Doctor Who: The Adventure Games is a series of four graphic adventure video games, the first series was released in conjunction with Series 5 on the official website. A second series is planned to be released in 2011.
Promotion
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 release 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.[5]
At present, the first four 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.[6]
Robert Nashak from BBC Worldwide has also said that in the future, there may be retail versions of the games.[7]
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 Eleventh Doctor) it can be 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.
Playable characters
Playable characters in all the games are the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond. However, the player is unable to choose which character to play with, as this is tied to in-game story progression. The only exception is at the end of TARDIS.
Collectables
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.
List of Collectables
- First Doctor
- Second Doctor
- Third Doctor
- Fourth Doctor
- Fifth Doctor
- Sixth Doctor
- Seventh Doctor
- Eighth Doctor
- Ninth Doctor
- Tenth Doctor
- Amy Pond
- Rory Williams
- Donna Noble
- Captain Jack Harkness
- K-9
- -
- -
- Rose Tyler
- Sarah Jane Smith
- Wilfred Mott
Friends:
- Captain Adelaide Brooke
- Adipose
- Winston Churchill
- Van Gogh
- River Song
- -
- Jackie Tyler
- Nasreen Chaudhry
- Liz Ten
- The Ood
Enemies:
Cast and characters
Primary cast
Guest cast
Series one
- Sylvia - Sara Carver
- Chisholm - Barnaby Edwards
- Elizabeth Meadows, the Entity and Jones - Sarah Douglas
- Daleks and Cybermen (Voices) and Oswald Fox - Nicholas Briggs
Series two
- Guy Fawkes - Ralph Little[9]
- 14th plotter - Emilia Fox[10]
- Barnaby - Chris Johnson[11]
- Town crier - Phil Daniels[12]
Games
Series one
| Episode Number |
Title | Writer | Available | Notes |
| 1 | City of the Daleks | Phil Ford | 5th June, 2010 | Reappearance of the Daleks |
| 2 | Blood of the Cybermen | Phil Ford | 26th June, 2010 | Reappearance of the Cybermen |
| 3 | TARDIS | James Moran | 27th August, 2010 | First Appearance of The Entity |
| 4 | Shadows of the Vashta Nerada | Phil Ford | 22nd December, 2010 | Reappearance of the Vashta Nerada |
Series two
| Episode Number |
Title | Writer | Available | Notes |
| 1 | The Gunpowder Plot[13] | Phil Ford | 31st October 2011[14] | Return of the Rutans[15] |
| 2 | TBA | TBA | TBA | |
| 3 | TBA | TBA | TBA | |
| 4 | TBA | TBA | TBA |
Production crew
Producers
Executive producers
Writers
Notes
- The Adventure Games prominently feature music from a previous series, unlike the majority of Series 5. Only The Eleventh Hour and The Pandorica Opens used previously written music.
- A short teaser for the third adventure game was released on the BBC website, entitled Wish You Were Here.
External links
References
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_100408_01/adventure_games
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_100422_01/Adventure_Games_Launch_in_Sheffield
- ↑ http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/more-doctor-who-games-next-year-9508.htm
- ↑ http://www.mcvuk.com/news/39261/BBC-explains-early-Doctor-Who-release
- ↑ http://gallifreynewsbase.blogspot.com/2010/06/city-of-daleks-now-available.html
- ↑ http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2010/07/d2d_selling_episodic_doctor_wh.php D2D Selling Episodic Doctor Who
- ↑ http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/torchwood-the-game-8995.htm
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_111003_01/The_Gunpowder_Plot_More_Stars_More%20Monsters
- ↑ http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/the-gunpowder-plot-dated-preview-27026.htm/
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_111003_01/The_Gunpowder_Plot_More_Stars_More%20Monsters
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_111003_01/The_Gunpowder_Plot_More_Stars_More%20Monsters
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_111003_01/The_Gunpowder_Plot_More_Stars_More%20Monsters
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_110721_01/New_Adventure_Game_The_Explosive_Details
- ↑ http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/the-gunpowder-plot-dated-preview-27026.htm
- ↑ http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/rutans-return-in-the-gunpowder-plot-27114.htm