The Back To The Future series is one of my all time favorite movie series. It’s one of the few series that has spawned more than two films and managed to have all three of them be high quality movies. This is somewhat rare in the movie industry as movies that have more than one sequel usually have at least one of them be of horrid quality.

Many Back To The Future fans probably saw this game and though “That was an awesome movie, I bet it will make an awesome game” and purchased this. And why not think this? The movie did have a lot of action in it and could if handled right been made into an awesome game.

Sadly, this is not an awesome game not by far. The company that made it, LJN is known for cashing in on big name tv series and movies. Though they managed to make a decent game from the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, they failed to do it with this one.

First off I will tell you about the game play. There are basically two different modes of game play you get to experience in this game. The main one is running down the streets of the Hill Valley of 1955. Horrible dangers and perils threaten you all the time, such as hulla-hoopers, bullys, bees, park benches, and other such things. Who know hulla-hooping women were so darn aggressive and violent?

On the screen there is a picture of Marty and his two siblings, as you take damage from enemies the picture slowly fades, if it fades all the way you loose a life. However you can help to prevent this by picking up the alarm clocks that are strung randomly all over the streets. You also have a time limit working against you.

The street mode makes you hate this game quickly. The street mode is basically like a vertical scrolling shooter. You have to walk to the end of the street and avoid or shoot enemies with a bowling ball. The most annoying of the enemies are the bees, which swarm around you numerous times before they finally buzz off. Yes, I know…..bad pun.

What makes it worse is that’s what you spend 90 percent of your time doing is running down the streets. The game only offers two power ups, which are a bowling ball you can throw at enemies and the skateboard which makes you move faster making it harder to avoid hitting enemies. You get to quickly learn all the games flaws in under five minutes pretty much.

Then there are the mini games. Every time you get to the end of one of the streets you get to one of the buildings and have to play a mini game. The mini games usually involve hurling sodas at bullys, blocking your moms kisses to keep her from falling in love with you, or catching notes on your guitar at the school dance. There all pretty repetitive and aggravating, but at least it gives you a break from the street mode.

The controls on the game are simply, but yet still manage to be annoying. Due to the overall set up of the game, and the annoying hazards, the controls just seem to be frustrating even though they are by no means complex. Basically pushing left makes you move left, up makes you go up, the a button makes you jump and if armed with the bowling ball, the b button allows you to hurl it at enemies. I get the alarm clocks, but the bowling ball? I fail to see the relevance to the movies.

Other than the ending which I will get to later, the music in this game is by far the most annoying thing about this game. There are basically two pieces of music for the entire game. One is a short piece that plays through EVERY section of EVERY street over and over again. The other is some music for the mini game where you have to catch notes on Marty’s guitar. Now if they had thrown in a version of Johnny Be Good, like Marty actually played in the film, it would have been cool. However, they didn’t…and the music in this game is pure rubbish that you have to hear all throughout the game. However there is a way to disable the music but leave the sound effects on. Just press start during game play to pause the game, then press and hold the direction pad with the select button and unpause it. Its funny that they put this option in the game, it’s like they knew the music was horrid and that no one would want to hear it.

I wish I could say the sound effects were a lot better, but sadly I can’t. The sound effects are very simplistic. They aren’t the worst I have heard, but I have heard a over and over on levels that all look alike you lot better on the NES. Sadly since you are doing the same thing on levels that all look alike, you get to hear these sound effects a LOT, and that only adds to the boredom.

The graphics department isn’t too shiney either. Although the graphics aren’t so horrible that you can’t tell what they are, they are pretty bland and boring. You see the same about five simple looking houses a park bench and four enemies all throughout each level. The only neat thing you get to see is Marty playing his guitar and at the end of the game you get to see *and drive* the Delorean. Being an old car buff I would have though the latter of the two would be an awesome moment for me in gaming, but it sadly wasn’t. The graphics are simply like the rest of the game, boring and repetitive.


Now I would like to get the biggest “beef” I have with this game, the ending. The ending mini game only gives you one try. Even if you have 99 lives remaining, you still have only ONE shot at beating the last challenge. All that hard work, and the game has a last stage this cruel? What where they thinking? This kills any re-play value the game could have had, especially if you loose the last stage and have to start all over. The ending you get to see is also horrible.

Overall this is a truly horrible NES game that is a downright insult to the Back To The Future series.

I hope the people who made this game aren’t into game design anymore, I really do.


Recommended: No