liiiitle easy (Few hours, while I spent days on a single Sam n Max episode). It felt like sneezing: everything went on automatic, it was short, but it still felt good! I think they did a very good job on the characters. The edna character didn't really feel in place, and some scenes felt a little empty and quiet. But I had fun playing it. I hope the upcoming episodes are a little more complex and longer... And for $24,95 (18,90 euro) it was well worth my money. Most games cost 50 or 60 euro. Last: I really enjoyed the voices of the new Marty and Christopher Lloyd
But... why is the rum gone? First of all, i don't have problems with AMOUNT of puzzles neither with short gameplay, even i finished it in one sitting. I even find puzzles to be well thought, but it's solutions to them that are brought to level of banality and with a very little creativity. [...]
The alcohol puzzle is the only one i found to be more creative. The last sequence with car driving reminded me of Full Throttle end puzzle, but simple because of fact that you have too little inventory objects and hot-spots it quickly comes to easy solution. Puzzles 3/10
*hic!*
A great review, Edward, and I appreciate every open word about the shockingly, seriously, game-spoilingly missing puzzles (although I indeed have trouble with the AMOUNT of puzzles ). About not posting in the review thread... well, on this sea, we'll have some tireless shepherds which will collect every... ermmm.. sheep and put them right where they belong.
It's great! catched the atmosphere perfectly. I also really like the possibility to choose my Language (german). When I bought Tales of Monkey Island It sucked it came out in germany later and I would have to buy it again. more and more ttg becomes my favorite publisher!!!
To preface, I always enjoyed adventure games in theory but could never actually finish them when I was a kid; they were just too frustrating. I finally tried Devil's Playhouse and LOVED it, so I was thrilled and nervous to see them take on my favorite movie of all time.
Yeah, it was kinda easy, but I got stuck once or twice. I was OK with the low difficulty though, because I didn't really want to waste too much time solving puzzles instead of revisiting these wonderful characters and meeting new ones.
I guess I'm partially in that "mass market appeal" audience bracket, so to everyone defending the "easy to rope people in" method, .
I think Telltale hit just the right chord by serving up a healthy but not overbearing sense of nostalgia, and taking me on a new, interesting adventure as well. Doc's lab was such a well-crafted scene that it sold me on the rest of the series. I have no doubts Telltale will make it awesome... unless of course everything takes place in 1931.
PS. To everyone complaining that games are too easy so they can make money, there are plenty of small, challenging games out there for you to enjoy, even if they're made in Flash and not mainstream "big budget" ones. Also, as a gamemaker, you would also want people to enjoy your whole game: key words being "Enjoy" and "whole", both are reduced when you tweak the slightest thing into being too frustrating in an effort to make it simply challenging; so yes, games will err on the side of being easy. I don't think giving the most people the best experience is ruining the industry in the slightest. I'm sorry those on the fringe lose out a bit.
Oh yeah, and actually making money off of what you love to do is pretty good too.
I'm starting to think that Telltale shouldn't have gotten this license in the first place and they should have just made a 4th movie. From what I read, the people who actually like adventure games are upset because there were no puzzles, but those who don't like adventure games (who seem to be the wider audience) think that puzzles waste their time.
I don't like getting up in arms, but to come in, play a game of a certain niche genre that you generally don't care for, then telling the dedicated fans of that niche genre who discuss how the game isn't a good game for its genre essentially "too bad too sad, your genre isn't popular and thus must satisfy my needs in order to be so", well, it's insulting.
I know adventure games aren't all that popular no more. What attracted me to Telltale in the first place was that it was one of the few companies still making quality adventure games on a regular basis. Money is important, yes, but that is the price to pay for being a company filling a niche. If they wanted to be a huge money making company, they would have never touched adventure games, and would have done stuff like social networking games like Farmville.
It's like being a fan of a certain kind of rare strong cheese, with very few cheese-makers producing it, and finding out your favorite company had started mellowing the flavor of the cheese to satisfy the larger consumer base. Yes, there are other companies that still make it the right way, but that does not excuse the fact that this company was compromising quality.
From what I read, the people who actually like adventure games are upset because there were no puzzles, but those who don't like adventure games (who seem to be the wider audience) think that puzzles waste their time.
Am I the only person here who likes adventure games, is upset about the lack/quality of the puzzles, but still enjoyed the game? Maybe that's just because I'm a huge BTTF fan, though, and I would've liked the game no matter what it was as long as it was faithful to the source material and expanded the story in an interesting way (which I think the game does, whatever its other faults). Like my signature says, "I'd rather have an easy BTTF game, than no BTTF game at all."
Gameplay consists of a running "movie" with several different storylines that the user can follow by making choices during the viewing, although occaisionally an action/arcade sequence may be included. Interactive Movies are best suited for novice gamers looking for entertainment without too much effort. Examples: Any Multipath movie; Infocomics; Star Trek: Borg, etc.
I agree with the bolded part, but I'd still call it a "game". The only difference with BTTF is there's only one path.
I appreciate how much you listen to the fans. Unlike many creators of games or shows or other forms of entertainment, you don't hear the fans words and say to yourselves "What's wrong with them? We're perfect!" Instead, you take in every word and crack down on thinking about how you can improve, how you can integrate suggestions, input, and thank the fans for every word.
Yes, an interactive movie is a "game". But I experience it more in a way like a boring card game, where you have to mindlessly toss a card on the table every turn without even thinking for a moment what hand you've got. It's a game still, but... well... one that can be played without you just as well.
