''Back to the Future'' is the name of a 1985

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

released by

Electric Dreams Software Electric Dreams Software was a UK-based video game publisher established in 1985 in video gaming, 1985 by Activision and run by Rod Cousens and Paul Cooper formerly of Quicksilva . The company published video games for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 6 ...

for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

, Commodore 64 and

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...

. The game is loosely based on the 1985 film of the same name.

Gameplay

The game is a side view arcade adventure. The aim of the game is to get George McFly to spend as much time as possible with Lorraine Baines. The more time George and Lorraine spend together, the more they will fall in love, and thus more segments will be added to the family photograph in the bottom right corner. The photograph in the bottom right and left of the screen gradually disappear if the player does nothing, thus setting a time limit on the game. The player can find various object to help him such as love

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

s, a cup of

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

, alien suit and a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

. He also has a

skateboard A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. They are usually made of a specially designed 7-8 ply maple plywood deck and polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboarder ...

to move around quickly.

Reception

Max Phillips, reviewer for YS magazine, summarised the game as "not a bad conversion of the plot. Nice to see an original game concept. It may even be very clever. But I can't say it's very much fun to play". ZX Computing magazine said it was "overpriced and over-hyped", and Computer Gamer added, "buy this at your peril". Mark Eyles, one of the developers, commented:

''Back to the Future'' was a bit of a rush. We knocked it out in about two months flat. We really wanted about twice as long to do the film justice, but the deadline was pressing...

Rerelease

Virgin included the game in their 1987 compilation ''Now Games 4'', along with '' Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future'', '' Mission Omega'', ''

Hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

'' and '' Jonah Barrington Squash''. The game was also included in ''The Story So Far Volume IV'' compilation in 1989, along with ''

Wonder Boy The series, also known as the series, is a franchise of video games published by Sega and developed by Westone Bit Entertainment (formerly Escape). Beginning with the original '' Wonder Boy'' arcade game released in April 21, 1986, the game has ...

'', '' Quartet'', ''Aliens'', ''

The Eidolon ''The Eidolon'' was one of two games that were part of Lucasfilm Games' second wave in December 1985. The other was '' Koronis Rift''. Both took advantage of the fractal technology developed for ''Rescue on Fractalus!'', further enhancing it. ...

'' and ''Ghostbusters''. On this occasion, the game achieved the lowest score on the compilation from YS magazine, who concluded that it was "a total waste of tape".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Back to the Future (video game) 1985 video games Amstrad CPC games Back to the Future (franchise) video games Commodore 64 games Single-player video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set in 1955 ZX Spectrum games Video games set in California