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 2ND JUNE 2010

(INTERACTIVE EPISODE)

“There aren’t thirteen episodes of Doctor Who this year, there are seventeen - four of which are interactive,” stated Piers Wenger, series producer, earlier this year. It sounded like hyperbole, but he was right - City of the Daleks really does function as a fully-fledged episode of Doctor Who. It’s also, at last, a proper Doctor Who computer game, albeit not of the most demanding or challenging kind.

The game is simple in structure - the Doctor and Amy arrive in a ruined London in 1963, meeting the last surviving human on Earth and discovering patrols of Daleks. This leads into a series of very simple, stealth-based missions - essentially, the player controls the Doctor, sneaking past Daleks through a small area of London, occasionally collecting useful objects or solving terribly straightforward puzzles. This, Act One, leads to Act Two in the mighty Dalek capital, Kaalann, and then, via a confrontation with a new Dalek Emperor, into Act Three in Skaro’s past, just before the new Daleks get there and alter their own history in order to become Lords of Time. It’s a straightforward plot, but an effective one, and the cut scenes that reveal further information and push the story forward are satisfying rewards for each mission completed. The entire production is perfectly in sync with the television series, thanks in no small part to the voice talents of Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Nick Briggs. The animation isn’t bad at all, and, although the characters still move in that peculiar way that computer animated characters so often tend to, it doesn’t detract much from the experience. After all, that’s practically how Matt Smith walks in real life. The story-line also adds heartily to the series’ ever-growing mythology, making it feel even more a part of the whole.

The gameplay, however, does rather let things down. I have no problem with the game being short and simple; I’m mostly playing it for ten or fifteen minutes at a time after work, and I’m pretty rubbish at games anyway. Its difficulty level will suit new and occasional players, including the very young who may be attracted to it via the world of Doctor Who. Seasoned gamers, however, will breeze through it, if they can be bothered. There is little in the way of action, other than a little point-and-click activity. The controls are a huge issue - all movement of character and camera are controlled from the mouse, something that I find quite tricksy anyway, being more used to D-pads and joysticks, and genuinely flawed here. Even once you’ve got the hang of it, the character will suddenly lurch off in a random direction, or the camera will swivel to give you a perfect view of the wall, leading to instant death by Dalek ray or Varga plant sting. Thankfully, there are frequent save points and unlimited lives, meaning that the innumerable deaths don’t set you back too far. It is, however, immensely frustrating that this game’s main difficulty comes not from its deliberate challenges but from its poor controls. The graphics also suf-fer from occasional, but severe, slowdown.

It’s a shame to criticise what is, after all, a free game. I would encourage any British Who fans to download it and give it a try. It is good fun, albeit somewhat frustrating, and there is a genuine thrill to being the Doctor, evading the Daleks, for an hour or so. For those outside the United Kingdom, who will have to wait for a commercial release, it’s a different matter. I would imagine that City of the Daleks will be released along with the remaining three games as a single package, which will give some value for money; still, there are far better adventure games out there for those who want to spend their money on one. Nonetheless, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t enjoyed it, and I can’t help but have a soft spot for a game that rewards exploration with intriguing bits of trivia. I look forward to the second game, which promises a showdown with the Cybermen.