And, again, many posters here have not complained about the actual difficulty, but about amount and complexity of the puzzles. Of course, "easy" is the term most used in here (and most threads are opened with this headline ).
BTTF is quite possibly too carefully planned, too far along now to actually get more puzzles in. Also, we had enough super-newbies ("Where do I get the notebook on Twin Pines Mall?") to have the TTG team come in here and find their approach justified ("See there? They're stupid, they need zero puzzles and involuntary hint boxes! It's the game of the future!")
If you're targeting and aggravating a mindless audience, then that's what you get and deserve.
I don't know why the game ended up this way but i'm completely surprised by the lack of vision of those who are responsible for the way this game turned out to be. I mean you normally discuss about such things upfront and at least there it should have been obvious.
Maybe TTG wants to make movies instead of (adventure) games and they are trying to get a transition done. Maybe they hired the wrong people (movie students and camera dudes instead of talented authors and riddle maniacs). But this isn't fish nor is it meat. For an adventure it sucks so much, it honestly can't get worse, okay it always can, and for a movie the quality is a joke a well. I mean take away the licence some are fans of and analyse what's left.
I know i am direct and might sound rude on this one but there was a ongoing downward spiral visible since Sam&Max S3 this year. Flat riddles and almost narcisstically blabla/story, again a flat and way too easy Puzzle Agent, please notice !!!PUZZLE!!! Agent, what a joke, and then this.
I'm dissapointed, sad, exhausted, looking for some place to rest in peace. And no, it's not due to the snow, not this time. I might be a little bit hungry though. I want the Soda Poppers to return and manifest themselves in the brains and eyeballs of those who messed it all up, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ... for eternity or at least until they'll start caring about good adventure games.
Am I the only person here who likes adventure games, is upset about the lack/quality of the puzzles, but still enjoyed the game? Maybe that's just because I'm a huge BTTF fan, though, and I would've liked the game no matter what it was as long as it was faithful to the source material and expanded the story in an interesting way (which I think the game does, whatever its other faults). Like my signature says, "I'd rather have an easy BTTF game, than no BTTF game at all."
No, I agree. I found the game pretty easy but I still really enjoyed it. I understand some people want their adventure games to be challenging and I completely agree that they should be. But I'll cut episode 1 some slack because it is essentially the first chapter of something bigger and essentially just the prologue and the fact that there is a subset of BTTF fans who have never played an adventure game, or maybe even ANY kind of video game (crazy, I know), and those are fans that you don't want to alienate. Sure, there's gonna be fans who will just say "forget this" even with how easy It's About Time is, but the idea is to make some of those fans say "you know, I think I can get used to this."
Again, it's too early to know whether or not the following chapters will be harder or not, but I think they will be.
I don't like getting up in arms, but to come in, play a game of a certain niche genre that you generally don't care for, then telling the dedicated fans of that niche genre who discuss how the game isn't a good game for its genre essentially "too bad too sad, your genre isn't popular and thus must satisfy my needs in order to be so", well, it's insulting.
I'm starting to think that Telltale shouldn't have gotten this license in the first place and they should have just made a 4th movie. From what I read, the people who actually like adventure games are upset because there were no puzzles, but those who don't like adventure games (who seem to be the wider audience) think that puzzles waste their time.
I don't like getting up in arms, but to come in, play a game of a certain niche genre that you generally don't care for, then telling the dedicated fans of that niche genre who discuss how the game isn't a good game for its genre essentially "too bad too sad, your genre isn't popular and thus must satisfy my needs in order to be so", well, it's insulting.
I know adventure games aren't all that popular no more. What attracted me to Telltale in the first place was that it was one of the few companies still making quality adventure games on a regular basis. Money is important, yes, but that is the price to
What a waste of my 17.99 euro's !
I was looking forward to this but i was not worth it to wait for it.
Come on guys . . finished it within 2 hours and i am not even an adventure gamer !
There is nothing challenging about this game !
Dont get me wrong. . .Storyline is great, the graphics are ok and the voices are very well done , so is the music !
Lets see what the next episodes bring us and it better be not that short, make it at least 4 times longer !
Okay, i've read through the article and what i found interesting to read is the authors motivation and his conclusions. A.o. i was surprised that he hasn't stumbled over such cognisance before because if you've ever been in a position to teach people, no matter if it's about computers, video games or something completely different, you'll encounter people having problems with certain sometimes compareable situations.
Now whilst there do exist certain similarities people can have problems with it's also important to note that every person is different and thinks in their own way. The further a person has to reach out mentally the more obvious this becomes like for instance trying to teach people who aren't familiar with computers something about them or teaching children anything. It's amazing how many different point of views and problems you haven't thought about before you'll hereby face.
Therefore using one person as a holy grail for how doing things best is the wrong way to go. I think it's common practice using several test persons to better iron things out since quite some years/decades. If subject M gets it, it might also be of help for subject N but subject O might be still or even more confused.
Now whilst all this holding hand and introducing thing is somehow interesting, i also have to say that i as a experienced player simply don't want this.
I'm playing video games since they first showed up on arcades and consoles and with the introduction of the first home computers, you got games also as cracked versions without any manual or even tutorial at all (but you bought those you liked in order to support the devs). So you had to figure it all out on your own and guess what, this was fun!
This holding hands, serving everything on a silver plate, making passive/dumb players look like winners gets on my nerves. I also don't want to win a 100m race against people whos legs are tied. And that's the way TTG adventures sometimes feel. You don't need to be clever or stretch enough to get the apple. Nor do they feel interesting enough. I wonder how much better the games actually could be if they would invest their ressources more into improving the games instead.
