[GypsyGoth]

I thought the angels were really creepy, I didn't expect that.

[Tom4784]

DS has had a preview of the game.

Preview: 'Doctor Who: The Adventure Games'
Sunday, April 25 2010, 06:00 BST

By Matthew Reynolds, Gaming Reporter



Earlier this month, the BBC lifted the lid on a new Doctor Who game that would be episodic and free to download for PC and Mac. For one, the first Doctor Who title in over ten years (discounting a Top Trumps tie-in a few years back) is reason enough for celebration. The fact that it will be free for licence fee payers and has the weight of franchise heavyweight Sumo Digital behind it makes The Adventure Games one of the most interesting releases of 2010.

While the product is being executive produced by Broken Sword creator and point-and-click legend Charles Cecil, this is a third-person adventure where you control and explore the world as the Doctor. The game's first chapter, titled 'City Of The Daleks', sees the titular hero and companion Amy Pond arrive in 1963 London to discover the world is in ruins and the human race has been rendered extinct. The Daleks have taken over the Earth, and it's your job to make things right again.

On paper, Doctor Who sounds like perfect video game fodder, taking the player to faraway worlds to combat all sorts of mysterious and threatening foes. But in reality he's a game designer's nightmare: "The Doctor himself solves all the problems of the universe, saves humanity, with the power of negotiation and clever quips, which within themselves don't make for great gameplay," explains Sumo Digital's creative evangelist Sean Millard. "He hasn't got a blaster, it'll be brilliant if he had a lightsaber, it'll be great if he had twin guns, but he hasn't and we can't… There was a lot of game design time [spent trying] to make interacting with the baddies really fun, but you can't kill them."

One such solution, stealth, is employed throughout the opening hour of the game and has you avoid patrolling Daleks, with their green scanning cones displayed directly on-screen. While many other stealth-oriented titles give generous room for error, one step inside the zone and you're quite literally exterminated, so observation and patience is the key. Although the actual map layouts are straightforward and the patrol patterns are basic (it's mainly a case of waiting for them to turn around) the actual timing is rather strict and often difficult to progress through as little is done to advise the player where exactly they should position themselves. We're assured that a lot of balancing is due before its June release, and a feature that makes these sections easier upon multiple retries is being put through its paces.

A notable point is that the adventure can be directly controlled with the mouse, with the right button driving the Doctor forward and the left button used for investigating objects. It's initially an alien control scheme but one that actually works with practice, though, for PC traditionalists, standard WASD and directional key controls work fine too. Pushing over a destroyed cab with a left click and opening a route into a subway, an encounter with the last surviving human is one filled with charm. Well, the survivor is a bit of a grump, and this cutscene and a few others have faux dialogue choices that ultimately end up at the same conclusion, but having Matt Smith and Karen Gillian converse on screen is incredibly enjoyable. While the animation is a little basic, the writing and delivery is jovial and entertaining, and it's an aspect to look forward to between gameplay sections, which really drives the player onward.

The stories told in The Adventure Games are canon, and are regarded by the showrunners as additional episodes in the current season. Phil Ford, who previously wrote 'The Waters Of Mars', explains the process: "It was very much like writing a script for a TV show. The whole idea, that everyone wanted to do from the very start, should feel like episodes that you would sit down and watch on TV." As such, each episode is structured in such a way that the story builds up to a peak and a natural conclusion. Stephen Moffat also advised the team to open each episode with a pre-title scene of the impending threats to come, thus drawing the player in, much like the show itself.

Ford adds that the games allow the creators to travel to locations and do things that the television series could never do. This is no more evident than when the player lands in a destroyed Trafalgar Square, or, in the second act, when the Doctor and Amy travel to the Dalek homeworld of Skaro to find the source of their destructive power. We’re told that this harsh and brutal world, designed by Sumo Digital's art team, could well make an appearance in the show at some point and that the TARDIS interior set designers contacted the development team to ensure it had everything the game needed before its full reveal. Ford also adds that "there's every possibility" that the show would reference events in the game.

Much like the London setting, the planet is populated by the recently introduced red drone Daleks (which, although silent in 'Victory Of The Daleks', were given voices specifically for the game) and once again involves hazardous stealth sections. With the human race extinct in this timeline, the Doctor must explore the base and collect components in order to stop Amy fading out of existence. Progression through the game is linear but not obviously so; the Doctor will turn back out of a room if you visit it too early, and superficial corridors that flesh out the ship are blocked off by the Dalek's cones of vision. Once the collectibles are retrieved and Amy is back on her feet, poking around with several command consoles activates an elevator to the Emperor Dalek, and the source of their power, before spitting the duo into the final chapter of the episode.

