The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

Cara was over, and we were thinking about what to do. I mentioned that I had this Back to the Future game, and she was all, “Wait, I know what Back to the Future is! Let’s play that!” I booted it up and we played through it together.

Apparently it’s doing a damn good job of being true to the original series. Cara was constantly pointing out little gags and lore bits from the original movies that I didn’t know. It had been so long since I’d seen Back to the Future that I didn’t really have these points of reference, but it’s awesome that they were there to be excited about. I’m going to have to re-watch the trilogy before I play the second episode, I think.

Overall, though, I think the writing and such was pretty fantastic. Marty is not really a joke-cracking sort of protagonist like you get with Sam and Max or whatnot, but there was still plenty of humor throughout, and it seemed very true to the tone I remember from the movies. The fact that they let you pick a name for yourself in the past, and recorded dialog for all the options was a fantastic touch. Also, man, the sound-alike they got for Michael J. Fox is just doing a fantastic job. He is nearly perfect. That really helps.

The gameplay itself, though, is really easy. Maybe it’s because I just got done with Devil’s Playhouse, but the level of puzzle-solving in the episode was simple. I immediately knew what I had to do in almost every situation (The “finale” of the episode being the only exception). Of course, this is probably for the best. I did the driving, but Cara made a lot of the decisions, and besides the trickier puzzles, she figured most of it out, which is fantastic, seeing as she doesn’t have the “adventure game brain” you almost need to have for some of the more complicated “moon logic” stuff in these sorts of games. The property means this will probably be a very broad audience game, so it’s a good idea not to make it too tough. Still, I feel like the story stuff totally made it worth it. I don’t really play Telltale’s stuff for the puzzles, though if they’re fun, that’s an added bonus.

All in all, I am excited for the rest of the season! The episode was fun, and they seem like they have a good grasp of the property. Telltale really has their shit together at this point, and it shows.