Doctor Who: The Adventure Games is a series of 4 graphic adventure video games set to be released in conjunction with Series 5 on the official website. Both the Daleks and Cybermen are set to appear. The games will be released starting June 2010.
Details regarding the games were announced on 21 April 2010. The games are being produced in conjunction with the Doctor Who TV production team, with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan lending their voices and likenesses to the games. In announcing the games, series producer Piers Wenger stated that they are part of Series 5: "There aren't 13 episodes of Doctor Who this year. There are 17 - four of which are interactive. Everything you see and experience within the game is part of the Doctor Who universe."[1]
Footage of the games was shown after Victory of the Daleks, revealing one "episode" would involve the Daleks and a destroyed London in 1963 with the tagline Fight The Daleks. This was later revealed to be City of the Daleks by Phil Ford, initially announced as being available on the 5th June [2]. A second series of another four episodes has been commisioned for realease in 2011[3].
Availability
The first of the games, City of the Daleks, was released for download via the BBC's official Doctor Who website on 2nd June 2010 for PCs - several days earlier than the originally announced release date of 5th June. It was later revealed that the early release of the game was part of a system test as they gear up for the official release date. A trailer for the game was shown straight after Vincent and the Doctor on Saturday to mark its official launch [4]. A Macintosh version was later released on 15th June 2010.[2]
At present, the first two games are available to international audiences from Direct2Drive, for $3.70 American. However, Direct2Drive has controversially chosen not to make the Mac OS version of the game available, which has had the side-effect of preventing some gaming sites from reviewing the game.[3]
Robert Nashak from BBC Worldwide has also said that in the future, there may be retail versions of the games.[4]
Gameplay
The Adventure Games are a puzzle-based game: the player has to navigate obstacles with a specific pattern to them, crack codes, use objects to bypass obstacles, and navigate mazes. There is little margin for error: most hazards kill automatically, and (as the Doctor) it is extremely hard to escape from his enemies once they've spotted you. The game follows a linear path: tasks have to be handled a certain way and in a certain sequence.
Games
Series 1
City of the Daleks
The Doctor's TARDIS materializes in 1963 - and London is in ruins. The Daleks have seized control of time and the only chance of saving Earth lies in a desperate quest to Kallann, the capital city in Skaro, the Daleks' home planet - before time catches up with Amy, the last survivor of the human race!
Blood of the Cybermen
The Doctor and Amy materialize in the Arctic - where members of a survey team are turning from flesh to metal and digging something sinister from under the ice that's been waiting thousands of years - an army of Cybermen!
TARDIS
With the TARDIS caught in a time riptide, it's up to Amy to save the day or leave the Doctor trapped in the void forever. Meanwhile, a dangerous entity is roaming the TARDIS corridors and it hasn't been fed for a very long time...
TBA
Information to be announced
==
Series 2
A Second series as been commissioned for 2011
Cast and characters
Primary cast
Guest cast
Production crew
Executive Producers: Steven Moffat
Piers Wenger
Beth Willis
Anwen Aspden
Charles Cecil
Writers: Phil Ford
James Moran
Notes
- Each episode has collectible cards, marked with a "DW", which provide extra information on the Doctor Who universe. There are fifty to collect in total, ten each of Doctors, Companions, Friends, Enemies, and Jelly Babies.
- These Cybermen have a different logo than the Cybus logo, and could be the original Cybermen.
- A picture of a Cyberman on the Adventure games mini site is named "Winter of Terror". This could be the original name for Blood of the Cybermen.
- According to the folder structure of the Adventure Games directory, City of the Daleks was originally intended to be the second episode, Blood of the Cybermen was intended to be the first and TARDIS was originally set to be the last.
- There is a rumor that the third and fourth games will feature new enemies, created especially for the games. The third game will have a new enemy, as confirmed by Karen Gillan, which is called the Entity.
- The Adventure Games prominently feature music from a previous series, unlike the majority of Series 5. Only The Eleventh Hour used previously written music.
- A short teaser for the third adventure game was released on the BBC website, entitled Wish You Were Here.
- A second series of Adventure Games was anounced for 2011, and may have more 'prominent' characters from the series. [1]
Concept art
- The Adventure Games concept art 1.jpg
"Exploring icy caves"
- The Adventure Games concept art 2.jpg
"A new alien world of adventure"
- The Adventure Games concept art 3.jpg
"All new corridors to run down"
- The Adventure Games concept art 4.jpg
"A creepily familiar alien skyline"
- The Adventure Games concept art 5.jpg
"A world full of danger and mystery"
- Blood of the Cybermen concept art 1.jpg
Blood of the Cybermen 1
- Blood of the Cybermen concept art 2.jpg
Blood of the Cybermen 2
- Blood of the Cybermen concept art 3.jpg
Blood of the Cybermen 3
- Blood of the Cybermen concept art 4.jpg
Blood of the Cybermen 4
- Blood of the Cybermen concept art 5.jpg
Blood of the Cybermen 5
- Blood of the Cybermen concept art 6.jpg
Blood of the Cybermen 6
- Blood of the Cybermen concept art 7.jpg
Blood of the Cybermen 7
In-game screenshots
- Dr-Who-The-Ad-8.jpg
"A Cyberman on an icy landscape."
- Dr-Who-The-Ad-9.jpg
"An army of Cybermen"
- Doctor-Who-The-Adventure-Games-2-4-570x320.jpg
"The Doctor next to a snow mobile looking down at something"
- Blood of the cybermen 27.jpg
The Doctor holds up a Cyberman's arm
- Blood of the cybermen 33.jpg
A Human-Cyberman