The last two weeks have been especially kind to thirtysomething gamers. Much of Tron: Legacy was a heartwarming nostalgia trip, most notably the scene at Flynn's arcade to Journey's 'Separate Ways' and now this week Telltale Games reimagines another landmark 80's film, Back to the Future. While the latter has had it share of opportunities for game adaptations in the last 25 years (as much as any licensed property), its track record has been remarkably poor, where pretty much the only fun rendition was an action platformer that only came out in Japan.

How Telltale handles the Back to the Future property is practically a spoiler in itself. Do they reinterpret the trilogy? Do they make a valiant attempt at a canonical sequel to Back to the Future III? Heck, even converting the films verbatim sounds fun, provided that Telltale sticks to their trademark PC adventure format.

What I can spoil is that Back to the Future: It's About Time does an impressive job in preserving the trilogy's spirit while showcasing Telltale's cartoon style visuals. Seemingly trivial elements like keeping the same font of the opening credits does a lot to show how the studio took this project seriously. And while it would cost a pretty penny for Michael J. Fox to reprise his role, Marty's soundalike is near flawless and Christopher Lloyd does return as Doc.

Gameplay-wise, Telltale continues to do what they do best; exploratory adventure games complete with dialogue choices and problem solving that require some mild obtuse thinking. These puzzles should come easy to most seasoned PC gamers and those unfamiliar can count on hints for the more challenging scenarios.

Back to the Future The Game also follows Telltale's episodic format by stretching this out to five installments, with the next episode, Get Tannen! due out this February. Even without looking at these later chapters, there's no reason not to feel optimistic that the complete package will easily be the best Back to the Future game ever. Not only does Telltale do the series justice, but they have come up with their best gateway drug for console gamers who haven't taken the time to look at this studio's impressive library that includes Monkey Island and Sam & Max (and these titles are on consoles already).

(This review was based off a complete playthrough of Back to the Future The Game: It's About Time. A download code was provided by Telltale Games for review purposes.)

Developer: Telltale Games

Publisher: Telltale Games

Platforms: PC, Mac

Released: December 22, 2010