voices - next time, please LET US HEAR THEM! :)

Svengoolie everybody
He's just an all around jerk using old artifact words from years ago. He comes off as a the stereotype of that internet kid trying to come off as cool. Look at him getting angry because someone doesn't know something he learned about not too long ago. Maybe some day he'll learn to communicate and that not everybody is trying to be a poser who poses as an expert.

Telltale was founded in 2004 and did nothing of note until they got the Sam and Max license.

I hope James and Matt make more videos like that, i'm a huge fan of classic point & click adventures and it will be great see some reviews just to remember it again.

Very nice video!

@Cappy Larou

He has reviewed that Ghostbusters game... He didn't do it as the nerd but he made an appearance before being told to leave.

Go check it out? It is worth a look.

Yay! 100th comment !!! I played episodes 1-4 already and I'm waiting for the 5th one, Outtatime! It's really a great game. I was missing the old school point & click style games!

0:47 James is like "Oh shit."