One thing where BTTF partly convinces is if you play it with the children and let them solve the puzzles, click around and so on. Although they're having their problems with the steering they laugh about scenes when Marty and Doc are hanging between the car and the bicycle.
In this respect it really would be helpful if there would be some further information for the games like dunno age/IQ/adventure experience. For instance, what difficulty level will Jurassic Park be?
Late I know, just downloaded and played episode 1. I'm a slacker right?
So my impressions. Well, overall I enjoyed it. It kept me engaged and come the end I was eager to see the next episode, which is what i've come to expect of Telltale really.
BUT, a few issues.
The difficulty level was easy but didn't bother me too much, what DID bother me was the damned tool tips popping up regardless of your preferences in the opening scene. That annoyed me. I didn't like having to manually turn OFF the hint system because let's face it, we really didn't need goal tips.
I also kept clicking the hint button instead of inventory. Too close together, i'd do it and be like "ARGHHHH give me inventory damnit!"
I'm sure i'll get used to that though.
There were a few occasions where dialogue just... went odd. Either not in synch with the animation (Soup Kitchen, Kid and Artie's chat) or animation but no sound (the chase across the park)
Wth?
Also movement was a little clunky at times. I kept walking into walls when the camera changed lol.
But I did enjoy it, and it left me wanting more.
I'd like to see more interesting puzzles though, but for a first episode? Not bad. It felt right for BTTF, right kind of tone and story. True i'm not a crazy obsessive bttf fan and haven't seen the films for a few years now, but it didn't seem jarringly wrong. I think Telltale did a pretty good job. Now they just have to scrub up their puzzles a bit, give us a little bit more brain work and fix a few glitches.
I just finished it, and while I enjoyed it, I have to say that was more for seeing the characters again then it was for anything else. There wasn't a single point where I had to stop and think about what I needed to do next, it was so... easy. TTG's episodic adventures have been easier then old school games in general, what with the shorter length, small amount of locales and items per episode, etc., but never like this.
I liked most of the voice work, Marty is about as close as you'll get without Michael J. Fox, the guy doing Marty's dad/grandfather was pretty good, and the guy doing young Doc Brown was great, and obviously Christopher Lloyd is... Christopher Lloyd. I don't think the Biff/Kid Tannen voice sounded anything like the movies though.
I am pretty un-hyped about cracking into Episode 2, too, after seeing the preview. Five episodes, and apparently at least two of them are taking place in the same location/time. Great. I hoped that after Sam and Max season 3 did such a great job of not being in the same five or six screens the whole time that we were through with that particular recurring part of Telltale's games. Sigh.
I played through the game a second time.. hahah. I enjoyed it just as much the second time actually. There's some nice little background touches (Is that a greetings from the moon postcard on Marty's bedroom wall? Hahaha)
Easy as all hell, but the story held it together. I'll reserve judgement on episode 2 till I play it.
I don't really mind the same locales thing, I mean, there's not that many places to go in Hill Valley right? And I always hated games where you have an area that serves only ONE purpose, like.. to pick up something on the ground and then leave and never ever return. Always seemed a bit of a waste. But I would like to see more puzzles that involved more locations. Most of the time the puzzle answer is right there in the room with you, and that's just kinda lazy.
Here's hoping the rest of the season maintains the cinematic story but slowly starts ramping up the difficulty. I don't want it hard, I'd just like to be stumped for at least 5 minutes heh. A nice slow curve would be great, after all, with this particular title they've got a target market that doesn't necessarily just include adventure gamers. Gotta get them used to the idea first right? (That said, I did kinda like the puzzle in Edna's apartment. That was fun.)
Well, I expect the entire series to take place in Hill Valley, obviously. What I don't want is for all five episodes to take place in 1931 Hill Valley, specifically.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed playing the first episode. Since I finished the second episode, I decided to go through It's About Time once more and I couldn't help but smile the entire time.
Emmett was almost exactly as I pictured Doc Brown in his younger days and it's great that you're able to interact with him so much. You really can see the similarities between them and it just adds to the charm of the game. On the same note, I found myself talking to Doc whenever I got the chance to simply hear Christopher Lloyd's brilliant voice acting.
The puzzles were insanely easy and I didn't have to reference the hints at all during my gameplay. Everything seemed pretty straightforward and simply talking to other characters usually provided you with the solution.
I do wish that you were able to walk around a bit more. I don't like the invisible walls that prevent you from walking further down the street and such. Granted, I know they're there to keep you in a specific area but you can't even walk towards the stores in the background. For an adventure game, I certainly expected more.
I won't bother to mention the glitches here and there since the topic's already been exhausted. But, for the most part, I have encountered no major glitches that affected my gameplay.
Generally, a very likeable episode and it's definitely worth more than one play.
This is the first Telltale game I've bought. I really enjoyed it. It definitely has the feel of the films. It's just great to have a new BTTF story. I think £16 is well worth it for five episodes.
My only negatives: The long wait for it to arrive on the EU PSN and the lag during the climax.
I played through episode 1 today. Here's some brief drive-by feedback.
I liked Sam and Max Season 3 and Tales of Monkey Island despite the change in mechanics over S&M S1+S2, because I am a fan of both series and the writing was very good and in line with earlier stuff. I much preferred the harder puzzles of S&M S1+S2, though. It's a large part of of why I play adventure games.
But I have little connection to Back To The Future, so there are no familiar characters I already care about that would help me get into the game, and the writing in and on itself is nothing spectacular either. So there is nothing to help me over the boredom of obvious and uninspired puzzles (which are partly a consequence of the shift to 3D, which greatly limits possible puzzles[*]) and get me hooked for the following episodes. I am a big fan of telltale's business approach and the titles mentioned above, and I think it's a great move that they made this episode available, but this is a no-buy for me.
