First in, then out, then back, then in again (careful —Ed). PAUL ‘Lost In Time’ MELLERICK retraces

his steps in a nuclear-powered Skoda.

Ask me the scenario for Back To The Future 3 and I’ll tell you to get lost. Not being a great fan of films (Michael J Fox couldn’t act his way out of a soggy paper bag), I’m merely aware the film revolves around Marty McFly travelling through various time areas, trying to put the space/time continuum back into order.

The start of BTTF 3 sees Marty catch up with Doc Brown in the year 1855 (Doc’s always wanted to visit the Wild West. you see) to save his life.

The game follows various scenes of the film in detail, split into the following levels...

Horses for dessert courses

Level One sees you as the Doc on horseback, chasing Clara Clayton in a runaway carriage. You must catch her before she runs off the cliff, so watch out for birds and other hazards that litter your way or she’s a goner.

In the pie-throwing section, Marty throws empty pie trays at the bad guys. Three hits eliminates a baddy: kill six and your arch enemy, ‘Buford Mad Dog’ Tannen, appears.

Finally, a steam train must reach 88mph to kick the Delorean it’s pushing into time-travel. As Marty you go from one end of the train to the other, collecting ‘speed logs’, then get into the car.

Back to the drawing board?

Let’s start with the good news. BTTF 3’s pleasant to look at and listen to: each sprite’s nicely detailed, colour’s used well and there’s a nice tune throughout.

But here’s the bad news. The gameplay is CRAP. I’m sorry to say this, but in all my years of gamesplaying, this is the worst ‘thing’ I’ve ever played.

It’s just too frustrating. The first level’s almost impossible to complete — you need super-human timing and the actions of other sprites are highly erratic. After several hours play, the level becomes too boring for words and you lose the incentive to see later levels.

Anyone desperate to spend £33 would be better off giving it to a stranger in the street, it would give you more satisfaction than this product.

PAUL

I think Paul's being a little harsh. The graphics are excellent by Master System standards, crisp, colourful and extremely well detailed. Where BTTF3 fails is the playability department. It's only got a few stages so the programmers have set a high difficulty level. Things do get a little annoying at times, but perseverance is the key word. I promise you, finish the first level and your mates will give you a great big pat on the back.

ADE

Producer
Acclaim
GG
TBA
MS
Out Feb
Memory
256K
Players
1
Price
£32.99

SF Rating

Presentation
45% - No options, nice movie pic
Visuals
55% - Sparse backgrounds, nice scrolling
Sonics
50% - Reasonable, fitting tunes
Playability
38% - Dodgy collision detection
Lastability
15% - Give it 3 hours before you trash it

33%

You’d be better off watching the film (and that’s crap, too)

Rating
33
Reviewer
Sega Force magazine
Region
UK
Scans
Sega Force - Issue 04

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