The Doctor Who Ratings Guide: By Fans, For Fans

The Destiny of the Doctors

A CD-ROM Adventure

1997

• A Review by Phil Arnold
• Quite good but wasted potential by David Barnes

A Review by Phil Arnold 4/6/98

I am not really into computer games. Games like Myst or it's sequel Riven really got tedious after a while and just plain boring regardless of their massive popularity. Plus those games had no real characters in them. But I really liked Destiny of the Doctors, not just because I am a big Doctor Who fan, but this game is really enjoyable.

First of all the big star of Destiny is Antony Ainley's Master, he is in several new clips made for this game. His acting is brilliant and he almost outshines the old Doctor Who clips used during other parts of the game (although the old Who clips used are very good and numerous).

This game uses a lot of power. I am sure that you'd need a Pentium 300 to make the game run at full speed, but the game chugs along fine regardless if you ignore some techincal glitches (ie occasionally getting stuck in walls, running into villains that are down the corridor, lots of treading through the TARDIS).

The graphics in the game are good on the whole, but the graphics are better in some places more than others. The villains used in the game look great and they achieve their terror and or cheesiness attained in the show. But the monsters are not really the danger; the Master is, and his tasks he sets out for you. These task range from easy as with the Nestene Sphere quest to impossible like the Metabilis III Crystal quest.

The plot of the game is reletively simple, The Master finds a planet made of Mental Energy, he uses this energy to capture the Doctor and his incarnations. In response, the Doctor's own mental energy forms Graak (that would be you). Graak is refered to as a a blob and an idiot throughout the game by the Master and by the Brigadier, who has a large speaking role.

Finally, this game contains lots of information regarding the old show, almost anything you can think of you can find on the TARDIS's computer. This makes it easier to get non-fans into this game. But I am certain that a fan of the Doctor would really enjoy this game as I have.

Quite good but wasted potential by David Barnes 25/6/02

Destiny of the Doctors is a PC game that came out in 1997. I've always wanted to play a proper Doctor Who game (rather than those little ones you sometimes find on the net) so as soon as I found a copy, I bought it.

The basic premise is that you are a big, walking blob called the Graak, who was created by the Fouth Doctor (for some reason). The Master has captured all 7 (sic; no 8th Doctor here I'm afraid) incarnations of the Doctor and has trapped them in the Determinant. You must go through many quests and challenges to get them back.

I would just like to say at this point that the Graak is very cumbersome and something so simple as walking through a door can take longer than it should.

Now, for this review, I'm going to check off all the points on the back of the case.

Real Time VR environment: Well, it's pretty cool to be able to walk around the TARDIS corridors. Unfortunately, that is one of the problems with this game. The graphics are passable but there is only a handful of locations in the game. There are the locations for the 7 Determinant levels (where you rescue the Doctors) which usually consist of some tunnels that all look the same or a large room, there is the Master's TARDIS (lots of corridors, some rooms and the Monster database room), the Doctor's TARDIS... and that's it. I thought it would be a lot better to have many locations. You know, outside Saint Paul's Cathedral, the Auton shopping precinct etc. Instead the monster rooms are just one room for each type of monster. Most are small chambers and in fact the only interesting one is the Ice Tombs of Telos.

Daleks, Cybermen, Sea Devils, Zygons and more: There are 10 types of monsters you encounter (11 if you include the Raston Warrior robot that appears in one challenge). All look very good but they Cybermen have an Earthshock style body and a Tenth Planet voice! The monsters are the Daleks, Cybermen, Sea Devils, Silurians, Zygons, Sontarons, Autons, Quarks, Yeti and Ice Warriors. The only thing is that the monsters all do the same thing: they walk right up to you and shoot you at point blank range. The only real difference between them is their weaknesses and speed (Quarks and Yeti hobble along but Daleks zoom around very quickly).

City of Thoughts Database: Located in the console room, this is a handy database that contains info on races, planets, events, characters and objects. There are also low quality video files as well. But the database misses out entire stories. Thus there is no page for Nyssa as The Keeper of Traken is missed out. Another storie that is never referred to is Vengeance on Varos. There is also Monster databases, found in the Master's TARDIS.

Original video clips of all seven Doctors: Where? There are clips from stories and title sequences and that's it.

Specially shot video and recorded audio: The videos (low quality but nice nonetheless) consist of the Master giving you instructions or insulting you. The audios.... They employ soundalikes for Hartnell and Troughton!!!! But they represent Pertwee by using clips from the series because he's much better than Billy and Pat! Luckily the other 4 Doctors specially recorded their audios, mostly just bits of info concerning your missions. And the Brigadier can be contacted via a radio. But his advice is useless ("Hide behind the sofa!" How I chuckled....)

28 Mind bending quests: Mind bending???? Hardly.

Seven action packed challenges: Ha ha ha ha no. To save the first Dr you walk through a maze. To save the 2nd you drive a train and brake in front of the Master, to save the 3rd you shoot a spaceship 3 times, to save the 4th you go through another maze and get shot by the Raston Warrior, to save the 5th you hit a Sontaron while jousting, to save the 6th you collect some stars and to save the 7th you do exactly the same as you did for the 2nd except you are driving Bessie. None of these are action packed.

20 hours of play: Um... make that 6 hours...

The more you play the harder it gets!: so, exactly the same as every other game in existance.

So, after all my ramblings, this game is quite good but it has major failings (bad controls, boring, soundalikes..) and it could have been so much better.

5/10