Video Games

VicNoir

If an official Doctor Who video game were to be made (not counting the ones released last year), what kind of video game should it be?

I ask this after having the thought nagging me for some time and, to my mind, two ideas come to mind.

An RPG: The Doctor is not a physical fighter (with exceptions made for Venusian Judo and the occasionally punch) and so I think the role-playing game model (with speech and choice being a distinctive part of the gameplay) could be adapted to a Doctor Who game. It could be story told across multiple Doctors (say a threat that crosses space and time in such a way that the Doctor will encounter it in various incarnations), based on which of those still alive would be interested in lending their voices to their video game counterparts, each incarnation having an important role to play in the facing down of the threat.

LEGO Doctor Who: I could be wrong, but doesn't Doctor Who perfectly suit the LEGO games style. The characters in these games never speak, so each and every incarnation of The Doctor could be included (even with levels in Black and White for the earliest tales), with some of the more iconic enemies and stories. With such a wealth of stories to adapt and each Doctor with their own background, companions, etc, I think it would work quite well.

Plus, I'd love to see a little LEGO TARDIS fading away with that distinctive, 'breaks on' sound.

Just two ideas that popped into my head and I'd love to hear anyone elses thoughts or ideas on possible ways of adapting Doctor Who to video games.

DonkyDonk

There have been some pretty awful attempts in the past but Lego Doctor Who would be awesome!

DinoRex

The games from last year would have been great if it wasn't for the god awful controls.

DonkyDonk

Most games from TV & movies are terrible. They seem like cynical cash-ins to me. The Lego ones seem to be an exception: they are very addictive and lots of fun to play. Plus it would suit the tone of the show, not like the dodgy Dalek Attack game from the 90s...

And while I'm on the subject, anyone remember this effort:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who:_Destiny_of_the_Doctors

I was so disappointed when I got this. They really made a decent stab at it but I found it very clunky and you needed NASA hardware to run it properly.

Must see if it can dig it out again...

ríomhaire

Are the adventure games worth looking at from a story/writing perspective? I've heard they're frustrating to play but I'm kinda interested in seeing the story of the Cybermen one.

Anyway, the best genre for a Doctor Who game by far is adventure game at least if you were trying to make one that matched the TV show. The Doctor generally solves all his problems by dialogue trees and combine [item] with [item] and use on [item] :P

It just has to be done well instead of rushed. Perhaps if the BBC had licensed it to Telltale and sold it instead of trying do to it for free to the British public.

DinoRex

Well Charles Cecil was involved in the production of the recent ones. He was behind Beneath a Steel Sky and the Broken Sword series.

I think storywise they're great... puzzles aren't too bad either, nothing challenging though. It's just struggling with the horrible controls and terrible camera that make them HUGELY unbearable.

I've played through the Dalek and Cyberman ones... started on the Tardis one, but it was making me feel ill.