It isn't just stealth, though: locked doors and command consoles pave the way for themed mini-games that must be completed before continuing, such as connecting coloured wires, matching symbols and navigating mazes. They offer a welcome respite from the hands-on exploration and are surprisingly challenging even in these early stages. These logic puzzles are just some of the elements peppered throughout the game to help bring in the more casual player. Amy, who follows closely as you explore will provide clues of where to go next and on-screen text will light up when you need to whip out the Sonic Screwdriver and look at something. On the other end of the spectrum, collectible cards, which are hidden away (quite literally - it took us a few attempts to find them) and illustrate characters from the franchise, give completionists something to look for. A full episode is set to last around 90 minutes, depending on how hard you look for these bonuses.

Even more inclusive is the fact that the game is designed to run on older computers. The benchmark used for the game was a five-year-old system and, having sampled the game on both a modern computer and a small laptop, their claims seem to hold strong. While visually the two systems are different in terms of polygon counts and texture quality, the frame rate was practically identical. Those put off by the stuttering trailer released last week shouldn't worry - the game is smooth, consistent, and, on high specification machines, rather lovely to look at. Those not particularly savvy with computers need not worry about tinkering with settings to make it work well either, as it will automatically calibrate itself for you.

The first episode will be distributed in a 250MB file, downloadable directly from the BBC website. From there you'll be able to download further episodes when available and continue playing, without having to return back to a browser, which certainly streamlines the episodic process. The team is keen to make the process of acquiring, running and playing The Adventure Games as simple as possible, and aside from some tricky stealth sections, they certainly look to have done that. The gameplay is simple and approachable, and it's refreshing to see a licensed tie-in that is so well integrated into the main show without seeming rushed or superficial. And best of all, it's free. Geronimo indeed!

Doctor Who: The Adventure Games is available for PC and Mac from June 5.

It sounds like it'll be surprisingly good, there's some interesting ideas there.

[Tom4784]

DS has had a preview of the game.

Preview: 'Doctor Who: The Adventure Games'
Sunday, April 25 2010, 06:00 BST

By Matthew Reynolds, Gaming Reporter



Earlier this month, the BBC lifted the lid on a new Doctor Who game that would be episodic and free to download for PC and Mac. For one, the first Doctor Who title in over ten years (discounting a Top Trumps tie-in a few years back) is reason enough for celebration. The fact that it will be free for licence fee payers and has the weight of franchise heavyweight Sumo Digital behind it makes The Adventure Games one of the most interesting releases of 2010.

While the product is being executive produced by Broken Sword creator and point-and-click legend Charles Cecil, this is a third-person adventure where you control and explore the world as the Doctor. The game's first chapter, titled 'City Of The Daleks', sees the titular hero and companion Amy Pond arrive in 1963 London to discover the world is in ruins and the human race has been rendered extinct. The Daleks have taken over the Earth, and it's your job to make things right again.

On paper, Doctor Who sounds like perfect video game fodder, taking the player to faraway worlds to combat all sorts of mysterious and threatening foes. But in reality he's a game designer's nightmare: "The Doctor himself solves all the problems of the universe, saves humanity, with the power of negotiation and clever quips, which within themselves don't make for great gameplay," explains Sumo Digital's creative evangelist Sean Millard. "He hasn't got a blaster, it'll be brilliant if he had a lightsaber, it'll be great if he had twin guns, but he hasn't and we can't… There was a lot of game design time [spent trying] to make interacting with the baddies really fun, but you can't kill them."

One such solution, stealth, is employed throughout the opening hour of the game and has you avoid patrolling Daleks, with their green scanning cones displayed directly on-screen. While many other stealth-oriented titles give generous room for error, one step inside the zone and you're quite literally exterminated, so observation and patience is the key. Although the actual map layouts are straightforward and the patrol patterns are basic (it's mainly a case of waiting for them to turn around) the actual timing is rather strict and often difficult to progress through as little is done to advise the player where exactly they should position themselves. We're assured that a lot of balancing is due before its June release, and a feature that makes these sections easier upon multiple retries is being put through its paces.

