It's always felt like BBC's campy sci-fi show should be a home run in video games, but it's rarely translated well to an interactive format. PlayStation VR adventure Doctor Who: The Edge of Time is an effort to change that, but it's ultimately a bit flat, leaning a little too heavily on fan-pleasing moments instead of breaking new ground.
With the Doctor marooned somewhere in time and space, it's up to you to solve puzzles, evade monsters, and fly the TARDIS in a bid to save the universe. Using the Move controllers, you're able to interact with certain objects and wield a sonic screwdriver as you explore a handful of short levels. Motion tracking is fine, and there are one or two clever puzzles to decipher, but there's a strange lack of instruction at points. Starting the game, it doesn't tell you the controls, and you're often left to figure out what you're meant to be doing until a dialogue hint ushers you in the right direction.
Stepping into the TARDIS is a cool moment, and there are lots of references and encounters that fans will love throughout the short runtime. Unfortunately, that's about as much substance as you'll find. The puzzles themselves are pretty easy, and the environments you find yourself in are underwhelming. Long load times break the flow between each location, movement is slow, and it's not very engaging to play at all. If you're a real Doctor Who aficionado, you may find some enjoyment here, but otherwise, this is a waste of your precious time.
Comments 21
can't be as bad as those Wii and DS games we got though
on a side note The Eternity Clock wasn't that bad actually but it did have issues
@FullbringIchigo was that the matt Smith game? I actually enjoyed that more than I thought I would
@Danloaded yep it was so were the Wii and DS games but they were really bad, like an early N64 game
@crazykcarter i had the PS3 version, it wasn't as buggy as the Vita version was but it still had a few, nothing game breaking though
@FullbringIchigo I remember seeing videos of the wii game. Glad I had no interest in that lol but playing as river song and the doctor was fun
Do we get to see the TV show opening credits in the game?
This would look pretty cool in VR.
People making a Dr. Who game really need to include as many Dr skins and companions as possible. This doesn't sound like it has any.
I'll prolly pick it up anyway when it hits $5 in a few months.
@rjejr Lol, a Doctor Who hero shooter with all those characters would be immense. I’d main K-9, of course
Once again, these mini reviews basically tell you nothing. Honestly, what's the point of them? If you're not going to go into much detail, you're as well not scoring it at all.
@RainbowGazelle 'Once again, these mini reviews basically tell you nothing'.
I dunno about that. After reading the article, I came away with the impression that it's just another crappy short PSVR game. The review has enabled to me to make an informed decision with regard to not buying the title.
Any word on the sound design, or soundtrack/ accompanying score if there is one? Particularly interested in sound design for psvr games as it's can be so much more important than regular games.
@SnowTiesAreCool Sound design isn't anything to write home about, really.
@rjejr what we need is a huge RPG where all the Doctors meet and team up, where you can choose which Doctor you want to play as and go on a huge open world adventure
perhaps have it set on one planet where you have to travel between time periods to solve puzzles such as go to the distant past to start a puzzle and then go to the future in order to finish it
@nessisonett K-9 never got the respect he deserved. Maybe in England he's big but in the US you'd barely know he existed outside of a Dr Who convention. He should at least be as famous as Twikki from Buck Rogers. Oh well, he at least got in Lego Dimensions.
@FullbringIchigo The sky is really the limit w/ that show. It's kind of amazing there's never been a really good game. Well at least the new trailer for 2020 looks promising.
@rjejr yeah it does although trailers are designed to be deceptive so we will have to wait and see but i'm cautiously optimistic
i just hope the writing is stronger this series, it's been pretty weak overall for the past 3 or 4, some good episodes don't get me wrong but for the most part a little on the bland side and not writing to the strengths of the actors at all
Yeah the ps3 one where you play as 11 and River was pretty decent. It's a real shame they didn't expand on that for future games. Doctor Who deserves good games.
@FullbringIchigo For me it's really all downhill since the end of Tennant and Rose Tyler. Riversong was a great character and I liked Amy Pond but not really Matt Smith too much, nor Capraldi. Last series might have worked if they said it was a reboot from the beginning, b/c she has almost no mention of anything that has happened the past 28 seasons. A line drop here or there but if they told us the show was a spin-off and she was A time lord but not the Dr it could have been almost the same show.
