Great Scott! A Back to the Future Game? If you’re like me, you’ve been waiting for a good representation of this franchise since the original game was released for the NES back in 1989. Well, step out of your DeLoreans and put down your Flux Capacitors because developer Telltale Games has created a welcome addition for all BTTF fans alike.

Let me start off by saying that this is the first of five episodic releases planned for the series. Telltale Games is quite familiar with this formula as they are known for their success with games such as: Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People but I truly believe they have now raised the bar for the point and click adventure genre.

In episode 1 “It’s About Time” we pick up a few months after Doc Brown was seen leaving with his family in their time travelling train in the third film. Players assume the role of Marty McFly and are expected to pick up the pieces after their favourite zany scientist has been missing for several months. Hill Valley has taken notice of his absence and has now optioned to sell off all his stuff to the highest bidder. Being the loyal friend that you are, your first goal is to make sure that none of the Doc’s prized possessions, or secrets for that matter, ends up in the wrong hands.

The controls for moving around and interacting with objects are pretty straight forward. Using the [Left Stick] you control where Marty moves, as you come close to items that you can use, the [Cross] button to interact with them. Eventually you’re even able to add items to your inventory and use them with other objects in your surroundings, causing different results or character responses from the interaction.
Think of this game as one of those “choose your own adventure” books, except with on-screen graphics and superb voice acting.

In this chapter of the downloadable series, you discover that the Doc has gotten himself into some trouble, and it’s up to you to find out WHEN and WHERE he is before it’s too late. There are many different “roads” the story can lead down based on the dialogue chosen by the user, but for all intensive purposes of this review and to not give away too much of the story, “Where we’re going we don’t need roads”...sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Accessibility Issues/Concerns:

The only thing I found to be annoying is that sometimes the controls can be a little “sticky”. Marty seems to move around at a snail’s pace, and even when holding down the [Circle] button to “run” I found myself better off just walking at normal speed.

Sometimes the camera has a way of turning itself around as you move about the world, and in some cases, it even inverts the controls, so where you were once moving forward-- you now have to hold the [Left Stick] in the opposite direction just to keep moving Marty where you originally intended.

These controls can cause even more issues when trying to interact during puzzle games; one in particular is a game where users have to select specific objects in a certain sequence in order to complete a task, like a game of “Simon Says.”

The issue lays in the fact that the objects are scattered all over the room and at times you can get caught on a table or another object, causing you to have to start over. Telltale has done a bit of a fix to this by allowing users to use [R1] and [L1] to toggle back and forth between objects in the environment, but still my point remains.

Deaf gamers should have no hindrance in playing this game. There is an option for subtitles, you should be able to follow character instructions just the same, even for moments like the “Simon Says” puzzle. The overall readability and size of these subtitles does not seem to change and the chosen font color of white is easily legible when placed over all environments. I even attempted to play this game one-handed, and even though it does take some getting used to, it’s extremely plausible. For gamers that are color blind, have no fear. I found there to be no specific points in the game where color played a crucial part in moving the story forward.

Additional settings for the Music, Voice and Effects volume have also been included. There aren’t traditional difficulty settings for this game, the standard Easy, Medium and Hard have been replaced to allow the user more control. You can change how many hints are given by adjusting this setting to a maximum of three bars. You’re also able to toggle on and off the Subtitles, Pop Up Text and Goal Pop Ups. If English is not your first language, you have the ability to change the default language to French or German as well.
At a Glance

Mobility: As mentioned, controls can be a bit “sticky” at times, but generally speaking this does not slow down gameplay exponentially but can affect the precision of movement.
Recommended score: 7/10

Hearing: With the subtitles feature available and the ability to toggle on-screen hints, the game scores major points.
Recommended score: 10/10

Vision: With color not playing a major part in the story of the game, I think color-blind gamers will have no issues navigating throughout Hill Valley regardless of WHEN and WHERE they are.
Recommended score: 10/10

Overall: The first episode of the “Back to the Future” downloadable series is a huge success in my books, and for an MSRP price of only: $19.99 for all 5 episodes, I look forward to what the future has in store.