I think it is a mistake trying to mix up games and movies/tv. These are two completely different things in a way they are consumed. If i want to be active, i play a game or go outside and do some sport. If i want to be passive then i might watch a movie. Not getting challenged in a game annoys as much as having to interact in a movie.
I find this chumming up to the cinema/tv from game designers kind of embarassing and it's weird to read that even experienced designers are having those wet dreams. Anyway if that's the experience and audience they're searching for, it's not me.
Really, what kind of sick fantasies are those? If i crack her, i crack them all. Guess what? This won't work out. Mountains are for people who enjoy mountains and it's fine that not everyone likes them, same with adventures.
In the line of that article some people 'get' games and some people don't.
I have let numerous people play Uncharted 2 and the reactions are really interesting.
You have people that just don't 'get' it and run around in areas. It takes them like 5 minutes to find that door or opening after a lot of trial and error.
And then you have people that understand where the game is pulling you to or pointing what directions you should go. They get the camera pan and rotaion tricks, the use of colour etc.
They immediately walk towards the door or opening.
It's weird. I suspect it has to do with logical and creative thinking capabalities.
My point is that it's easy to confuse 'easy' with 'it's easy to figure out because I am familiar with the mechanicals and feeling of games.'
When I played Phoenix Wright the first time I was immediately familiar with the interfact and knew how the game worked in under a minute.
But when I let my mother play I was baffled how long it took to figure it out. I had to explain her the exact same things multiple times.
I've written a long wordy and entertaining review and still deciding where to post it. But in short: entertaining and fun, but possibly the easiest game I've ever played. Basically, there weren't any puzzles. It was barely a "game" by any definition since at best the interaction was moving along some predefined rails to an inevitable conclusion. Marty and Doc were great but all the other characters were *weak* in depth and especially vocal presentation. Dad/grandpa were the most whiny pathetic humans I've ever encountered. Since when was Marty's dad so *camp*? Animations were horribly wooden and jerky, way worse than TTG's norm. Ever heard of mocap people? C'mon, time to invest in some new tech I think, if this is the best your animators can do. Story was ok. Overall, it had its moments, but it's not like they mattered since it didn't feel like I was getting rewarded for achieving anything, since there was absolutely no challenge to any of it. Hope the rest of the episodes have a bit more meat, since I've already paid for the whole season, otherwise it's basically 4 months of disappointment.
Additional: If you want to see prohibition era America done *properly* (and some truly amazing motion capture!), check out Rockstar's upcoming LA Noire title, if you haven't already seen it - http://www.rockstargames.com/lanoire
Just finished it. Very fun and love the story and characters but waaaaaaaaay too short. Took me about an hour or so of solid gaming and the puzzles are just too dang easy. Compared to Sam and Max, Strong Bad, Wallace & Gromit, Tales from Monkey Island...heck even Puzzle Agent, the amount of game play is a bit lacking. Hopefully the rest of the series has more to do.
Love how they actually got a McFly that George looks and takes after. All the other McFly men can't look and sound like Michael J. Fox lol. Also love the story bits Doc tells you like how his kids are going to college and such. So he is like pushing 90 now? Good thing he got that body renewal in the future.
Storywise this felt like a mash of the first and third movies and the second episode seems like it will play like the last part of the second movie. Kinda disappointed that 1931 and 1986 seem to be the only time periods visited for the first four episodes, really was hoping one time period per game here. The last one though seems like it will be a blast with Doc implying we'll get to see present day Hill Valley of 2011......maybe it will explain how the whole flying car thing was delayed so much along with Mr. Fusion and the body do overs and stuff. Another nice touch was how they also implied that George knows about Marty time traveling. Also cool how they made Marty actually seem like a kid. Fox was in his mid to late 20s during the films and such comes off like an adult most of the time.
And people griping about the price?! Its 25 dollars plus a free DVD at the end of the season. Sure they may all be short but thats probably why its a bit cheaper than the other five episode seasons right? Just seems a little ungrateful to me.
Going to give it three and a half out of five stars. It was short, easy to solve, but the story and characters got me captivated and it was far less glitchy than Puzzle Agent and Poker Night at the Inventory.
...Marty and Doc were great but all the other characters were *weak* in depth and especially vocal presentation. Dad/grandpa were the most whiny pathetic humans I've ever encountered. Since when was Marty's dad so *camp*? Animations were horribly wooden and jerky, way worse than TTG's norm. Ever heard of mocap people? C'mon, time to invest in some new tech I think, if this is the best your animators can do. Story was ok. Overall, it had its moments, but it's not like they mattered since it didn't feel like I was getting rewarded for achieving anything, since there was absolutely no challenge to any of it...
Yeah isn't this funny, they want to rule the world and turn everyone into playing their wannabe TV like games and can't get their homework done in the disciplines to do this at least in a convincing way. Boring almost annoying characters with pseudo problems, like so many times before. The animations (mimic and gestures) are so wooden crappy. Same it's not fish nor meat story as with the game design. Pretense and reality differ widely.
Thank you so much for making this game and putting the effort into it that you did. I am 32 years old and have been playing video games since my first text adventures on an Apple II. This game is the complete package... questing adventure game elements like the old kings and space quest sierra games, combined with the real time action and graphics of today's top sellers. It's a light weight game with a huge impact. The fact that you stayed true to the original movie plot.. AND MOST OF ALL THE VOICES ARE SPOT ON! I think that makes a huge difference to me and all of those BTTF fans who were sad to see the trilogy end all those years ago. I really feel like the story has been reborn and even better than that I can play apart in it... keep em coming and don't stop making more and more episodes.
looking forward to the next one.