A notable point is that the adventure can be directly controlled with the mouse, with the right button driving the Doctor forward and the left button used for investigating objects. It's initially an alien control scheme but one that actually works with practice, though, for PC traditionalists, standard WASD and directional key controls work fine too. Pushing over a destroyed cab with a left click and opening a route into a subway, an encounter with the last surviving human is one filled with charm. Well, the survivor is a bit of a grump, and this cutscene and a few others have faux dialogue choices that ultimately end up at the same conclusion, but having Matt Smith and Karen Gillian converse on screen is incredibly enjoyable. While the animation is a little basic, the writing and delivery is jovial and entertaining, and it's an aspect to look forward to between gameplay sections, which really drives the player onward.

The stories told in The Adventure Games are canon, and are regarded by the showrunners as additional episodes in the current season. Phil Ford, who previously wrote 'The Waters Of Mars', explains the process: "It was very much like writing a script for a TV show. The whole idea, that everyone wanted to do from the very start, should feel like episodes that you would sit down and watch on TV." As such, each episode is structured in such a way that the story builds up to a peak and a natural conclusion. Stephen Moffat also advised the team to open each episode with a pre-title scene of the impending threats to come, thus drawing the player in, much like the show itself.

Ford adds that the games allow the creators to travel to locations and do things that the television series could never do. This is no more evident than when the player lands in a destroyed Trafalgar Square, or, in the second act, when the Doctor and Amy travel to the Dalek homeworld of Skaro to find the source of their destructive power. We’re told that this harsh and brutal world, designed by Sumo Digital's art team, could well make an appearance in the show at some point and that the TARDIS interior set designers contacted the development team to ensure it had everything the game needed before its full reveal. Ford also adds that "there's every possibility" that the show would reference events in the game.

Much like the London setting, the planet is populated by the recently introduced red drone Daleks (which, although silent in 'Victory Of The Daleks', were given voices specifically for the game) and once again involves hazardous stealth sections. With the human race extinct in this timeline, the Doctor must explore the base and collect components in order to stop Amy fading out of existence. Progression through the game is linear but not obviously so; the Doctor will turn back out of a room if you visit it too early, and superficial corridors that flesh out the ship are blocked off by the Dalek's cones of vision. Once the collectibles are retrieved and Amy is back on her feet, poking around with several command consoles activates an elevator to the Emperor Dalek, and the source of their power, before spitting the duo into the final chapter of the episode.

It isn't just stealth, though: locked doors and command consoles pave the way for themed mini-games that must be completed before continuing, such as connecting coloured wires, matching symbols and navigating mazes. They offer a welcome respite from the hands-on exploration and are surprisingly challenging even in these early stages. These logic puzzles are just some of the elements peppered throughout the game to help bring in the more casual player. Amy, who follows closely as you explore will provide clues of where to go next and on-screen text will light up when you need to whip out the Sonic Screwdriver and look at something. On the other end of the spectrum, collectible cards, which are hidden away (quite literally - it took us a few attempts to find them) and illustrate characters from the franchise, give completionists something to look for. A full episode is set to last around 90 minutes, depending on how hard you look for these bonuses.

Even more inclusive is the fact that the game is designed to run on older computers. The benchmark used for the game was a five-year-old system and, having sampled the game on both a modern computer and a small laptop, their claims seem to hold strong. While visually the two systems are different in terms of polygon counts and texture quality, the frame rate was practically identical. Those put off by the stuttering trailer released last week shouldn't worry - the game is smooth, consistent, and, on high specification machines, rather lovely to look at. Those not particularly savvy with computers need not worry about tinkering with settings to make it work well either, as it will automatically calibrate itself for you.

The first episode will be distributed in a 250MB file, downloadable directly from the BBC website. From there you'll be able to download further episodes when available and continue playing, without having to return back to a browser, which certainly streamlines the episodic process. The team is keen to make the process of acquiring, running and playing The Adventure Games as simple as possible, and aside from some tricky stealth sections, they certainly look to have done that. The gameplay is simple and approachable, and it's refreshing to see a licensed tie-in that is so well integrated into the main show without seeming rushed or superficial. And best of all, it's free. Geronimo indeed!

Doctor Who: The Adventure Games is available for PC and Mac from June 5.

It sounds like it'll be surprisingly good, there's some interesting ideas there.

[Tom4784]

I do hope the Daleks aren't involved although I can see them playing a part. The Angels are one of the most publicised enemies in this series so far so I can see them playing SOME part really. Then again we could be overthinking things, it still could be about the prison that they mentioned in the first episode, maybe in the last episode the Doctor has to stop a massive prison break?

I dunno but I do agree that Amy's involved somehow, I just hope it doesn't result in her leaving like the other companions have, I love her.

