Blood-y Hell!

The second of the Dr Who adventure games appeared this weekend (once again, only for those of us who are blessed to live on this Sceptred Isle and owe fealty to the Evil Empire that is Microsoft). Having done the Daleks, we now move on to the Doctor's other great recurring nemesis, the Cybermen. And not those crappy Cybus Industries ones, either...


Without wishing to give the game away, there's an introduction section that involves a fair bit of buggering about and some very zombie like protagonists, who in one scene can't kill you instantly, but in the next scene they can. There's more creeping about corridors and hiding and you still can't run when things go wrong, but at least the mini-game has changed from that annoying drop-things-in-holes effort in the first installment. Unfortunately, it does tend to mean that you can complete the challenges accidentally on purpose just by randomly whirling things (you'll see what I mean when you get there).

We changed our graphics specs for this one, so there was no more treacle-vision and angry swearing, which on the whole made for a much pleasanter gaming experience. There's an excellent filmic joke for those of us old enough to remember John Carpenter and the pace picks up nicely once you get on to the main plot. As before, the graphics wobble a bit in places and the dialogue is a little stilted, but its still all good, clean fun. There's nothing quite as revelatory as in City of the Daleks, although the TARDIS has acquired a new function (apparently as a mobile radiator for those unable to dress appropriately, despite the extensive wardrobes onboard; presumably the Menoptra finally got the Second Doctor's fur coat).

My only other niggle is where the hell do these people buy their jelly babies? Honestly, vanilla flavour? Really? I mean, come on, jelly babies have colours for flavours; you know, the green flavour and the red flavour and the purple flavour. They've never actually tasted like anything vaguely fruit or seasoning related, for heaven's sake. And don't get me started on the chocolate one...

The Grand Moff himself has declared these things canon, so get on in there and kick Cyber botty. You know you want to!