Back To The Future : Part 2

Copyright : Image Works | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

An exhilerating visit by Marty and the Doc to the year 2015 seemingly resolves a few problems with the future McFly family. But when the two return home, they soon discover that someone has tampered with time to produce a nightmarish Hill Valley, 1985. Their only hope is to once again get back to 1955 and save the future.

Graphics

Having played the ZX Spectrum (48 and 128k), Commodore 64 and the Amstrad CPC versions of Back To The Future I can honestly tell you (with a lump in my throat) that this is the worst of the 3. The graphics on offer in our CPC conversion almost match the ZX Spectrum release with a massive lack of colours, not very well drawn characters (Marty, Griffs gang and co) and a mass amount of slow down when the screen becomes overly packed with sprites (characters). Not only have the colours been stripped down to straight black and white they have also removed some of the better characters from certain levels, Doc Brown doesn?t make an appearance in the future Hill Valley level and all the cars seem to be on 4 wheels (unlike the C64 version).
Considering the technology and the colour capabilities of the Amstrad CPC you would think that Image Works would have produced something similar to the C64 version, sadly this sits up there with the rest of the Back To The Future game trilogy in the Hall Of Shame.

Sound

Sound on the other hand is a little bit better, now we all know that the sound chip in the C64 is a kick ass piece of hardware (even the most die hard CPC fans must agree with this) but the Amstrad CPC conversion of the Back To The Future theme has to be very close to that heard in the C64 version, very good indeed. Having said that the theme music also runs into the game (as it does in all versions) and continuously loops in the background, this is less annoying when the in-game sounds are more varied than "thud" and "ching" but us CPC owners will soon be reaching for the volume control. As a die-hard Back To The Future fan it hurts to tell people to turn the theme music down but even I switched the sound off on my Amp.

Gameplay

Gameplay is not up to much even on the better looking C64 version as there are only a select few (about 4 as I remember) and they?re not the best scenes out of BTTF2 to make levels out of. For example the first level is set at the point were Marty is called a Chicken by Griff before punching him in the face and legging it out of Cafe 80s, you pick up on the chase and must Guide Marty to the museum in which Griff and his gang intend to burgle in the future. The second level is in Hilldale 2015, Jennifer has been taken home after being mistaken for the future Mrs Jennifer McFly by the local police (still not very bright in the future) and it?s your job to help her out before she runs into her future self.
The style of play ranges from action (the hoverboard level) and puzzle (the Jennifer rescue level) so there should have been something for everyone, sadly the quality of these levels is let down on the CPC and the other versions by poor quality design and programming. This game is worth owning of you?re a fan of the BTTF trilogy even if you don?t play it, as a collector of all things related to this movie I am a little biased but if you bought the original game when it was released you?re not the only one out there.
BTTF2 is worth avoiding on the CPC as it has way too many faults to mention, if you really must play this game then we regrettably recommend the Commodore 64 version (available at Lemon64).