Back To The Future 3 logo

IMAGEWORKS * £24.99

Producing from film licences is usually a pretty dodgy area. Quite often the film doesn't yield the kind of situation that would fit a video game, but software houses can hardly afford to ignore a big film release, since simply the name itself can shift a fair number of units.

One game that tried to capitalise on a film's success was Back to the Future. The original movie, despite being highly successful, didn't really lend itself to any computer game concept and the game that finally appeared was a rather feeble arcade adventure that caught little of the film's great atmosphere.
Years later saw the release of a Back to the Future II conversion, which managed to make more of the situations found in the film, but still missed the mark somehow.

Now we have the final film of the trilogy along with its computer game counterpart. So to what extent have the programmers managed to bring the film to home computers?

Car trouble
If you're unfamiliar with the films... er... well it's a bit difficult to explain, really! The story revolves around the characters of schoolboy Marty McFly and eccentric professor Doctor Emmet Brown, who has invented a time-machine based in - of all things - a DeLorean motor car. Marty manages to get himself tied up in a time-hopping adventure that sent him first of all back to the fifties, then into the future, and back to the fifties once more. Still with e? No? Well, you'll just have to see the films to see precisely what's going on - it's very complicated!

The third chapter of the story begins with the Doc disappearing from 1955 leaving Marty stranded. A minute later, a letter appears from the Doc, dated 1885. He has decided to stay back in the 1880s - an era that has intrigued him for years. The letter tells Marty where to find the De Lorean, so that he can get home before destroying it. However, as the car is being dug out, Marty finds a gravestone with the Doc's name on it, dated two days after the letter! Marty decides that he must go back in time to save him from his terrible fate.

Horses, trains and automobiles
The game itself is split into four different sections:

CLARA'S RESCUE
This has you playing as the Doc as he rides his horse along, dodging gunfire, picking up dropped luggage and jumping obstacles as he tries to reach Clara Clayton before she falls over the edge of the ravine.

THE SHOOTING GALLERY
During the town party to unveil the new clock. Marty is invited by Samuel Colt to try his luck on the shooting gallery. He must blast enough targets to prove himself a worthy gunslinger and win a new Colt 45.

PIE THROWING
Buford Tannen and his gang are rather fed up on this interfering kid storming in on their territory and so try to finish him off. Mary must use stacks of Frisbee Pie trays to take them out before his metal shield is destroyed.

THE TRAIN
To get the De Lorean to a high enough speed to get back to the future, it must be pushed along by a train. You must send Marty up to the locomotive to allow the time-jump to take place.

A stitch in time
After a disappointing couple of conversions for the intial games in the series, Imageworks have managed to put together some pretty enjoyable little pieces to produce a licence which not only captures the spirit of the film, but is a fun game to boot. The in-between sections which set the scene for the current game look a little dodgy, but this is due to some serious licensing problems, which prohibit the programmers from drawing pictures that look exactly like Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd. Still, you can easily tell who they are supposed to be and the actual in-game graphics are nicely done. The animation and use of colour go together to make a bright and cheery looking game.

Each of the sections stand up as a little game in its own right, except that they are cut to a short enough length to make sure that the player doesn't get too bored. The only criticism is the fact that the going is a little easy once you get to grips with the controls, which means that experienced players won't too much trouble in beating it. However, the various sections are fun, which means that even if you do finish, you can come back and play your favourite section on its own for a laugh!

This makes for a fun game which has enough variety to make it fun for a while and is worth dragging out for a quick bash even when completed.


Back To The Future 3 logo

Eifriche Kinobesucher haben ein Vorteil: Sie wissen immer schon ein paar Monate vorher, welche Games demnächst erscheinen werden! Ob sie dann aber auch was taugen, erfährt man erst bei uns...

Daß Doc und Marty auch bei ihrer (angeblich) letzten Zeitreise wieder auf dem Amiga vorbeischauen, war ja wohl klar: die Frage lautete eigentlich nur, wie sie sich dabei anstellen würden - so wie beim letzten Mal, oder vielleicht etwas besser?

Um es gleich vorwegzunehmen: Was das Spiel betrifft, wurden die beiden gottlob nicht von der Vergangenheit eingeholt, zwischen dem enttäuschenden zweiten Teil und der aktuellen Fortsetzung liegen Lichtjahre!

Das Game besteht diesmal aus vier unterschiedlichen Leveln, die natürlich alle wieder an einzelne Filmszenen anknüpfen. Zunächst muß Doc versuchen, mit seinem Pferd die Kutsche von Clara Clayton einzuholen, bevor diese in den Abgrund stürzt, weil ihre Gäule durchgegangen sind.

Ganz ähnlich wie im ersten Abschnitt von "Wrath of the Demon" geht es anfangs nur darum, auftauchende Hindernisse, wie Felsbrocken, Tomahawks und Holzkisten wegzuballern oder ihnen durch Ducken bzw. Überspringen auszuweichen. Nach einer Weile wird von der Seitenansicht in die Vogelperspektive umgeschaltet, und Doc muß sich galoppierend und schießend einen Weg durch miteinander kämpfende Indianer- und Kavallerieverbände bahnen. Dieser Perspektivenwecshel wiederholt sich dann noch einige Male, bis die arme Clara endlich gerettet ist.