Oh and whatever you are paying the writers for the game's story lines.... DOUBLE IT!
In all honesty, I'm probaly the worst person when it comes to solving puzzles. During the course of The Devil's Playhouse I was lost between most of the puzzles. (Mainly the ones in 301 and 302. 303-305 I actually figured out, I think by then I gotten used to their puzzle style.) Sure I solved them, after a half hour of thinking until deciding on using an online walkthrough; though it was worth it. Though when I played this I found all the puzzles (With the exception of The aclohol puzzle.) stupidly easy. I was able to figure them out within 5 minuets or less. If that wasn't bad enough the in-game objective system got annoying, espically if you turn them off it'll still pop up with annoying messgaes telling you what to do. It's not the amount of puzzles that makes the game hard, it's the puzzle's complexity. I found the aclohol puzzle hard mainly because of it's complexity, if you added more parts to a puzzle, people would stop complaining about the difficulty.
Though I did enjoy the other core parts of the game. The writing was top-notch and really exspressed the chracters in old and new ways, and gave great explinations for past, present . The voice actting and music was fantastic, the voice actors really nailed the essence of the characters, and the musice really capture the feel of the movies. The animation felt off and choppy at some places. Granted my computer lags like crazy, but at some parts, it felt like an unatural movement of some chracters at some parts. For example, in the begginning dream sequence when Marty would turn around to talk to Doc, it seemed like he would walk to turn around, rather than turn his waist and then start walking, which would be more natural. Though in most places it looked very natural like i was watching a 4th movie, props to the animators.
All and all, it was a good episode. I hope that in future episodes/games, the difficulty should be balanced well with the amount of hints are given and that there is an opion to completely turn off hints and objectives so that they don't get in the way with the gameplay. The puzzles should be more complex and more things to do with them. The animation is good, but should be improved to make it seem more natural. It was a great episode and the story and voice-actting was real great, and I look forward to the future episodes.
Haven't finished it yet. Like the looks of it, looks really good in 1920x1080.
Yet, it's too much of a movie than it's a game. You click once, twice - and there's the next 10 minutes cutscene. I like the references to the BTTF movie but after an hour of playing, I was a little surfeited with them.
Let's see if the remaining bits of the first episode will lead me to seriously edit this post...
I did not have one single problem with this game, whatsoever. Nada, nothing, I loved it! I've been waiting for a new chapter of Back To The Future ever since I enjoyed the movies when I was a kid. The console BTTF games were terrible, and the GTA VC mod looks like it's completely come to a halt. This game had everything that was Back To The Future - great writing, great characters, nostalgia, science fiction.
The best part is that there are four more of these episodes to enjoy. As for the difficulty complaints - it will certainly get harder as they release the new episodes. It's the natural course for any video game to take. I also looked for a way to turn off all the hints, but for someone that has never played a Telltale game before, I found the puzzles to be perfectly adequate.
I think we've seen all the interactivity with the Delorean that we are going to get. For those hoping for a flight sim or GTA clone, you must be disappointed by now. It's not for that. The length of the episode seemed fine too, especially since we are getting four more to play with in the future.
While the graphics weren't as amazing as, say, Uncharted 2, or Gran Turismo 5, or Red Dead Redemption... they were fine. What is there to complain about? The graphics were crisp, the digital characters were mapped and animated well too. The Delorean was probably the most impressive graphical element in the game, I can tell that they spent a lot of time getting it just right.
And for f**** sake, please stop whinging about the price. $24.95 is for the series, not just a single episode, and it's very appropriately priced for what it is.
I am honestly very excited about what the next four episodes will be about. This episode almost semeed like a teaser, or a practice level, compared to what could be next. For example, Back To The Future II wasn't really about rescuing Marty's kids from a dismal future, it was just a pretext for Biff thieving the Delorean and creating alternate 1985. It seems that Doc's troubles in 1931 will not be the entire story, far from it. The cliffhangar at the end of the episode makes this pretty obvious
The best part is that there are four more of these episodes to enjoy. As for the difficulty complaints - it will certainly get harder as they release the new episodes. It's the natural course for any video game to take. I also looked for a way to turn off all the hints, but for someone that has never played a Telltale game before, I found the puzzles to be perfectly adequate.
Yeah... that doesn't typically happens for a Telltale game. Though it would be nice if it happened anyways. *winkwink*
Telltale right now is my favourite company in the world. You make a great effort to keep the adventure genre alive and try to also keep the Lucasarts games spirit alive. I don't know if that works on younger generations addicted to games which are basicaly "shoot everything on sight" but it does appeal to me, and hopefuly a lot of other people who grew up with adventure games based on story, engaging the mind and occasionaly inducing laughter.
Your games do that! They keep the spirit alive and take it small steps further!
This game is wonderful because it contains all that which made the adventuregames of Lucas Arts style so great!
I think Back to the future is probably the best telltale game yet...why? The amazing graphics play a part but it's not just that. Allow me to go into detail
Sam n Max and TMI great games though they were, both suffered from one issue which kept them from being up to par with the lucas classics...The story sometimes gets TOO complicated. The jokes became too contrived.
