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 27TH AUGUST 2010

(INTERACTIVE EPISODE)

After pitting faithful fans against both the Daleks and the Cybermen, the third Adventure Game tries something a little different, giving us a story set entirely within the confines of the TARDIS. Actually, ‘story’ is perhaps a little generous a term for this, the narrative of which is simplistic in the extreme. Although written by James Moran, a very talented scriptwriter, there’s little more to the story than a little TARDIS technical trouble, a brief exchange of Doctor-companion banter, and a faintly pointless interlude involving a distinctly unthreatening monster known only as the Entity - the sort of abstract gaseous life-form that turned up in the original Star Trek series every now and then. Except that this one clears off after a stern talking to.

One might hope that the gameplay would make up for this shortcoming. Sadly, no. While it is fairly enjoyable to go rooting around in the Doctor’s study, smiling at the visual references to previous episodes, the chance to explore the TARDIS’ labyrinthine interior is completely squandered as we see nothing more than this and the console room itself. The puzzles are the same straightforward trials included in the previous two games, but without any hostile or dangerous situations to add some much needed peril. The only new element in these sections is that of the swift but reasonably enjoyable trivia quiz; ostensibly a way of testing to see if Amy is free from the Entity’s control.

On the plus side, when, in the final ‘act,’ we do get a chance to properly use the console, there is a real sense of actually operating the thing. The console’s six control panels are each designated according to function (helm, diagnostic, navigation, communication, mechanical and fabrication), follo-wing faithfully what has already been laid out in the recently published TARDIS Handbook.  The various buttons, levers and gizmos are named and explained by the Doctor himself, and we’re treated to the actual piloting sequence for TARDIS travel. Such a shame then that the only challenge here comes, once again, from the shoddy mouse-based control system. A sixty-second time limit for the take-off sequence is a fine idea in theory, but when it can take fifteen seconds just to get the Doctor to face the right direction, it becomes frustrating and off-putting.

With the sluggish controls the only challenge in the simplistic play, the game is little more than a brief and whimsical diversion. Reasonably entertaining for a short time, perhaps, but a missed opportunity. This could have been something genuinely interesting, instead of a throwaway distraction.