Mama Robotnik
Member
Introduction
The BBC have funded production of four Doctor Who Adventure Games. They're free to download for all UK residents, and are being produced by an impressive ensemble:
Charles Cecil (Beneath a Steel Sky, Broken Sword)
Sumo Digital (Virtua Tennis 2009, Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing, Broken Sword: Sleeping Dragon and Angel of Death).
Phil Ford (Doctor Who special "The Waters of Mars", brilliant if you haven't seen it)
James Moran (Torchwood miniseries "Children of Earth", very well recieved).
The first of these games, City of the Daleks, has now been released.
What is Doctor Who?
Longest running science-fiction show in the world. Its also wonderful, and very easy to jump in to.
The premise is simple and usually follows this formula:
The Official Site, Wikipedia, and Tardis Wikia are good places if you want more extensive information. They can tell you all about Shada, the Hand of Omega, The Valeyard, Season 6B, Morbius' Past Regenerations and the Blinovitch Limitation Effect.
Who are the main players?
The Doctor
The Doctor is the last surviving member of the species knows as Time Lords. They were benevolently managing most of the universe and its laws for billions of years. They don't look human, humans look Time Lord. The Time Lords and their planet, Gallifrey were wiped out in the Last Great Time War, and now the Doctor travels around the universe with human companions to right wrongs and have fun.
The Doctor doesn't like violence and weapons, and will use his brains and charm to sort out evil.
Amy Pond
The Doctor's newest companion, she's a brave do-gooder who has been wanting to travel in The Tardis since the Doctor crashed into her back garden.
Rory
Who?
The Tardis
A living spacetimeship that is dimensionally transcendental (its bigger on the inside). It can take you anywhere and anywhen, and was grown by the Time Lords as a tool of temporal stability. Then it broke down and The Doctor nicked it from the repair bay. It looks like a Police Box because The Doctor likes Police Boxes.
The Daleks
The worst thing in all of creation. Mutated survivors of a Nazi-like regime battling racial purity over a poisoned planet. They removed every emotion except for hate, and exist solely to kill (EX-TERR-MINN-NAATE!) everything that is not a Dalek. They're a superintelligent race of rutheless conquerors, and fought the Time Lords (and destroyed them) in a crippling battle for the multiverse. Give them a reason to keep you alive, or they will shoot you and destroy your planet.
The Cracks
Cracks are appearing in space and time. They appear and grow, and their calm lures people into them. They erase the existence of anyone and anything they touch. Don't go near it. Don't touch it. They're bad enough to scare The Doctor, and he's fought Satan and won.
The Games
Episode 1 - City of the Daleks
UK Release Dates: Saturday 5th June (PC); Tuesday 15th June (Mac)
Rest-of-World Release Dates: July 2010
Size: Approx. 300MB
Price: (UK) FREE; (REST OF WORLD) UNANNOUNCED
Premise: The Tardis materialises in 1963, but time has been changed. The Daleks have dominated Earth and exterimated the human race. They have some plan to restore their long lost homeworld, Skaro. The Doctor and Amy must stop them!
Episode 2 - Blood of the Cybermen
UK Release Dates: Saturday 26th June
Rest-of-World Release Dates: UNANNOUNCED
Size: Approx. 300MB
Price: (UK) FREE; (REST OF WORLD) UNANNOUNCED
Premise: The Cybermen have returned.
Episode 3 - Unannounced title
Possible Art
Episode 4 - Unannounced title
Possible Art
From released media, its certain that the future episodes will involve alien planets, an ice cave, an industrial complex and The Cybermen.
Screenshots
Trailers
Episode 1: City of the Daleks Trailer (IGN)
System Requirements
Windows PC
Operating System: Windows XP (with Service Pack 2)
Central Processor Unit: Intel Pentium4 1.6 GHz+ or AMD Sempron 2800 + or higher
Main Memory: Windows XP / Windows 7 - 512 MB, Windows Vista - 1GB
Free Hard Disk Space: 2Gb (pus additional working space)
Sound Card: Direct X 9 compatible
Graphics Card: 100% DirectX 9 or above compatible. 128 Mb memory. Pixel Shader 2.0 or above with the latest drivers for your card.
The game supports onboard graphics cards that have Pixel Shader 2.0 capability (includes the Intel chipsets) but may have reduced framerates.
Apple Mac
Intel CPU
2GB hard disk space (pus additional working space)
Reviews
NeoGAF - 6 out of 10 ("was good")
I'm outside the UK, how do I get the games?
Official response from the Beeb:
Download Links
Episode One - City of the Daleks
