After the successful first episode of Back to the Future: The Game, developer Telltale Games now faces the daunting task of continuing their follow up to one of the most beloved movie trilogies of all time. Unlike the first game, going forward Telltale will have to rely on more than just the novelty of seeing popular characters again if they want the series as a whole to succeed. Does Back to the Future: The Game – Episode 2: Get Tannen! continue the momentum established by the series’ first episode or is it beginning to show signs of fading out of existence?

The overall response to Back to the Future: The Game – Episode 1: It’s About Time was generally positive, both from the reviewers here at Blistered Thumbs and the greater gaming community at large. This does not mean that the people at Telltale Games can afford to sit back and kick up their feet in triumph however, since they still have four more episodes to go and arguably things will only get harder from here on out. With Episode 1 they proved they could effectively ape the style of the movies and create a nostalgic delight. Now, they must go even further and prove that they create an original story worthy of the source material. After all, even nostalgia can only work for so long.

Picking up right where the first episode ended, Episode 2: Get Tannen! finds our heroes Marty McFly and Doctor Emmett Brown having just escaped one nasty situation only to find themselves in a far more potentially dangerous one instead. Marty is starting to fade away to nothingness, due to some unintended side effects from his and Doc’s earlier actions, and they must begin an adventure that will eventually lead the pair to another very important night in 1931, both in regards to the larger history of Hill Valley and the personal history of one Emmet Lathrop Brown.

I have to admit, when it became clear that the second episode of BttF:TG would be primarily set in the same 1931 milieu that the first game operated in, I became a little nervous. This was because despite how much I enjoyed the first two seasons of the Sam and Max series, those games did have a nasty habit of being overly reliant on reusing the same locations and characters again and again. I was worried that Telltale might be falling back on bad habits and that Episode 2 could end up being little more than repetitive filler. Fortunately, it turns out that my fears in regards to Episode 2 were almost entirely unfounded. While some locations and characters do indeed get reused, enough interesting new examples of both are introduced to balance things out and keep the proceedings highly enjoyable. The 1931 setting is really put to good use in Get Tannen!, truly justifying the revisit.

Marty McFly – Master of Disguise, Folks.

Get Tannen! also features a much greater degree of the kind of time travel antics that made the latter half of the second BttF movie so much fun. From a brief visit to a demented alternate present to several close calls between Marty and his past self and even what turns out to be the underlining cause of the mess that drives Episode 2 as a whole, there is a lot of cleverness at play in Get Tannen!. Also helping matters is the fact that Episode 2 is a lot less concerned with directly referencing the films, instead keeping such references to a few choice moments, and more focused on telling an original story capable of standing on its own merits. This is for the best, for while I enjoyed the references to films that were present in the first episode, if the entire series had only been concerned about operating as a tribute to movies, things likely would have grown stale rather quickly.

The overall writing of Episode 2 is a marked improvement over It’s About Time, no small feat considering how well written that episode really was. While Episode 1 left me smiling the entire time I was playing it, I laughed far more consistently throughout this episode, and even found myself genuinely surprised by the way a couple of events played out. The episode’s story is on the whole far more dynamic and exciting, and it builds to a really strong climax. This is thanks in no small part to the continued development of the character who has stood as the series main antagonist so far, Kid Tannen. Much like the second movie did with the alternate Biff, Get Tannen! really brings to life the loathsome character of Kid and leaves you aching for Marty and Doc to take the creep down. Finally, the game ends on a perfect note that should have players everywhere pumped and primed for what is to come next, as the ending sets up a scenario seemingly poised to push the franchise in some exciting, new, and so far unexplored directions.

Kid expresses his displeasure at having to wait another month for the next episode.

It also almost goes without saying that the voice work in Get Tannen! remains first rate, particularly in the case of the performances by Christopher Lloyd and AJ LoCascio as Doc and Marty respectively. The two continue to have real chemistry and really sell the depth of the unlikely friendship that drives the franchise. The episode also features a more diverse soundtrack this time around, choosing to move beyond the endless repetition of the film score’s main theme that the first episode employed. The usage of some genuine 30′s tunes in a few places also helps to really sell the setting and were a smart move on the part of Telltale.

Gameplay wise, the second episode of Back to the Future: The Game remains just as easy as the first, and long time adventure pros will no doubt breeze through it in a few scant hours. Unlike the first episode however, I suspect they will be left more satisfied by the overall adventure they have just completed. Whereas the puzzles in the first game could feel rather awkward at times, in that ‘Sierra Logic’ sort of way, the majority of puzzles in Episode 2 are more natural and logical in both their basic implementation and their integration into the episode’s overarching plot. While the series might be served well by introducing some deeper, more complex puzzles in the remaining episodes, such elements still feel relatively unimportant in the overall scheme of what the game is setting out to accomplish. If the puzzles remain nothing spectacular, they also do not get in the way of the fun, which is probably the most important fact in the final analysis.

As would be expected from a series of games being developed back to back, Get Tannen! does still have many of the same problems that It’s About Time featured, including some awkward animations (especially in regards to the lip sync, though the problem is less pronounced this time around), controls that clearly were designed first and foremost with a game controller in mind, and a couple of really annoying invisible walls (with the one dividing the game’s main street being particularly inexplicable). While I hope that Telltale can find a way to address some of these problems by the time the series ends, they still only stand as minor irritations in an overall highly enjoyable gaming experience.

Seeing these two put their heads together just never gets old.

I think it is safe to say that if you did not like Back to the Future: The Game – Episode 1, then Episode 2 will probably do little to change your opinion. For everyone else, if you still have not bought this series yet, I continue to strongly recommend you do so now. Get Tannen! proves that Telltale Games is not simply falling back on nostalgia but really putting some effort into making a great game series that can succeed on its own merits. Bring on Episode 3: Citizen Brown. March cannot get here soon enough.

A review copy of this game was purchased for PC by the reviewer from the Telltale Games website. The reviewer spent approximately three hours playing it through to completion.

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