Compare the simplicity of the 3 first Monkey island stories (basicaly become a pirate, find a treasure save the governor) and TMI (finding a giant sponge that removes a pox that was created by a severed hand and so forth)
(let me make this clear: I loved all telltale games - I'm just making a little point on details)
In Back to the future the writing is kept SIMPLE and STRAIGHTFORWARD and that is what makes it stand out from all the other telltalegames...You have something there, you've hit a balance that you need to keep going forward.
Back to the future hits a fantastic nostalgic note, not only because it stays true to the film but also because it stays true to the adventuregame spirit.
As for the difficulty complaints - it will certainly get harder as they release the new episodes. It's the natural course for any video game to take.
The natural course for any videogame to take? LOL, Yeah you keep telling yourself that. All this does is show me you have absolutely ZERO experience with adventure games.
First, the VAST, and I do mean VAST, majority of adventure games (throughout the entire history of videogames) do not come in an episodic format. So to suggest that releasing adventure games in such a manner, where the first episode is easier than the latter episodes or even that the difficulty significnatly increases as the game progresses, is the natural course for ANY videogame is nothing short of absurd. 2nd, I have played all of Telltale games previous adventure games and none of the first episodes were anywhere close to being as easy as the first episode for BTTF so again to suggest that what they did with BTTF in regards to difficulty is the natural course for ANY videogame makes absolutely zero sense. 3rd, you have absolutely no clue whether or not they plan on upping the difficulty in the next chapters and have no historical reference to make such assumptions because again none of Telltale's previous games had a super simple first episode followed by more difficult latter episodes. Yes, there is a good chance they will increase the difficulty in the latter episodes, not because its the natural course for videogames, but because half the people that bought this game think the first episode was WAY WAY too easy. Telltale would be foolish not to listen to such feedback.
Sorry but there is absolutely NOTHING natural about it. In fact it goes against pretty much everything that is known in regards to the adventure genre and even Telltale's games for that matter. This is the first time I have ever seen anything like it and hopefully it will be the last.
Just forget that I even made that post. I had just finished spending roughly 34 straight hours in my darkroom finishing up a HUGE printing job and was all wired on Mountain Dew, Espresso and Java Pops. I even took a super quick shower towards the end and used caffeinated soap. I was well aware that the price included all 5 chapters after all I own all of Telltale's previous games. I did a very poor job wording what I was trying to convey and it made it seem like I was saying something completely different. Scratch it up to a caffeine and lack of sleep induced brain coma.
What I meant by the last part, which again was poorly worded, is that I dont really like the idea of having to pay for 100% of the game up front while only receiving 20% of it to play. If they want to do episodic content then that is fine but they should charge you 5 bucks per episode instead of all of it up front. Of course I fully understand why they do this, because it locks you in to all 5 episodes whereas if they charger per episode, people would have the option not to buy later episodes if they didn't like the game. Its pretty much the only system I know of where you have to pay for something before its even been made. Console games are more expensive but you get 100% of the game when you buy it, they are usually longer (Sometimes substantially so), have online play, and have a much better re-playability factor. So your getting far more game for the money. That is why I disagreed with that poster. Yes console games are more expensive but your getting far more game for your money. Adventure games are my favorite games tho so its all irrelevant anyways. I would pay double or triple the price if I had too. I just disagreed with that poster that the other games, such as console games, are not as good of a value.
I can't quite put my finger on this one but I felt the same way. Perhaps it was a lack of background sound in some scenes, and the lack of action sounds (character movement, like foot steps? I don't remember if there was any). Also, there were only very, very little random cars and people (or birds etc.) appearing in the town that it felt a bit like a ghost town. Is having a crowd around somewhere too hard to do technically using this 3D framework? E.g. have half a dozen customers be in the soup kitchen (think the pirate bar in Monkey Island 1) rather than just 1 lonely guy sitting there?
Comments
Thanks for making this.
Cheers,
Niels (Aniforce.net)
*hic!*
A great review, Edward, and I appreciate every open word about the shockingly, seriously, game-spoilingly missing puzzles (although I indeed have trouble with the AMOUNT of puzzles
Yeah, it was kinda easy, but I got stuck once or twice. I was OK with the low difficulty though, because I didn't really want to waste too much time solving puzzles instead of revisiting these wonderful characters and meeting new ones.
I guess I'm partially in that "mass market appeal" audience bracket, so to everyone defending the "easy to rope people in" method,
I think Telltale hit just the right chord by serving up a healthy but not overbearing sense of nostalgia, and taking me on a new, interesting adventure as well. Doc's lab was such a well-crafted scene that it sold me on the rest of the series. I have no doubts Telltale will make it awesome... unless of course everything takes place in 1931.
PS. To everyone complaining that games are too easy so they can make money, there are plenty of small, challenging games out there for you to enjoy, even if they're made in Flash and not mainstream "big budget" ones. Also, as a gamemaker, you would also want people to enjoy your whole game: key words being "Enjoy" and "whole", both are reduced when you tweak the slightest thing into being too frustrating in an effort to make it simply challenging; so yes, games will err on the side of being easy. I don't think giving the most people the best experience is ruining the industry in the slightest. I'm sorry those on the fringe lose out a bit.
Oh yeah, and actually making money off of what you love to do is pretty good too.
I don't like getting up in arms, but to come in, play a game of a certain niche genre that you generally don't care for, then telling the dedicated fans of that niche genre who discuss how the game isn't a good game for its genre essentially "too bad too sad, your genre isn't popular and thus must satisfy my needs in order to be so", well, it's insulting.
I know adventure games aren't all that popular no more. What attracted me to Telltale in the first place was that it was one of the few companies still making quality adventure games on a regular basis. Money is important, yes, but that is the price to pay for being a company filling a niche. If they wanted to be a huge money making company, they would have never touched adventure games, and would have done stuff like social networking games like Farmville.