[Braden]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

I do hope the Daleks aren't involved although I can see them playing a part. The Angels are one of the most publicised enemies in this series so far so I can see them playing SOME part really. Then again we could be overthinking things, it still could be about the prison that they mentioned in the first episode, maybe in the last episode the Doctor has to stop a massive prison break?

I dunno but I do agree that Amy's involved somehow, I just hope it doesn't result in her leaving like the other companions have, I love her.

Yeah, it's like when the prisoner zero mentioned The Doctor not knowing what was actully in the crack, and it was as if The Doctor didn't want to know.

I hope it's something that takes us by suprise. And honestly, in the vampire episode I haven't seen Amy in any trailers, or mentioned, So I think she might not even be in that episode.

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Braden

Yeah, it's like when the prisoner zero mentioned The Doctor not knowing what was actully in the crack, and it was as if The Doctor didn't want to know.

I hope it's something that takes us by suprise. And honestly, in the vampire episode I haven't seen Amy in any trailers, or mentioned, So I think she might not even be in that episode.

Matt Smith's said that it's gonna be surprising so I do hope they don't rely on any predictable DW cliches like bringing back the Cybermen/Dalkes and things.

It's strange the vampire episode was the last one to be really publicised, We don't really know anything about the last half of the series (outside of James Corden being in an episode really), so it'll be interesting to watch.

[Braden]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

Matt Smith's said that it's gonna be surprising so I do hope they don't rely on any predictable DW cliches like bringing back the Cybermen/Dalkes and things.

It's strange the vampire episode was the last one to be really publicised, We don't really know anything about the last half of the series (outside of James Corden being in an episode really), so it'll be interesting to watch.

Yeah, I also heard something about the Time-Lords actully returning for good as well. I don't know if that's actully that suprising but..

And I also I bought the Radio Times that elaborate on the second half the series, I can update the front page if you want me to

Also the episode James Corden is in, looks really good.

[LewisMarvel]

I can't wait for Flesh And Stone it looks amazing i love matt smith<3

[Braden]

Just a reminder that this is on tonight

P.s: I can't wait either Lewis

[Braden]

All of the episode descriptions are up, and are on the front page in the first post.

[Tom4784]

Yesterday's episode was really good, definitely the best two parter in a long while. I do hope River Song takes on a recurring role soon, her character's brilliant.

Also apparently Karen Gillan's contracted for two series so she'll definitely be back which I'm glad of, I love Amy.

[Braden]

I'm glad Karen is staying with us.

I am so happy that the crack will come more into the series as well.

[anto42]

I wonder who did river kill

[Braden]

Originally Posted by anto42

I wonder who did river kill

I think they were hinting that it is The Doctor, I maybe wrong though.

[LewisMarvel]

Originally Posted by Braden

I think they were hinting that it is The Doctor, I maybe wrong though.

oooooooooooooooooo....

[Glenn.]

Originally Posted by Braden

I think they were hinting that it is The Doctor, I maybe wrong though.

I had that impression to. There are theories that David Tennant could make a return in the future. Falling through a crack into our universe. With him that River kills.

Also if time can be re-written Im thinking later down th eline, Series 6-7 maybe, that the Timelords could make a permanent return.

[Braden]

Originally Posted by Glenn

I had that impression to. There are theories that David Tennant could make a return in the future. Falling through a crack into our universe. With him that River kills.

Also if time can be re-written Im thinking later down th eline, Series 6-7 maybe, that the Timelords could make a permanent return.

There was a rumour that Time-Lords return at the end of this series. it would make sense due to the speculation of Romana coming back next series.

[LewisMarvel]

Anyone looking forward to Vampires of Venice because i am and it looks really good.

[LewisMarvel]

bump!

[Braden]

I think they've hyped this episode to be the best yet.

[anto42]

Rorys first trip in the tardis today

[Glenn.]

Not really digging this episode so far. I don't think Vampires are very Doctor Who IMO. I may change my mind after the episode. I'm looking forward to catching up with Rory.
Has anyone seen the clips on the website, he goes to take a photo of Amy on his phone in 16th Century Venice. Surely hes not going to be able to?

[Braden]

Originally Posted by Glenn

Not really digging this episode so far. I don't think Vampires are very Doctor Who IMO. I may change my mind after the episode. I'm looking forward to catching up with Rory.
Has anyone seen the clips on the website, he goes to take a photo of Amy on his phone in 16th Century Venice. Surely hes not going to be able to?

I don't think it would matter anyway, it was interrupted by the woman screaming.

[Braden]

Did anyone else think that the monster was Prisoner Zero.

[LewisMarvel]

That was an amazing episode!