So I guess I'm just looking forward to next season b/c it at least looks like Dr Who. And since it looks like all the same companions they wont' need to spend nearly as much time explaining all of their backstories and inter-relationships, which pretty much all sucked. And no more Quantum Leap episodes I hope. Fingers crossed.
@rjejr you know the last series really did feel like they rebooted it but then again Chibnall pretty much said that's what he was going to do
he also said as long as he is in charge he will never cast a male Doctor again
the guy is a hack writer, he pretty much said he wanted to make his own Doctor Who and that he wont use a male lead so i hope the BBC get rid of him as soon as they possibly can because he is going to kill the franchise they way he is going
he also said he would never use classic monsters again but obviously the BBC has had words because as much as sites want people to believe the last series was in terms of overall viewing numbers the worse in years after the series had finished (even though it had a strong start) and then suddenly this "successful" series had a year break and has brought back classic monsters
basically Chibnall has to go, Jodi has potential but as long as that muppet is showrunner the series is hanging on by a thread
the trailer looked good but my expectations are low with him still running it
@FullbringIchigo I didn't know about him saying "reboot" and "no classic monsters", both of which are simply stupid ideas. Might as well make The Sarah Jane Adventures or "Class" at that point. (I couldn't get past episode 1 of Class.) Torchwood was really good for a couple of seasons before the Americans destroyed it in that last season. So bad it shouldn't even count, like Matthew Broderick's 'Zilla.
I suppose to be fair a Dr. Who reboot - of the original way back when series - wouldn't be the worst idea. Maybe bring in some new viewers by having an old man and his granddaughter travel thru time and space w/ modern graphics and sensibilities. But if you do that, it has to be all about his first encounters with all the classic monsters, basically the first few episodes have to be the Dalek movie. New Dr + new monsters <> Dr Who
I still have to be optimistic though. I don't watch too much TV, and w/ GoT over and Westworld turning into Cyborgs in the City, I kinda need this.
@rjejr yeah Class was terrible
now they could completely reboot it but i don't think they will, the series is too beloved and big i think and besides as the series revolves around Time Travel there is no need to reboot it because they can just say that history changed (which they have in the past) and as for the Doctor we ll i'm not fussed as long as the actor is a good one and it's written well, i know some people had an issue with Jodies casting but a female Doctor is fine, they could have thrown in a line as to why it never happened in universe before something like "it's a side effect of getting a new regeneration cycle, bigger more wild changes" (this is actually my head canon to explain it) but other than that they just need to dump Chibnall, he has no idea how to write Dr Who (although the BBC got rid of most of the writing team from the last series so hopefully they did to him what CBS did to Alex Kurztman and made him a "figure head boss")
as for movies i would rather they got Paul McGann back and do some with the 8th Doctor, one film and a short isn't enough (and no the Big finish audio stuff doesn't count and they aint "canon" anyway)
@FullbringIchigo "there is no need to reboot it"
Well there are 2 reasons off the top of my head.
1. Money. B/c it's always about the money.
2. There are no new ideas, which is why everything gets rebooted - Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Westworld, Rollerball, The Longest Yard. How many times can the Dr eradicated the Daleks and the Master?
Yes, they don't have to b/c the show does have a changeable Dr, but again it could bring on people who are intimidated by a show w/ a 28 season history. People like all those 1st times - 1st companion, 1st K-9, first Dalek, Cyberman, etc. Though the thought of an all CGI Dalek like something out of Star Wars does make me ill.
Not saying they should, but as bad as last season was, they might have been better off going that route.
I had no problem w/ the Dr. herself, for the 1 minute they gave her each episode to actually play the Dr she was good, it was the other 59 minutes each episode that were bad, I really didn't like any of the 3 companions. They should have killed off all 3 of them and let the grandmother survive, show might have been better that way. Thelma & Louise in Space/Time.
I'm still optimistic b/c I think all of that touchy-feeling bonding stuff is over and done w/, now they can focus on the adventures, not the interpersonal relationships which nobody cared about, it's not a Spanish Novella, it's sci-fi.
Now my biggest problem is how to watch it, cord-cutters have a problem getting BBCA since Britbox never carries Dr Who and BBC never got their own subscription service. PS Vue is dead, and all the others are raising prices so much they're practically competing w/ cable. I'm too old for pirating.
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