It's like being a fan of a certain kind of rare strong cheese, with very few cheese-makers producing it, and finding out your favorite company had started mellowing the flavor of the cheese to satisfy the larger consumer base. Yes, there are other companies that still make it the right way, but that does not excuse the fact that this company was compromising quality.
I'm starting to think this is a secret backdoor 4th CGI movie. But one you can click.
...but an interactive movie isn't a game.
I agree with the bolded part, but I'd still call it a "game". The only difference with BTTF is there's only one path.
I don't know about that. If you say a certain line of dialogue to her, she describes you as "a boyish looking but virile man".
She's more self-righteous than prudish. Prudish would imply that she has some sense of modesty/propriety in mind. She obviously doesn't.
I appreciate how much you listen to the fans. Unlike many creators of games or shows or other forms of entertainment, you don't hear the fans words and say to yourselves "What's wrong with them? We're perfect!" Instead, you take in every word and crack down on thinking about how you can improve, how you can integrate suggestions, input, and thank the fans for every word.
This is something that far too few creators do.
And, again, many posters here have not complained about the actual difficulty, but about amount and complexity of the puzzles. Of course, "easy" is the term most used in here (and most threads are opened with this headline
BTTF is quite possibly too carefully planned, too far along now to actually get more puzzles in. Also, we had enough super-newbies ("Where do I get the notebook on Twin Pines Mall?") to have the TTG team come in here and find their approach justified ("See there? They're stupid, they need zero puzzles and involuntary hint boxes! It's the game of the future!")
I don't know why the game ended up this way but i'm completely surprised by the lack of vision of those who are responsible for the way this game turned out to be. I mean you normally discuss about such things upfront and at least there it should have been obvious.
Maybe TTG wants to make movies instead of (adventure) games and they are trying to get a transition done. Maybe they hired the wrong people (movie students and camera dudes instead of talented authors and riddle maniacs). But this isn't fish nor is it meat. For an adventure it sucks so much, it honestly can't get worse, okay it always can, and for a movie the quality is a joke a well. I mean take away the licence some are fans of and analyse what's left.
I know i am direct and might sound rude on this one but there was a ongoing downward spiral visible since Sam&Max S3 this year. Flat riddles and almost narcisstically blabla/story, again a flat and way too easy Puzzle Agent, please notice !!!PUZZLE!!! Agent, what a joke, and then this.
I'm dissapointed, sad, exhausted, looking for some place to rest in peace. And no, it's not due to the snow, not this time. I might be a little bit hungry though. I want the Soda Poppers to return and manifest themselves in the brains and eyeballs of those who messed it all up, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ... for eternity or at least until they'll start caring about good adventure games.
No, I agree. I found the game pretty easy but I still really enjoyed it. I understand some people want their adventure games to be challenging and I completely agree that they should be. But I'll cut episode 1 some slack because it is essentially the first chapter of something bigger and essentially just the prologue and the fact that there is a subset of BTTF fans who have never played an adventure game, or maybe even ANY kind of video game (crazy, I know), and those are fans that you don't want to alienate. Sure, there's gonna be fans who will just say "forget this" even with how easy It's About Time is, but the idea is to make some of those fans say "you know, I think I can get used to this."
Again, it's too early to know whether or not the following chapters will be harder or not, but I think they will be.
But regardless of what has been written there the result sucks.
Like.
I was looking forward to this but i was not worth it to wait for it.
Come on guys . . finished it within 2 hours and i am not even an adventure gamer !
There is nothing challenging about this game !
Dont get me wrong. . .Storyline is great, the graphics are ok and the voices are very well done , so is the music !
Lets see what the next episodes bring us and it better be not that short, make it at least 4 times longer !
Good thing the $24.95 was for all five chapters, then.
Okay, i've read through the article and what i found interesting to read is the authors motivation and his conclusions. A.o. i was surprised that he hasn't stumbled over such cognisance before because if you've ever been in a position to teach people, no matter if it's about computers, video games or something completely different, you'll encounter people having problems with certain sometimes compareable situations.
Now whilst there do exist certain similarities people can have problems with it's also important to note that every person is different and thinks in their own way. The further a person has to reach out mentally the more obvious this becomes like for instance trying to teach people who aren't familiar with computers something about them or teaching children anything. It's amazing how many different point of views and problems you haven't thought about before you'll hereby face.
Therefore using one person as a holy grail for how doing things best is the wrong way to go. I think it's common practice using several test persons to better iron things out since quite some years/decades. If subject M gets it, it might also be of help for subject N but subject O might be still or even more confused.
Now whilst all this holding hand and introducing thing is somehow interesting, i also have to say that i as a experienced player simply don't want this.
I'm playing video games since they first showed up on arcades and consoles and with the introduction of the first home computers, you got games also as cracked versions without any manual or even tutorial at all (but you bought those you liked in order to support the devs). So you had to figure it all out on your own and guess what, this was fun!
This holding hands, serving everything on a silver plate, making passive/dumb players look like winners gets on my nerves. I also don't want to win a 100m race against people whos legs are tied. And that's the way TTG adventures sometimes feel. You don't need to be clever or stretch enough to get the apple. Nor do they feel interesting enough. I wonder how much better the games actually could be if they would invest their ressources more into improving the games instead.
