Have you always wanted a Doctor Who experience that actually made you feel like you were there and had control over the outcome? Then this is the game for you.
Have you always wanted a Doctor Who experience that actually made you feel like you were there and had control over the outcome? Then this is the game for you.
Now, whether you want to accept or deny it, VR gaming is growing in popularity and is coming into the best interest for modern day gaming but of course there are numerous things to take into consideration when it comes to buying VR such as whether your rig can handle it, if you have the right amount of space in your living room/bedroom/games room and of course then deciding which headset to get. I've got the Oculus Rift as I prefer the controllers for the rift where they actually fit around your hand where the Vive just felt like holding two massive sticks.
Now, I love Doctor Who, David Tennant is my favourite Doctor, I used to have all the trading cards and I remember those weird browser Doctor Who games back in the day and I even remember when they had a "Create your own Dr Who Comic Editor", those days were more simple so being told that there is a Doctor Who game to play made me excited and then being told it's a full VR experience got me even more excited! So, let's start from the beginning.
You start off in a laundromat alone with nothing but a bunch of washing machines and a TV that looks like its in-between channels however as you look around, you start to hear a voice and it's the Doctor herself speaking through the TV to communicate with you. The Doctor has been hurled through time to the end of the universe. A virus that threatens to rip apart reality has been unleashed describing reality as software. You are given the important task of helping the Doctor by becoming a master of the TARDIS, to journey across worlds both familiar and strange to recover a series of powerful time crystals (that the Doctor named herself) that can repair space, time and save the universe itself.
So, as you can guess she drops quite a big and intense task on your lap, which you don't really think of much until a "time glitch" happens and suddenly everything around you is destroyed and you've got these weird gooey things in the washing machines with eyes that are actually carnivores in hibernation. You end up stuck in this time glitch so you head out and create a radio satellite so the TARDIS can be summoned.
As the TARDIS materialises you see a circular UFO hover over you and I thought nothing of it until I heard the voice screaming down. "GALLIFREY TECHNOLOGY IDENTIFIED, IT IS THE TARDIS, IT MUST BE ACQUIRED, EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR!". So, this of course starts making my heart race and I sprint, well walk since the game only lets me walk, into the TARDIS, slam the door shut and there it is. The console with a hologram of Jodie Whittaker who has been speaking to me all this time.
Now this next part took me a good 10-15 minutes because you need to fly the TARDIS via the knobs and dials but no matter what order I used them in, it kept sparking out and making me start all over. I'll admit, I may have had to go to YouTube to look into a guide to see how it's done, and of course, I go back and get it immediately - possibly this isn't ideal for kids that are a bit slow of learning.... like me. Once you get going though it feels good. The different environments and locations and atmospheres make them all twice as powerful being completely in Virtual Reality. The core game relies on puzzles as you go through the game with the odd objective here and there. This is definitely the biggest budget Doctor Who game that has ever been released. The developers have really done their research into each of the levels and how to get the best design for them. The graphics for this game are actually really well developed, especially for a BBC budget game.
Coming across adversaries from the TV series is a really cool feeling but then you have the weeping angels' section of the game. I actually felt scared playing this part, looking around constantly at this point not realising sometimes I was forgetting to breathe and not blinking but then again I was trying to do what David Tennant told me to do back in 2007 "don't turn your back, don't look away and don't blink... good luck". However, when you are in VR trying these things not looking away while trying to move through the level makes it all the harder but that's an amazing feeling, something that you would not be able to pull off in a game with a controller or mouse and keyboard. There is also a section where you come across the Daleks and have to take cover inside the shell of a Dalek on a shoot as you go on a rail style section, again a lot of fun and easy to grasp.
There are a few things with the game that I would have liked, more interactions that don't include puzzles - don't get me wrong the look of the levels are really something, it's awesome being able to get up close in these environments and your enemies to see how they look but I just wish there were more concepts other than puzzles to keep you going. Another thing for me would be the movement speed. You have the option for teleportation or locomotion, for me its locomotion all the time but when you walk it's so slow, even when I tweak it up to the fastest option it still feels really slow, so when I'm in a place with an enemy and I wanna run away like the Doctor, all I can do is stroll away.
So, to sum it all up this is a really immersive and great VR experience, Dr Who fans will love this, it's a great thing for the kids as well (especially if you want them to have nightmares with the Weeping Angels) and it's a great game to get to grips with your VR kit and its actually worth the asking price as well. I'm always one for picking up a new game when it's on sale but for a VR game with this amount of work put in, the asking price is worth it.