Back to the Future: The Game review (PS3) ★★★

Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
US RRP $7.99 | Developer Telltale Games | Publisher Telltale Games

Who wouldn't be excited at the prospect of a video game publisher/developer entering into an agreement with Universal Pictures and announcing brand new and official Back to the Future and Jurassic Park titles? Sadly we couldn't zoom into the future – be it in a time-travelling DeLorean or bread maker – to launch day when the game was first announced, but it has finally arrived: Back to the Future: The Game has hit the PlayStation Store.

Well, the first of five parts has, at least. Telltale Games' episodic point-and-clicker has kicked off with It's About Time, which puts you in the shoes of Marty McFly a few months after the events of the final film in the trilogy, as he travels back to Prohibition Era Hill Valley to save Doc Brown from being slain by a gaggle of gangsters lead by the villainous Kid Tannen (Biff's father), after he is blamed for the arson of a local speakeasy. McFly must seek the assistance of a few familiar faces – the cuddly Einstein included – to bust the Doc out of jail and ensure that he doesn't end up with a bullet-ridden, bloodstained lab coat.

The incomparable Christopher Lloyd is the only original movie cast member to lend his voice to the game, while the likes of Biff and George McFly have somewhat decent replacements. The actor voicing Marty is especially good and on occasion genuinely sounds like Michael J. Fox, who actually joined the original film during production after Eric Stoltz was deemed to be miscast in the role of the teenage adventurer.

Being that it is officially licensed, Back to the Future: The Game is peppered with the wondrous Alan Silvestri score and chock-full of references to the trilogy, both seen and heard, and even other films from Universal. Nostalgia permeates the fun, witty script and adds a whole new dimension to the feel-good story, which was co-written by Bob Gale, the screenwriter of all three of the movies.

Dedicated fans will find a lot to enjoy in It's About Time, but the shortness of the inaugural episode combined with the fact that a simple point-and-click adventure doesn't really work on consoles, HD or not, and more so in such a small, quick-to-explore environment, only serve to be detrimental to the overall experience. With controls that are often confusing to navigate and prompt the camera to only make things worse, Back to the Future: The Game unfortunately doesn't do a very good job at living up to its subtitle. It will have you chomping at the bit to partake in the action-rich cut scenes while you stagger around bored at the slow pace of the actual gameplay. Cinematically it's a roaring success, but in the stakes of interactivity it leaves a lot to be desired.

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