Welcome to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. Well, here it is. I said in a previous review that if I were to choose one game that I considered to be among the worst on the console, it would definitely be Back to the Future Part II and III. Granted, I haven’t touched on some other games that may just be even worse than this one. But if I had to choose a game I foolishly owned as a kid and regretted, this would definitely be the one. But am I over blowing things? And can it be even worse than the original with its clock collecting, street walking nonsense? Well let’s get into it.
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1990
PUBLISHER: LJN
GENRE: Action Platformer
The original Back to the Future was a massive success. The highest grossing film of 1985 and a movie that would go on to become one of the most celebrated and beloved sci-fi comedies ever. So, safe to say plans for a sequel were immediate. Not just a sequel though, but an entire trilogy.
In 1989, Back to the Future Part II was released to be another massive success. It’s definitely a movie that is hit and miss for most people. Some people laud the reuse of so many jokes from the first film, some find the plot holes to be too massive. Or, if you’re like me, you just enjoy it for what it is. A fun movie.
Not to be outdone, the third film would be out in theatres a year later. However, it’s probably safe to say there are more people who dislike this one more than any in the trilogy. Again, for either overusing jokes from the previous films, or the seemingly pointless addition of a wild west story. Even I’m not too fond of this one.
But whether you liked the sequels or not, the fact remains that they were successes, and that they were popular enough for video game adaptations. There were many different Games based on both movies, ones that may even be worse than the one I’m reviewing today. But LJN felt that the best way to capitalize on both movies at the same time would be to make a game based on both films. And that’s just what happened with Back to the Future Part II and III. The game was released in September of 1990, and was torn apart by game critics. Was it really that bad? Well, let’s go further.
COVER STORY
It’s an okay cover at best. You have all the major elements from the movies, the Delorean up top, Marty, Doc Brown, and Clara Clayton at the bottom. If you’re a fan of the films, then it’s definitely an eye please. Too bad, you’re just not aware of what you’re truly in for.
STORY
Following the events of the original Back to the Future, Marty McFly and Doc Brown head to 2015 Hill Valley where Marty has to save his future son from ending up in jail. While there, Marty purchases a sports almanac, which is later stolen by the future version of Biff Tannen, the main villain of the series. Biff takes the almanac to his 1955 self. This in turn changes Hill Valley from a peaceful little town, to a living nightmare run by Biff, who has used the sports almanac to become rich and powerful. Marty and Doc have to find a way to return time to its normal flow, and stop this nightmarish 1985 from happening.
After you do that, it’s on to part three. After defeating Biff and destroying the Almanac, Doc Brown ends up stuck in 1885, and Marty has to head to the wild west to rescue the doc before he meets an untimely fate.
GAMEPLAY
Back to the Future Part II and III is a one player action platformer. You control Marty McFly as he must find multiple items from different time periods and put them back in their right places. You move Marty with the D-Pad, jump with the A button, and shoot with the B button (when you have the item that is.)
So, the object of the game as mentioned before is to find different items and place them in other places. How you do that is by finding doors scattered all throughout the different time periods (1955, 1985, and 2015). You can’t open the door until you get a key from an enemy. Once you enter the door, you are put into a weird arcade-style game where you have to collect all the clocks to eventually unlock the time item.
once you have the item, you have to find the place to put the correct item. These are often pipes on the ground. Once inside the pipe, you have to unscramble the word up top, and then give the corresponding item to place it in. Try with one that’s not right, and it will be destroyed, meaning you have to go all the way back and get it. Isn’t that fun?
So you’ll have to destroy more enemies. You know, walking heads, snails, spiked turtles. Hmm, spiked turtles and walking heads you defeat by jumping, plus pipes you go down. That seems awful familiar. Like it was ripped off of another, more popular game series. Nah, a mere coincidence.
The game is long. You have three time periods to travel through, each with multiple paths to take, and lots of dead ends that lead to nowhere. Chances are you’ll be confused easily. Even with a walkthrough I have problems understanding where I have to go at all times. And that’s not even with me leaving 1985.
How do you travel through time, you may ask? Well, you first have to find the remote control. Once then, press select, and summon the Delorean. It can take you to one of the three time periods provided you have enough radioactive material to power the car. You can find them by jumping on enemies or scattered about through each area.
You can find a compass later in the game that will give you some help, but it’s still no help in such a confusing adventure. You’ll also find seeds that you must use in 1955 to grow platforms that you can use to get to hard to reach doors.
Other common items include Pizza and Pop, which once 100 are collected will give you an extra life. If you get a large pizza in certain rooms, you will gain five lives. There’s the hover board that will make you invincible for a short time as you sail to the other side of the level. There are also keys that enemies drop that will open doors. Plus white stars, that when collected will give Marty a projectile weapon. However, he loses it as soon as you lose a life.