I think it is a mistake trying to mix up games and movies/tv. These are two completely different things in a way they are consumed. If i want to be active, i play a game or go outside and do some sport. If i want to be passive then i might watch a movie. Not getting challenged in a game annoys as much as having to interact in a movie.
I find this chumming up to the cinema/tv from game designers kind of embarassing and it's weird to read that even experienced designers are having those wet dreams. Anyway if that's the experience and audience they're searching for, it's not me.
Really, what kind of sick fantasies are those? If i crack her, i crack them all. Guess what? This won't work out. Mountains are for people who enjoy mountains and it's fine that not everyone likes them, same with adventures.
Thank you for linking that. It is beautifully informative and something I am thinking all gamers should read.
I have let numerous people play Uncharted 2 and the reactions are really interesting.
You have people that just don't 'get' it and run around in areas. It takes them like 5 minutes to find that door or opening after a lot of trial and error.
And then you have people that understand where the game is pulling you to or pointing what directions you should go. They get the camera pan and rotaion tricks, the use of colour etc.
They immediately walk towards the door or opening.
It's weird. I suspect it has to do with logical and creative thinking capabalities.
My point is that it's easy to confuse 'easy' with 'it's easy to figure out because I am familiar with the mechanicals and feeling of games.'
When I played Phoenix Wright the first time I was immediately familiar with the interfact and knew how the game worked in under a minute.
But when I let my mother play I was baffled how long it took to figure it out. I had to explain her the exact same things multiple times.
Additional: If you want to see prohibition era America done *properly* (and some truly amazing motion capture!), check out Rockstar's upcoming LA Noire title, if you haven't already seen it - http://www.rockstargames.com/lanoire
eh... 6 hours an episode is fairly chunky. I'd say 4.5 hours would be a decent and fair amount for an episode.
Love how they actually got a McFly that George looks and takes after. All the other McFly men can't look and sound like Michael J. Fox lol. Also love the story bits Doc tells you like how his kids are going to college and such. So he is like pushing 90 now? Good thing he got that body renewal in the future.
Storywise this felt like a mash of the first and third movies and the second episode seems like it will play like the last part of the second movie. Kinda disappointed that 1931 and 1986 seem to be the only time periods visited for the first four episodes, really was hoping one time period per game here. The last one though seems like it will be a blast with Doc implying we'll get to see present day Hill Valley of 2011......maybe it will explain how the whole flying car thing was delayed so much along with Mr. Fusion and the body do overs and stuff. Another nice touch was how they also implied that George knows about Marty time traveling. Also cool how they made Marty actually seem like a kid. Fox was in his mid to late 20s during the films and such comes off like an adult most of the time.
And people griping about the price?! Its 25 dollars plus a free DVD at the end of the season. Sure they may all be short but thats probably why its a bit cheaper than the other five episode seasons right? Just seems a little ungrateful to me.
Going to give it three and a half out of five stars. It was short, easy to solve, but the story and characters got me captivated and it was far less glitchy than Puzzle Agent and Poker Night at the Inventory.
Yeah isn't this funny, they want to rule the world and turn everyone into playing their wannabe TV like games and can't get their homework done in the disciplines to do this at least in a convincing way. Boring almost annoying characters with pseudo problems, like so many times before. The animations (mimic and gestures) are so wooden crappy. Same it's not fish nor meat story as with the game design. Pretense and reality differ widely.
looking forward to the next one.
Oh and whatever you are paying the writers for the game's story lines.... DOUBLE IT!
Though I did enjoy the other core parts of the game. The writing was top-notch and really exspressed the chracters in old and new ways, and gave great explinations for past, present . The voice actting and music was fantastic, the voice actors really nailed the essence of the characters, and the musice really capture the feel of the movies. The animation felt off and choppy at some places. Granted my computer lags like crazy, but at some parts, it felt like an unatural movement of some chracters at some parts. For example, in the begginning dream sequence when Marty would turn around to talk to Doc, it seemed like he would walk to turn around, rather than turn his waist and then start walking, which would be more natural. Though in most places it looked very natural like i was watching a 4th movie, props to the animators.
All and all, it was a good episode. I hope that in future episodes/games, the difficulty should be balanced well with the amount of hints are given and that there is an opion to completely turn off hints and objectives so that they don't get in the way with the gameplay. The puzzles should be more complex and more things to do with them. The animation is good, but should be improved to make it seem more natural. It was a great episode and the story and voice-actting was real great, and I look forward to the future episodes.
Yet, it's too much of a movie than it's a game. You click once, twice - and there's the next 10 minutes cutscene. I like the references to the BTTF movie but after an hour of playing, I was a little surfeited with them.
Let's see if the remaining bits of the first episode will lead me to seriously edit this post...
One day slightly less expensive steam holiday sale on it, please?
'nuff said
I did not have one single problem with this game, whatsoever. Nada, nothing, I loved it! I've been waiting for a new chapter of Back To The Future ever since I enjoyed the movies when I was a kid. The console BTTF games were terrible, and the GTA VC mod looks like it's completely come to a halt. This game had everything that was Back To The Future - great writing, great characters, nostalgia, science fiction.
The best part is that there are four more of these episodes to enjoy. As for the difficulty complaints - it will certainly get harder as they release the new episodes. It's the natural course for any video game to take. I also looked for a way to turn off all the hints, but for someone that has never played a Telltale game before, I found the puzzles to be perfectly adequate.
I think we've seen all the interactivity with the Delorean that we are going to get. For those hoping for a flight sim or GTA clone, you must be disappointed by now. It's not for that. The length of the episode seemed fine too, especially since we are getting four more to play with in the future.
