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Doctor Who: The Adventure Games

Started by weekender, June 06, 2010, 07:45:18 PM

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weekender

WARNING.  THIS POST CONTAINS POTENTIAL SPOILERS ABOUT DOCTOR WHO SERIES 5.  CLICK OFF NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THEM.  REALLY, JUST PAY ATTENTION TO THIS BIT HERE AND THEN FUCK OFF :)

BBC site for the Adventure Games

Obligatory Wiki link (contains plot spoilers, I keep warning you).

QuoteThe TARDIS materializes in 1963 to find the human race crushed by the Daleks. The Doctor embarks on a quest to the Dalek planet to correct time and save the last survivor of Humanity - Amy Pond!

I found this to be interesting: "According to Executive Producer Piers Wenger, the story is canonical, and is just an additional episode of Series 5".

The game itself is fairly easy (I completed it in two hours, and I'm crap), and obviously aimed at kids.  The interesting part from a Who fan's perspective is the fact that the plot might have made it's way through to the 'proper' series, and also that it plays out like an episode - there's more videoplay than gameplay.  Also it was written by James Moran (who wrote Fires of Pompeii) and Phil Ford, who was NBA Rookie of the Year with the Kansas City Kings in 1979 who wrote Waters of Mars.  Make of that what you will.

I also admit that I found it a little bit exciting when I got a Murray Gold themed sound effect when I'd completed one of the tasks.  I know his Who-themed sound is intrusive, but when playing the game it was quite exciting.

Considering the game is completely free (except for viewers in Scotland and other crapper countries), I think it's pretty good fare.  What's of much more interest is the way it could interact with Series 5.

Anyone else played it and had an opinion?

There's another three more games coming, I've left the thread title as it is so we can talk about all the games in this thread if we want.  I doubt each new game will warrant a new thread; this first one was quite short.

HappyTree

Why's it not free in Scotland? Do they not pay the licence fee too? Is it also not available in Wales and NI?

papalaz4444244

I find it runs on my PC like a crap Spectrum game. Controlling the character is tortuous.

(I have loads of bought PC games and they all work fine)

weekender

Does the BBC have a duty to provide quality programming to Scotland when they have their own constitution and parliament?

HappyTree

If you pay the tax you get the service, simple as.

weekender

Well, I've just done 'Blood of the Cybermen', the second in this series.

Obviously there was no blood.

If real-life Who ever turns into The Doctor running into walls when he wants to go through a door, then I look forward to it.

Also, it took me about 15 minutes at the end when I realised that I had to wait for a limping Chisholm instead of just going up the lift.

Also, 'The TARDIS will keep you warm in an underground ice city" means that Phil Ford needs to buck some of his ideas up, that's just fucking stupid.

Overall though, it could have made a decent episode although obviously it would be expensive to make.

Have I mentioned that I'm not that serious a gamer, so this is all just a bit of fun but why I find it interesting is the plots that could have been considered for real-life Who episodes?

Tokyo Sexwhale

I haven't played these yet - because of the sunshine, the World Cup and finally getting into Fallout 3.  How long do they take to play - and are they worth the time?

Also, I wonder if this could be a precursor to a "proper" Doctor Who console game -  perhaps an RPG where you get to pick which Doctor to play and which companions to take?  Although "all of time and space" would make it a hell of a sandbox game....


weekender

They take between an hour and two hours if you're crap at gaming like me, serious gamers would finish them off in about 30 minutes.  I think they're worth it simply because they're supposed to be canonical and they're more like an episode of Who than a game, to be honest.

Although the sonic screwdriver is used far too often, as you'd expect.

Mister Six

Quote from: Tokyo Sexwhale on July 11, 2010, 11:09:16 PMAlso, I wonder if this could be a precursor to a "proper" Doctor Who console game -  perhaps an RPG where you get to pick which Doctor to play and which companions to take?  Although "all of time and space" would make it a hell of a sandbox game....

Lego Doctor Who!

ozziechef

I much prefered the Dalek one, the cyberman one seemed to be over too quickly.

One other tip, when you first play change the graphics settings - I played the first one at a ridiculous resolution with low quality graphics before realising I could change it. I felt like I was in 1995 when i was playing.

madhair60

Quote from: Mister Six on July 12, 2010, 09:06:47 AM
Lego Doctor Who!

This would be incredible.  Now I want it more than anything.

Mister Six

Quote from: madhair60 on July 12, 2010, 10:16:40 AM
This would be incredible.  Now I want it more than anything.

I know, right? Ace blowing stuff up with Nitro-9! Pertwee throwing people about with Venusian Aikido! Jamie swinging his highlander sword! Mel shattering glass with her screams! Rose... just kind of running about a bit!



madhair60

I know someone at TT, the developers.  THE PRESSURE IS ON.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I still don't get those Lego games. It seems bizarre to me to make game characters look like Lego men, when as a kid I'd imagine that the Lego men looked like actual people.

Anyway, I downloaded these earlier. As folk have said, they're not much of a challenge (I finished them in about an hour because I'm totally badass) but they're a fun little diversion and, more importantly, they're free.

The Doc's running animation is rather funny, also.

Mister Six

Have you tried playing them? They're a lot of fun.

Quote from: madhair60 on July 12, 2010, 05:48:31 PM
I know someone at TT, the developers.  THE PRESSURE IS ON.

