This game's lore creates one of the more fascinating universes in gaming, especially among first-person shooters. The dialogues might not be anything extraordinary, but the plot and the concepts the game explores touch upon some of the most fundamental aspects of human psyche in relation to our bodies and our understanding of life and death. The way the story ties into real-world geography and history is pretty much unprecedented. The location of the lost city of Al Khali is precisely at the point where all the showcased civilizations (Sumer, Rome, Crusader States and British Empire) could have attempted to expand into. And of course the lost city itself echoes the fabled Iram of the Pillars. Every boss battle references similar real life events. Nazi occultists, child crusaders, decadent Roman governors, and deified Mesopotamian religious figures (i.e. Kubaba) are all real-life phenomena. This all ties perfectly with the Abrahamic religious worldview, despite incorporating pagan concepts.

Visually the game is stunning, not just in character designs, but also in how levels look. But every character design informs their backstory. There is a history of pain and anguish imprinted upon every deformed human being you meet in the Pyxis. The main protagonists also each have a well-developed backstory, that the game only very subtly conveys, leaving a lot to the imagination (and unfortunately doomed potential sequels).

I realize most people's gripes with this game are gameplay-related. But I honestly think y'all are exaggerating. Sure, this game might not be one of the better first-person shooters, but there is enough variety in weapons, special abilities and enemies to keep the game from getting boring. For a six-hour game it provides just enough content for you to experiment and play around with by the time the story wraps up. And I completely disagree with people who say only two characters are useful. I loved playing as each of them, except for maybe Jones, whom I usually only switched to for either scripted sequences or when I wanted a shotgun.

This is one of my all-time favorite games. I bought it on disc back in 2008, and then later I got the Steam version. I have played through the game to completion twice. This is not the kind of game that makes you wanna keep playing for hours and hours. This is the kind that you play through and put on a shelf, until you want to revisit it to refresh your memories. It's a singular experience, akin to watching a movie. Though it has unlockables, they're really not the point of this game. Really wish we got a sequel.

It's a middle of the road Telltale game, though it has a decent story as a Back to the Future entry. The puzzles can be quite obtuse and even the hint system doesn't always quite work as it sometimes believes you're solving another puzzle entirely when you're solving a different one. Episode 5 had a very great climax and I would say it made it all worth it in the end.

If you're playing the PC version, try to find the Tom Wilson mod from the steam forums if it's still around. It replaces Biff's dialogue with the re-recorded lines from the 2015 version of the game. It makes it a much more authentic experience with the original Biff Tannen voicing the guy.