Evacuation Earth

Doctor Who hasn't had much luck with videogames. Despite being a hugely popular show both worldwide and in the UK, often its games are heavily criticised for their graphics and gameplay. When Asylum Entertainment were given the license in 2010, there wasn't much hope in the Whovian fanbase for a decent game. Indeed, one of their games - Return To Earth - was slammed by the critics. The other - the one I'm reviewing today - got more of a lukewarm response.

Regardless of what you say about either game, they both have strong narratives that feel like they could come from an episode of the show. Evacuation Earth sees the Doctor (Matt Smith) and Amy (Karen Gillan) arrive at the Lake District, as humanity is about to flee the Earth as the planet has become inhabitable due to solar flares. Suddenly the TARDIS is brought aboard the SS Lucy Gray, forcing the Doctor and Amy to board. They end up helping the humans onboard with problems with their ship and encounter Silurians and Daleks along the way. The neat thing about these games is they both tie into each other. Evacuation Earth sees the SS Lucy Gray take off, whilst Return To Earth is the ship's return to...you guessed it, Earth.

The idea to make a Doctor Who game puzzle-orientated is brilliant too. The Professor Layton style works brilliantly for Doctor Who, given that the Doctor often resorts to puzzle solving rather than violent measures. It fits the Doctor's character as a pacifist perfectly. The only problem is some of the puzzles are a bit too easy and would only really be hard to primary school children. This is understandable with early games such as piecing the Sonic Screwdriver back together because they have to take it slowly to ease you into game but when the later puzzles are easy too the lack of challenge could make the game potentially drag for some players.

The game is also a little short; there are only four chapters and ninety eight puzzles. That may seem like a lot to those who don't play a lot of puzzle games but for comparison, Professor Layton and the Curious Village has one hundred and thirty five puzzles and nine chapters. Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth can be completed in about three hours; Professor Layton on the other hand about eleven hours. I am sure they could have expanded the story more for Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth so it could have eleven chapters, especially when the game was full price upon release.

Fortunately unlike some of the other Doctor Who videogame efforts the graphics are strong. The game has captured Matt Smith and Karen Gillan's likenesses perfectly and the TARDIS interior looks stunning.

It feels almost as though Nintendo themselves have made the graphics in this game. They are stunning and put many other licensed videogame graphics to shame.

I am glad they managed to get Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Nicholas Briggs to voice the Doctor, Amy and the Daleks too. It helps the game to feel authentic, almost as though playing through an episode of the show. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan both naturally bounce off each other, especially during the opening scene when Amy Pond mishears the Lake District as the 'Larkhead Streaked'. Thankfully Matt Smith loses none of his oomph when he delivers his speech to the humans and Silurians about working together; it feels just as epic and awesome as it would during one of his epic speeches in the show. The Silurians sound laughably macho though, like they got Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson to voice them as an alien race of buff bodyguards. If only they'd got Neve McIntosh to provide their voices instead...

Overall, Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth is one of the better Doctor Who videogames. The narrative feels like a Doctor Who episode and the gameplay is perfect for the show's message of peaceful solutions over guns and brawn. The graphics are incredible. Unfortunately, the puzzles offer little challenge and the game is too short, with only four chapters meaning you can finish the game in a day. It's great that they managed to get Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Nicholas Briggs onboard though.