Sadly, they'd probably have to wait until Lego signed up a deal to make actual Doctor Who toys, and there's probably some agreement with the current toymakers (or possibly something in the Beeb's charter) prohibiting that (not to mention it being a bit of an obscure licence outside the UK).

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: Mister Six on July 12, 2010, 08:51:16 PM
Have you tried playing them? They're a lot of fun.
Oh, I'm not doubting that. It's just that Lego seems like a strange thing to tack on to the games. I understand making games based on Batman and Indiana Jones, and I understand making Lego sets based on those same characters (even though that's not how it was in my day) and I can even understand making a game based on Lego, but making games based on Lego based on Batman/Indy strikes me as odd.

Anyway, back to the Dr Who games. I was watching The Thing on telly earlier and I thought, "this is probably quite an inappropriate film to reference in a game aimed mainly at children."

madhair60

Quote from: Mister Six on July 12, 2010, 08:51:16 PM
(not to mention it being a bit of an obscure licence outside the UK).

Is it?  I thought it was fairly big in the USA, too; it's referenced enough in American comedy.  I could be entirely mistaken.

Mister Six

Quote from: madhair60 on July 13, 2010, 12:59:37 PM
Is it?  I thought it was fairly big in the USA, too; it's referenced enough in American comedy.  I could be entirely mistaken.

Nerdy US comedy, though - Futurama, Big Bang, etc. It's not like you've got How I Met Your Mother dropping references. And just because people recognise Tom Baker or have some recollection of seeing the Tardis on the Syfy* doesn't mean they'll want to buy Lego toys of the show, or a Lego game.

*That's the rebranded Sci-Fi Channel, honestly.

Zetetic

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on July 13, 2010, 04:00:45 AM
Oh, I'm not doubting that. It's just that Lego seems like a strange thing to tack on to the games. I understand making games based on Batman and Indiana Jones, and I understand making Lego sets based on those same characters (even though that's not how it was in my day) and I can even understand making a game based on Lego, but making games based on Lego based on Batman/Indy strikes me as odd.
For one thing, it's a relatively cheap and family-friendly art style. In a few games, that the action is taking place in Lego has actually be used to make the gameplay more interesting, but... not often.

Tokyo Sexwhale

Quote from: Mister Six on July 13, 2010, 02:27:45 PM
Nerdy US comedy, though - Futurama, Big Bang, etc. It's not like you've got How I Met Your Mother dropping references.

And The Simpsons, and Family Guy.



Mister Six

Quote from: Tokyo Sexwhale on July 13, 2010, 05:10:27 PM
And The Simpsons, and Family Guy.

Let's see... ah, God bless wikipedia.

Family Guy's nerdy as hell - its big Who riff is in the middle of an episode-long Star Wars spoof, for crying out loud - and The Simpsons has gone pretty much the same way of late (cf. the Alan Moore/comic book store episode; how many Middle-Americans know what 'Watchmen Babies' was all about?). Old-school Simpsons only had references to Tom Baker in the background of shots.

None of this, of course, screams of the kind of cultural penetration you'd need to successfully sell a video game in the US. Though I'd love to be proven wrong.

tygerbug

Doctor Who until recently was known in America, for the most part, as a vaguely embarrassing British sci fi show no one here had actually watched much of. Any name-dropping is just show writers being nerdy.

It's gained much more traction now due to having new episodes on TV and all. Still, in general, normal Americans don't watch it.

biggytitbo

Its shown on BBC America now, which is not a channel many people get in the US, and it gets ratings of around 1 million. It's much bigger in Australia though, has been since the Tom Baker years, and Canada, the 1st 3 series were co-produced by a Canadian TV channel.


Angst in my Pants

It's also being heavily advertised in DC comics lately, as is Being Human.

tygerbug

You never saw ads for Doctor Who in normal US magazines until Matt Smith's debut, and there were never any Doctor Who panels at Comic Con until around the time David Tennant was leaving. (There was a Torchwood panel, however, annoyingly.) Since BBC America took over the show in the US things have clearly gotten better. But the following is small here.

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: Talulah, really! on July 18, 2010, 10:21:06 AMKaren seems to think so

3m58s in.

Heh, when we first saw it on Confidential, that was the clip that prompted MissInformed to say "That's it, they are DEFINITELY an item, they are so doing it.", or words to that effect.

Cerys

D'you reckon she loves the cock, then?

Well, I've just finished Blood of the Cybermen, and all I can say of the last minute of it is get out of my fucking way you fucktards.

Ambient Sheep

Just reporting in that our boys (now 8yrs1wk & 9yrs9mths respectively) tackled the first episode yesterday and did it in about three hours between them, with a little bit of help from me.  We shall be tackling the second episode tomorrow.  (Hadn't done it earlier as the only machine in the house capable of running it was away for fan repairs.)


Quote from: Cerys on July 20, 2010, 10:34:05 PMD'you reckon she loves the cock, then?

Oooh, why, is it rumoured she doesn't?

Or did you just mean that specific cock?


Quote from: Cerys on July 20, 2010, 10:34:05 PMWell, I've just finished Blood of the Cybermen, and all I can say of the last minute of it is get out of my fucking way you fucktards.

Will look forward to that, then.  :-S

switchbitch

Quote from: Ambient Sheep on July 20, 2010, 11:03:59 PMOooh, why, is it rumoured she doesn't?

It's a reference to Matt Smith reportedly saying "do you love the cock?" whilst shagging. (Reported by whom, I do not know but I believe it was first mentioned on the thread about his massive forehead. Am too idle to go look)