Back to the Future Level Pack Review

Back to the Future is a series that seems perfectly suited to a LEGO game. A trilogy of classic films? Check. A cast of memorable characters? Check. However, when you start to think about what the levels would be, you realise that the movies are really dialogue-heavy, and large sections of the movie wouldn’t translate well to a game. You couldn’t really have an entire level where you build a giant cassette player which blasts Van Halen at George McFly. So in theory, LEGO Dimensions would be a brilliant opportunity for movies like this, because rather than padding out a whole game, they could have a level or two focusing on the highlights. Unfortunately the reality doesn’t deliver, as the Back to the Future Level Pack is a huge wasted opportunity.

The level included with the pack plays out a (very) abridged version of the first movie, with Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd reprising their roles as Marty and Doc Brown respectively. It begins with Marty assembling the giant amplifier in Doc’s lab. Marty then meets with Doc to see the Delorean in action, before being attacked by the Libyan terrorists Doc stole the Delorean’s power source from. Marty escapes in the Delorean but ends up travelling back in time. In the past, he gets help from the Doc Brown of 1955 in order to return to his own time period. If you’re thinking that that doesn’t sound like a very long level, then you’d be right. Even when I took my time gathering studs and collectibles it took me less than an hour to complete. While I understand that not every scene of the movie would translate well to a game, there’s still plenty more that could have been done with it. Marty never meets his parents or butts heads with Biff, which means that pretty much all of the movie’s plot is absent. If they couldn’t work out how to translate the whole movie into a game, they could have included scenes from the other two movies as well – it would be great to play through moments like escaping Griff’s gang on your hoverboard, or getting the train in 1885 to send the Delorean back to 1985.

When this baby hits 88 miles per hour you’re going to see some serious bricks

What did make the cut as level segments isn’t anything to rave about. Each section of the level feels incredibly confined, with barely any space to move or explore. The few puzzles and set pieces slotted into each section aren’t particularly interesting or exciting, either. In the third of the four segments of the level, the flow through the level is as follows:

1. Break boxes and use the parts to build a ladder
2. Climb the ladder, and use the hoverboard to glide from the top to another platform
3. Push a box down
4. Build a ramp out of the parts that came out of the box
5. Drive off the ramp to get out of the room

That takes about five minutes to do, yet is a whole quarter of the level! I imagine the designers had trouble creating a long, engaging level due to the small pool of abilities that come with this set. Marty just has a Sonar Smash ability, while his two included items can only either hover across gaps or activate time travel treadmills in their base forms. It means that you’re basically just climbing to things, breaking them, and then assembling the parts into something new, over and over. Playing as Marty is pretty cool though because his guitar is effective at smashing enemies and glass objects, and he has a fair few interactions with other characters, with new dialogue performed by Michael J. Fox.

Marty helps with the film’s climax to give him something to do

In addition to the level included in the pack, playing as Marty will allow you to enter the Back to the Future Adventure World. This world is set in Hill Valley across three time periods – 1985, 2015, and 1885. Using the Delorean (or the Time Train included in the Doc Brown Fun Pack) you can travel between each of these time periods. Each time period reflects the state of Hill Valley as it appears in the films – in 1885 the Clock Tower hasn’t been fully constructed, and in 2015 everyone’s driving hovercars around on the roads. Because the world is split into three totally separate sections it feels smaller than most worlds. As such, it doesn’t place its focus on exploration like other worlds do, and instead introduces elements that interact over the time periods. For example, one puzzle requires you to go back to 1885 and dig up a buried item. This item will persist through time, and if you dig up similar items in the two future time periods, you’ll be able to use them all together to solve a puzzle in 2015. You’ll find other puzzles and little ambient events that require you to travel through time and see the effects of your actions.

Something here doesn’t quite belong…

Probably my favourite part of this pack is the Delorean vehicle. Its signature ability is, of course, to travel through time. As mentioned previously this is a big part of the Back to the Future Adventure World, but it has its uses in other worlds as well. If you see a time travel treadmill in a level you can use the Delorean (or the Time Train) to head to the future or past of that location. An example of this is in the Portal 2 Adventure World, when you encounter a derelict, out of commission testing chamber. If you have the Delorean you can travel back in time to when the facility was operational, and complete a puzzle in order to get a Gold Brick. This time travelling ability provides one of my favourite moments in the game in the Ghostbusters Story Level, which was such a ‘wow’ moment that I’ll let you discover it for yourself.

So the Back to the Future Level Pack is a bit of a disappointment then. The level that should be the hero of the pack is instead a massive letdown, not offering much in the way of entertainment or value. The highlights are the Adventure World and time travelling, both of which can be accessed much cheaper with the Doc Brown Fun Pack. But even still, given that Doc Brown himself doesn’t offer too much else, and the Level Pack is required to 100% complete the game, I’d say that if you’re a fan of the films you should pick it up. Otherwise, hold off on this one until you can get it at a decent discount.

This review was written based off a game or game content bought with the author’s own money. Review scores are designed to be directly compared with other expansions in the same series, not other series. We use the full 10 point scale 🙂