[*] For the nitpicker: Yes, every 2D puzzle can be reproduced in 3D, but it is generally more resource-consuming. So a 2D game will generally be less complex than a 3D game with the same budget.
Comments
In this respect it really would be helpful if there would be some further information for the games like dunno age/IQ/adventure experience. For instance, what difficulty level will Jurassic Park be?
So my impressions. Well, overall I enjoyed it. It kept me engaged and come the end I was eager to see the next episode, which is what i've come to expect of Telltale really.
BUT, a few issues.
The difficulty level was easy but didn't bother me too much, what DID bother me was the damned tool tips popping up regardless of your preferences in the opening scene. That annoyed me. I didn't like having to manually turn OFF the hint system because let's face it, we really didn't need goal tips.
I also kept clicking the hint button instead of inventory. Too close together, i'd do it and be like "ARGHHHH give me inventory damnit!"
I'm sure i'll get used to that though.
There were a few occasions where dialogue just... went odd. Either not in synch with the animation (Soup Kitchen, Kid and Artie's chat) or animation but no sound (the chase across the park)
Wth?
Also movement was a little clunky at times. I kept walking into walls when the camera changed lol.
But I did enjoy it, and it left me wanting more.
I'd like to see more interesting puzzles though, but for a first episode? Not bad. It felt right for BTTF, right kind of tone and story. True i'm not a crazy obsessive bttf fan and haven't seen the films for a few years now, but it didn't seem jarringly wrong. I think Telltale did a pretty good job. Now they just have to scrub up their puzzles a bit, give us a little bit more brain work and fix a few glitches.
I liked most of the voice work, Marty is about as close as you'll get without Michael J. Fox, the guy doing Marty's dad/grandfather was pretty good, and the guy doing young Doc Brown was great, and obviously Christopher Lloyd is... Christopher Lloyd. I don't think the Biff/Kid Tannen voice sounded anything like the movies though.
I am pretty un-hyped about cracking into Episode 2, too, after seeing the preview. Five episodes, and apparently at least two of them are taking place in the same location/time. Great. I hoped that after Sam and Max season 3 did such a great job of not being in the same five or six screens the whole time that we were through with that particular recurring part of Telltale's games. Sigh.
Easy as all hell, but the story held it together. I'll reserve judgement on episode 2 till I play it.
I don't really mind the same locales thing, I mean, there's not that many places to go in Hill Valley right? And I always hated games where you have an area that serves only ONE purpose, like.. to pick up something on the ground and then leave and never ever return. Always seemed a bit of a waste. But I would like to see more puzzles that involved more locations. Most of the time the puzzle answer is right there in the room with you, and that's just kinda lazy.
Here's hoping the rest of the season maintains the cinematic story but slowly starts ramping up the difficulty. I don't want it hard, I'd just like to be stumped for at least 5 minutes heh. A nice slow curve would be great, after all, with this particular title they've got a target market that doesn't necessarily just include adventure gamers. Gotta get them used to the idea first right? (That said, I did kinda like the puzzle in Edna's apartment. That was fun.)
Emmett was almost exactly as I pictured Doc Brown in his younger days and it's great that you're able to interact with him so much. You really can see the similarities between them and it just adds to the charm of the game. On the same note, I found myself talking to Doc whenever I got the chance to simply hear Christopher Lloyd's brilliant voice acting.
The puzzles were insanely easy and I didn't have to reference the hints at all during my gameplay. Everything seemed pretty straightforward and simply talking to other characters usually provided you with the solution.
I do wish that you were able to walk around a bit more. I don't like the invisible walls that prevent you from walking further down the street and such. Granted, I know they're there to keep you in a specific area but you can't even walk towards the stores in the background. For an adventure game, I certainly expected more.
I won't bother to mention the glitches here and there since the topic's already been exhausted. But, for the most part, I have encountered no major glitches that affected my gameplay.
Generally, a very likeable episode and it's definitely worth more than one play.
My only negatives: The long wait for it to arrive on the EU PSN and the lag during the climax.
I didn't come across any option for that when Marty talks to him.
I liked Sam and Max Season 3 and Tales of Monkey Island despite the change in mechanics over S&M S1+S2, because I am a fan of both series and the writing was very good and in line with earlier stuff. I much preferred the harder puzzles of S&M S1+S2, though. It's a large part of of why I play adventure games.
But I have little connection to Back To The Future, so there are no familiar characters I already care about that would help me get into the game, and the writing in and on itself is nothing spectacular either. So there is nothing to help me over the boredom of obvious and uninspired puzzles (which are partly a consequence of the shift to 3D, which greatly limits possible puzzles[*]) and get me hooked for the following episodes. I am a big fan of telltale's business approach and the titles mentioned above, and I think it's a great move that they made this episode available, but this is a no-buy for me.
[*] For the nitpicker: Yes, every 2D puzzle can be reproduced in 3D, but it is generally more resource-consuming. So a 2D game will generally be less complex than a 3D game with the same budget.
I own all Telltale series expect Wallace and Gromit, and i absolutely LOVE all 3 the BTTF movies.
That said, i can't get in the right mood playing the first episode of this serie.
I mean, i didn't play it for long, i just reached the point where you go to the old lady's house.
I found it kinda undertone compared to all other Telltale games.
It's just me? Does the serie get better along the way?
Trust me, it gets MUCH better!