Der zweite Level ist wesentlich simpler gestrickt, hier soll man einfach in einer Schießbude möglichst viele Enten und Papp-Gangster erledigen. Weiter geht's mit Frisbee-Werfen, sechs böse Jungs warten in Level 3 darauf, von Martys runden (Porzellan-) Scheiben getroffen zu werden. Die praktischen Tellerchen braucht man auch im letzten Spielabschnitt, nämlich zur Abwehr störende Gegner, währende Doc und Marty sich bemühen, mit Hilfe einer Lokomotive ihren DeLorean auf Zeitreisegeschwindigkeit zu bringen.

Wie gesagt hat der dritte Teil gegenüber dem zweiten deutlich angelegt, und das praktisch in jeder Hinsicht: Die Grafik ist schön wildwestmäßig gezeichnet das Scrolling ruckelt kaum, und es gibt viele hübsche Zwischenbilder. Der Sound bietet Musik plus FX und geht insgesamt in Richtung "Spiel mir das Lied für eine Handvoll Dollar mehr"; auch die Joysticksteuerung darf ruhig so bleiben, wie sie ist.

Sicher, der Schwierigkeitsgrad ist relativ happig, er steigert sich langsam von schwer bis sehr schwer, aber schließlich darf man die Level zwei und drei in einem Trainingsmodus vorher üben. Bliebe als Fazit festzuhalten, daß Doc und Marty jetzt endlich auch in der Computerversion auf der Höhe ihrer Zeit sind! (od)


Back To The Future 3 logo

We were going to review this game next month. So we did.

The previous two Back To The Future games were both so completely awful that many people wished they could change places with Marty McFly and go back in time and alter events so that they would never be born, thus avoiding ever having to play either of them. Hopes weren't high, therefore, for this, the third game in the series ('The third one? Really?'- reader's voice), which makes for an incredible strange Believe-It-Or-Not scenario when it turns out to be a bit groovy.

Following what has become the tradition with movie licences, BTTF3 features several sub-games, each one representing a particular scene from the movie. None of the games are especially mentally taxing - well, actually they're nog even slightly mentally taxing - being mostly arcade reactions tests, but put together they form a whole which is at least challenging and varied. It's more than you can say about many of the games we've seen this month, at least.

The first section sees Doc Brown galloping across the desert to save the local teacher from plummeting into a ravine in her runaway buckboard, getting caught up in the middle of bank robberies and cavalry battles on the way. The gameplay is terrifyingly simple but very addictive, and a superb banjo rendition of 'Ghost Riders' does wonders for the atmosphere.

The other levels feature a shooting gallery, pie-throwing and the old run-along-the-top-of-a-speeding-train warhorse, but all are excellently executed despite being as old as the hills. Or indeed somewhat older than the hills, come to think of it.

The screens are all linked by some genuinely chuckle-raising captions, and the music throughout is crap in a nice, endearing sort of way.

My only problem with this game is that the limited format is going to wear a bit thin after a relatively short time, but BTTF3 is just about addictive enough to get away with it. If ever there was an argument for a midway price between £25 and budget software, this is it, but even at full whack, you could do a lot worse than this.



Back To The Future 3 logo

There's never been a decent game based on a film. Companies fork out a fortune for a film's name and storyline only to turn out a game which has nothing to do with the movie. I'd like to see Cinemaware have a bash at a movie licence. If it was developed along the lines of the classic It Came From The Desert, then you could watch the story unfold and affect its outcome. Such a computer-movie environment would, to my mind, be the ideal vehicle to convert a movie for the home computer.

BTTF3 unfortunately fails to deliver the goods. The game contains four levels based on scenes from the film, with screens updating the plot between stages. This time Marty McFly has gone back in time to rescue his buddy Dr Emmett Brown, who is due to die two days after he posted a letter to Marty, which is 100 years before Marty receives it. Confused? You bet.

Level one starts with Dr Emmett Brown racing on a horseback to rescue his true love who's about to take a dive into a ravine. Plunging into crevasses, colliding with the local wildlife or being shot by Indians results in a fall and a time penalty.

The scene then shifts to a shooting gallery in Hill Valley. The object here is to shoot a certain number of targets within a time limit. This section doesn't quite fit the style of the game, but is fun nonetheless.

Next is a gunfight with Mad Dog Tannen, the film's bad guy. IN the film Marty escapes death by using an oven door as body armour; the game goes a step further and gives our hero an unlimited number of plates to throw at the opposition as well. The oven door can take several hits, but once it's been destroyed Marty's vulnerable. This is definitely the most playable section, with nice touches such as the blind man who staggers through the battle field being lead by his manic guide dog.

Once Mad Dog's been defeated it only remains for Marty to get back to the future. Owing to a stray arrow hitting a fuel line their Delorean time machine can't reach 88mph, the speed at which the time circuits engage. To get around this the car has been strapped to the front of a steam train, which will push it up to speed. Marty has to work his way to the front of the train avoiding mail hooks, collecting logs and bashing the odd train driver.