And trust me, you will lose lives. The jump in the game is terrible, with poor momentum that will almost send you careening right into an open pit. Hit detection is horrible too. Even if you think you’ll get a perfect jump on an enemy, you will likely still take a hit. One hit deaths by the way. It’s annoyingly cheap that way.
The other downside to the game is its length. You will have to take at least a couple hours to beat the game. Now, for some that doesn’t seem like a problem. But there are no saves, and no passwords. Well, one password, but we’ll get to that in a second. Even with a lot of longer games on the NES, at least the gameplay was still strong enough to keep you wanting to press on. This game is certainly not the case at all. This game is so boring, so confusing, and so annoying that you may just give up quicker than you’d expect.
Now, with all that mentioned, you may wonder, “what’s Part III like? Is it any different?” No. It’s the same inane fetch quest game. Only thankfully you don’t have to travel through multiple time periods. In fact, the only defining difference is that now it’s set in the wild west. That’s it. And the plot makes less sense. Why does Marty have to collect and move items in this period? Makes no sense. But most of this game is nonsensical and stupid.
You do start with 10 lives, and have unlimited continues. When you die in the game, you will start off from where you left, so there’s that plus. But other than that, I really can’t give any other positives. It just grinds my gears.
POWER TIP
So, you don’t even want to tackle the annoyance that is Part II, and skip right on to Part III? Well, at the title screen, hold the B button and press select. You’ll have a password function that will allow you to skip to Part III by unscrambling the word F-L-U-X-C-A-P-A-C-I-T-O-R-I-S-T-H-E-P-O-W-E-R, which in itself can take forever to do. What is it with this game and tedious annoying tasks?
GRAPHICS
The game has okay graphics at best. Levels are detailed, there’s enough variety in the character designs, and the cut scenes do look close enough to their movie counterparts. Though I do feel that the 2015 and 1955 time periods feel lacking, neither looking and feeling like they were in the movies. But considering most of the crap in this game, that doesn’t surprise me either.
MUSIC
The sound in this game is decent too. You get a fairly solid version of Back in Time. Plus the 1985 level theme is definitely memorable. Other than that, the sounds in the game are awful. And I haven’t even gotten to the obnoxious high pitched noises the game makes whenever there’s a bird on screen. Why they needed to add that, I have no idea. But it ruins what could have been one of the game’s very few saving graces.
TUNE OF THE GAME
Again, I’d say the saving grace of the game is its soundtrack, which turned out pretty decent. But the best song of the game would definitely have to be the 1985 tune. It has the most depth to it, and is pretty epic sounding in my opinion. Shame its in a horrible game though.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Well, by now you pretty much know that I’m against this game. Everything is wrong from gameplay, to control, to overall fun. But my biggest issue with this game is that it barely feels like Back to the Future. Levels long and confusing that barely connect to the movie. Puzzle stages where you have to avoid robots, or dodge teddy bears. That doesn’t feel anything like the movie. Plus half-assed enemy ideas ripped right out of Super Mario Bros. Nothing feels authentic.
But before you could ask how a Back to the Future II game could even be done right, I simply present the evidence of a Japanese Super Famicom (the Japanese SNES) game called Super Back to the Future II. It’s an action platformer, but instead of trying to stretch gameplay with annoying fetch quest, it’s your basic fight enemies and beat bosses deal. And it sticks more to the focal points of the movie than this game could ever try to. It does have its poor gameplay ideas, and isn’t perfect, but for the quality of the game in sticking to the actual film, its worth it despite the flaws.
And as it pertains to a better game based on Part III… well, that one certainly seems a lost cause. Part III’s Genesis and Amiga adaptation is darn near unplayable, with an infamous starting level where you move so fast that it’s almost impossible to dodge every item that comes in front of you. Not to mention the rest of the game, should you survive, is shorter (As in this game can be beaten in under ten minutes), and less interesting than the NES game if you can believe that.
As controversial as this next statement might sounds, even the first NES Back to the Future game felt like it stuck more to the feel of the movie than Part II and III. Yes, all the walking and clock collecting, and all the random enemies, but they still put in moments that felt like parts of the film. This doesn’t, and it just makes this clunky and unplayable game all the more sadder in retrospect.
And easily the worst game purchase I ever made as a kid. Even buying it again for collecting/reviewing purposes, I still feel cheated, albeit for far less money. I had no clue what to do as a kid, and fast forward two decades later, even with the help of the internet and video walkthroughs, I can still barely play this one. It is the game I think of when I think of the very worst of LJN.
So, I say this one is worth avoiding, even if you are a massive fan of the BTTF series. There’s no redeeming qualities that will make it worth wasting your valuable time. Hell, you’re better off playing the first one. It’s not even as bad as this one. Just let this trash rot for eternity.
RATING: Thumbs Way Down
And that wraps up another year of Playing With Power. Thanks for sticking with me for the whole year, and I hope 2013 will be just as awesome a year. So, have a safe holiday season, and as always, keep playing the classics.