While the graphics weren't as amazing as, say, Uncharted 2, or Gran Turismo 5, or Red Dead Redemption... they were fine. What is there to complain about? The graphics were crisp, the digital characters were mapped and animated well too. The Delorean was probably the most impressive graphical element in the game, I can tell that they spent a lot of time getting it just right.
And for f**** sake, please stop whinging about the price. $24.95 is for the series, not just a single episode, and it's very appropriately priced for what it is.
I am honestly very excited about what the next four episodes will be about. This episode almost semeed like a teaser, or a practice level, compared to what could be next. For example, Back To The Future II wasn't really about rescuing Marty's kids from a dismal future, it was just a pretext for Biff thieving the Delorean and creating alternate 1985. It seems that Doc's troubles in 1931 will not be the entire story, far from it. The cliffhangar at the end of the episode makes this pretty obvious
Yeah... that doesn't typically happens for a Telltale game. Though it would be nice if it happened anyways. *winkwink*
Telltale right now is my favourite company in the world. You make a great effort to keep the adventure genre alive and try to also keep the Lucasarts games spirit alive. I don't know if that works on younger generations addicted to games which are basicaly "shoot everything on sight" but it does appeal to me, and hopefuly a lot of other people who grew up with adventure games based on story, engaging the mind and occasionaly inducing laughter.
Your games do that! They keep the spirit alive and take it small steps further!
This game is wonderful because it contains all that which made the adventuregames of Lucas Arts style so great!
I think Back to the future is probably the best telltale game yet...why? The amazing graphics play a part but it's not just that. Allow me to go into detail
Sam n Max and TMI great games though they were, both suffered from one issue which kept them from being up to par with the lucas classics...The story sometimes gets TOO complicated. The jokes became too contrived.
Compare the simplicity of the 3 first Monkey island stories (basicaly become a pirate, find a treasure save the governor) and TMI (finding a giant sponge that removes a pox that was created by a severed hand and so forth)
(let me make this clear: I loved all telltale games - I'm just making a little point on details)
In Back to the future the writing is kept SIMPLE and STRAIGHTFORWARD and that is what makes it stand out from all the other telltalegames...You have something there, you've hit a balance that you need to keep going forward.
Back to the future hits a fantastic nostalgic note, not only because it stays true to the film but also because it stays true to the adventuregame spirit.
Thank you telltale
The natural course for any videogame to take? LOL, Yeah you keep telling yourself that. All this does is show me you have absolutely ZERO experience with adventure games.
First, the VAST, and I do mean VAST, majority of adventure games (throughout the entire history of videogames) do not come in an episodic format. So to suggest that releasing adventure games in such a manner, where the first episode is easier than the latter episodes or even that the difficulty significnatly increases as the game progresses, is the natural course for ANY videogame is nothing short of absurd. 2nd, I have played all of Telltale games previous adventure games and none of the first episodes were anywhere close to being as easy as the first episode for BTTF so again to suggest that what they did with BTTF in regards to difficulty is the natural course for ANY videogame makes absolutely zero sense. 3rd, you have absolutely no clue whether or not they plan on upping the difficulty in the next chapters and have no historical reference to make such assumptions because again none of Telltale's previous games had a super simple first episode followed by more difficult latter episodes. Yes, there is a good chance they will increase the difficulty in the latter episodes, not because its the natural course for videogames, but because half the people that bought this game think the first episode was WAY WAY too easy. Telltale would be foolish not to listen to such feedback.
Sorry but there is absolutely NOTHING natural about it. In fact it goes against pretty much everything that is known in regards to the adventure genre and even Telltale's games for that matter. This is the first time I have ever seen anything like it and hopefully it will be the last.
Just forget that I even made that post. I had just finished spending roughly 34 straight hours in my darkroom finishing up a HUGE printing job and was all wired on Mountain Dew, Espresso and Java Pops. I even took a super quick shower towards the end and used caffeinated soap. I was well aware that the price included all 5 chapters after all I own all of Telltale's previous games. I did a very poor job wording what I was trying to convey and it made it seem like I was saying something completely different. Scratch it up to a caffeine and lack of sleep induced brain coma.
What I meant by the last part, which again was poorly worded, is that I dont really like the idea of having to pay for 100% of the game up front while only receiving 20% of it to play. If they want to do episodic content then that is fine but they should charge you 5 bucks per episode instead of all of it up front. Of course I fully understand why they do this, because it locks you in to all 5 episodes whereas if they charger per episode, people would have the option not to buy later episodes if they didn't like the game. Its pretty much the only system I know of where you have to pay for something before its even been made. Console games are more expensive but you get 100% of the game when you buy it, they are usually longer (Sometimes substantially so), have online play, and have a much better re-playability factor. So your getting far more game for the money. That is why I disagreed with that poster. Yes console games are more expensive but your getting far more game for your money. Adventure games are my favorite games tho so its all irrelevant anyways. I would pay double or triple the price if I had too. I just disagreed with that poster that the other games, such as console games, are not as good of a value.
The Year We Made Contact
I can't quite put my finger on this one but I felt the same way. Perhaps it was a lack of background sound in some scenes, and the lack of action sounds (character movement, like foot steps? I don't remember if there was any). Also, there were only very, very little random cars and people (or birds etc.) appearing in the town that it felt a bit like a ghost town. Is having a crowd around somewhere too hard to do technically using this 3D framework? E.g. have half a dozen customers be in the soup kitchen (think the pirate bar in Monkey Island 1) rather than just 1 lonely guy sitting there?