The in-game music includes the film theme, a rip-off of The Shadows' Apache, and a catchy version of ZZ Top's incidental tune. A few rough digitised screams make up the crude sound FX.
The graphics are drawn in yellows and browns in keeping with the game's wild west theme. Although small at times, the characters and background sprites are attractive and well animated.

BTTF3 is a huge improvement over the first two licences. Unfortunately, a good games player could probably complete this within two hours of buying it. Easy and fun, this is a game for the kiddies.


BACK TO THE CINEMA
The last movie ended with nutty scientist Emmett Brown being transported back to 1855, leaving Marty, the film's hero, stranded in 1955.
Following a rather confusing eposidoe with a 100 year old letter and some grotty photographs, Marty works out that the Doc is killed a few weeks after arriving in the past. After digging out the time machine (which the Doc hid in an abandoned mine), Marty whizzes back a hundred years, calls himself Clint Eastwood (which leads to loads of unfunny jokes), ecounters, argues with, and beats the bad guys, saves the Doc's life, then returns to 1985 in time to snog his girlie. Not a film for the intellectual, but one that will drive parents mad as they try to explain the plot to their kids.
HINTS BOX
To stop yourself falling off the train on level four hold the joystick down when you collect a log.
Try to shoot all the coloured ducks on the second level to get a bonus stage.
Avoid hitting the blue guys whenever they appear, they're the cavalry who'll help you by shooting the indians.
During the plate fight concentrate on eliminating one villian at a time.

Back To The Future 3 logo

Imageworks, C64 £10.99 cassette, £14.99 disk; Amiga £24.99

After inventing rock 'n' roll and altering the destiny of his parents in I, then changing his own future in II, Marty's final task is an altogether more romantic one. Fans of the series will remember at the end of II Marty is left stranded in 1955 when the De Lorean time machine is zapped by lightning with the Doc inside.

It turns out the De Lorean was sent back to 1885 and the Wild West, where the Doc has found his true love - a teacher called Clara. Doc has written a note which is to be delivered to Marty telling him where he's buried the damaged car. Using 'modern' 1955 parts Marty fixes the car and is all set to return to present when he discovers the Doc was shot only days after writing this note. Marty has to go back to 1885...

Thankfully the game isn't as complex as the plot - it's split into four multiloaded sections recreating key scenes from the movie, sort of. The first stage is where Doc saves Clara from going over the cliff edge in her carriage. The section flips between two views; the side-on perspective has the Doc galloping along on his horse, jumping over ravines and cacti, ducking boulders and shooting twirling tomahawks as well as any Indians or cowboys sneaking up behind. Bonus points can be earned by picking up luggage dropped by Clara.

After a bit of this the view switches to overhead with a vertical scroll. Cavalry and Indians are in heated battle and must be either avoided or shot. The action flips between the two scenes until Clara is saved, Doc loses all his lives or Clara goes over the cliff!

Level Two is the shooting gallery scene, a static screen with you controlling the Colt. 45 as various targets move past. Ducks, flying and swimming, are the main targets but there's also some cowboy figures, a decidedly modern soldier, a granny(!) and if you get all the multicoloured ducks there's a 'Generation Game' conveyor belt parody!

The next level sees real cowboys after Marty. There are six of them hiding in various buildings, popping out to shoot at Marty. He can move a long diagonal line, throwing plates - three plates take out a cowboy.

After defeating the cowboys it's finally back to the present. The De Lorean has run out of fuel so a train has been stolen to speed it up past the critical 88mph. Marty starts at the back of the train and must make his way to the front, leaping between carriages, knocking down or ducking under various baddies and also picking up some special speed logs for Doc to throw into the furnace!


Robin Hogg In line with its cinematic counterpart Part 3 is a whole lot better than Part 2 and, come to think of it, Part 1 too. Probe have brought together the relatively simplistic sub-games well to form an ongoing story, mainly through good use of atmospheric effects and generally good quality graphics. The chancing background as Doc rides along on level one, the great gun samples in the gallery stage, the blind man (complete with shades-wearing dog!) walking though the middle of the chaotic plate fight - they're all neat effects on both polished versions which stand up as great licences as a result. Despite the fact that the movie plot has had to be reworked slightly to make for an exciting game and the simplest level in terms of gameplay - the shooting gallery - worked the best, I enjoyed it. It's a game with a sense of fun about it and it plays all the better for it. At last someone's made a decent game out of the BTTF series!
Stuart Wynne Back To The Future III is an odd blend of sub-games, few of which are all that original, but being executed with such skill that the whole is rather more than the sum of the parts. The opening mix of side-on and overhead shoot-'em-up action is unoriginal, and not even the Amiga version has more than one layer of parallax scroll, but it's playable and substantial enough that the option to practise later levels is much appreciated. Level two is a static screen with a few moving targets, but Probe have polished it so that it really shines. The top-notch graphics and some hilarious little touches make it all very enjoyable. Level three is a lot trickier, with the 3-D taking some figuring out to get the plate throwing accurate, while Four is fun enough to make playing through earlier stages well worthwhile. BTTF3 isn't quite a classic, but it's got lots of variety and playability.