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Doctor Who Video Games: A Complete History From 1983 to LEGO Dimensions

By Barry Rice

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LEGO has announced that Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi will reprise his role as the Doctor in their upcoming videogame, LEGO Dimensions, with more details coming later this week at San Diego Comic-Con 2015!

(Credit: LEGO/WB Interactive)

To celebrate the long-awaited release of LEGO Dimensions, a franchise-spanning new video game featuring characters from such disparate properties as The Simpsons, Jurassic World, Lord of the Rings and, yes, Doctor Who, we’ve decided to look back at the long and seldom known history of Doctor Who video games.

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LEGO Dimensions is by far the highest-profile video game to ever feature the Doctor, but it is by no means the first. Believe it or not, there have actually been thirteen major Doctor Who video games, going back to the first big home console releases of the early 1980s (and that’s not even counting the dozens of browser games on the BBC website)!

The problem is that most of them never saw release outside of the UK, and almost all of them were terrible. It’s not a huge surprise, really; most licensed video games are notoriously awful. They tend to be rushed products with flawed premises; too often the franchise is made to fit a video game mold instead of the other way around.

Here now is a look back at every Doctor Who video game that’s been released, starting way back in 1983 and going all the way to the present. Take note, though, we’re only looking at officially licensed games here. There have been many independently-produced Doctor Who video games throughout the years, some of which are actually better than the real games! Nonetheless, for the sake of clarity and conciseness, this article focuses solely on official Doctor Who releases.

So, let’s begin with a trip in the TARDIS back to 1983 and the very first video game to feature our beloved Time Lord:

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Doctor Who: The First Adventure (Credit: regmedia.co.uk)

Doctor Who: The First Adventure

Release Year: 1983

Platform: BBC Micro

Publisher: BBC Software

With a title like Doctor Who: The First Adventure, you’d be forgiven for thinking this game represents an epic origin story for the Doctor, showing his first trip with Susan on that stolen TARDIS. You’d also be wrong.

There is a story presented in this game, ostensibly about the Doctor’s quest to collect and assemble the three pieces of the Key to Time (maybe he already had the other three?). In actuality, the game was nothing more than a hastily assembled clone of four popular arcade titles of the time: Pac-Man, Frogger, Space Invaders, and Battleship. In fact, the only clue that it was a Doctor Who game at all came from the primitive TARDIS featured on each screen.

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The first stage, “The Labyrinth of Death” had the Doctor outrunning the Weevils of Ourouborous VI as he raced around a maze collecting the aforementioned Key to Time pieces. If you couldn’t guess, this was the Pac-Man level. Stage two, “The Prison,” was a Frogger-clone, with the Doctor attempting to cross a moat in order to set explosive charges around the castle where his companion was being held.

“Terrordactyls” was the name of the Space Invaders-inspired third stage, with the Doctor blasting “terrordactyls” to clear a path back to the TARDIS (I swear I’m not making this up). Finally, the Doctor had to destroy the invisible monsters lurking in the Box of Tantalus in the game’s final, Battleship-style level.

You were given 15 regenerations  in which to complete the four stages (apparently the Doctor gained an extra couple of lives somewhere along the way).

Here’s a YouTube video showing the game’s introduction and title screen, along with a brief look at the first stage:

The First Adventure was released on cassette tape for the exorbitantly expensive BBC Micro computer, which means, yes, it was only available in the UK. Only two years later, the second Doctor Who video game was also released for BBC Micro, though it took a completely different approach…

Next: Less Graphics, More Words

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Doctor Who and the Warlord (Credit: http://www.arowe1.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/)

Doctor Who and the Warlord

Release Year: 1985

Platform: BBC Micro

Publisher: BBC Software

Doctor Who and the Warlord (Credit: Wikipedia)

Doctor Who and the Warlord was another cassette-based game for the BBC Micro, but this time, instead of mimicking other video games or doing anything graphical at all, BBC Software went with a text-based adventure game.

It probably seems ludicrous to today’s kids, but text adventure games were all the rage in the mid-1980’s. By using words instead of the limited graphics available at the time, designers were able to create rich, lengthy adventures that offered a different experience every time you played, depending on your choices.

In Doctor Who and the Warlord, you play the companion to an unspecified Doctor (though the Sixth Doctor was on TV at the time). There were two separate quests, one on each side of the cassette.

In the first quest, you’ve become separated from the Doctor, and you must talk to the inhabitants of an unspecified planet in order to collect objects and make your way back to the TARDIS.

Part two takes you and the Doctor to the Battle of Waterloo and tasks you with defeating both Napoleon and the titular Warlord — by talking to people, presumably. Not sure how that works.

As this was another BBC Micro game, it was once again only available to fans in the UK. The next game released, though, not only took a big leap forward in design, but was available on both sides of the pond…

Next: Super Doctor Who Bros.

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Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror (Credit: BeebGames.com)

Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror

Release Year: 1986

Platforms: Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, Commodore 64

Publisher: Micro Power

A year after the release of Doctor Who and the Warlord, BBC licensed the franchise to video game publisher Micro Power, resulting in a vastly different new title called Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror.

This was the first Doctor Who game to resemble what we typically think of when we recall the golden age of video games: the side-scrolling platformer. You played as the Sixth Doctor (whose outfit was somehow even brighter and more garish in video game form) as he hopped around the mines on the planet Rijar. Your goal was to stop the Master from collecting an element called “Heatonite,” which he needs to power his stolen TIRU device and “edit” time.

In order to avoid paying licensing fees to Terry Nation, Bob Baker, and Dave Martin, the game featured not K9 and the Daleks, but rather the Doctor’s robotic cat “Splinx” and some unnamed robots that looked almost like Daleks (but not enough to warrant a lawsuit).

Here’s a short gameplay video to give you idea of what Mines of Terror was like:

Unfortunately, the game was not a financial success and the costs associated with its development led to Micro Power’s closure the following year.

It was, however, the first Doctor Who video game released in the United States, made available on the now iconic Commodore 64. It would be the last commercial Doctor Who game for the next six years, at which point someone finally ponied up the money to pay Terry Nation and bring in the Doctor’s most notorious enemies…

Next: Attack of the Daleks

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Dalek Attack (Credit: YouTube)

Dalek Attack

Release Date: October 1992

Platforms: PC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST

Publisher: Admiral Software, Alternative Software (ZX Spectrum)

At last, a proper Doctor Who video game! With real Daleks! And K9!

Depending on the system, there were a number of playable characters available, including the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Doctors, and a second player could join in as Ace or a UNIT soldier.

Dalek Attack would have been right at home on the Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo with its 16-bit style graphics and sound, but was only released on home computer.

The story involved the Doctor stopping a Dalek invasion of Earth (again?) in the year 2254. Enemies included Robomen, Ogrons, and several types of Dalek, including the movie Daleks and the Special Weapons Dalek from ‘Remembrance of the Daleks.’

Arguably the best Doctor Who game released up until that time, it was also released in the United States. What’s more, thanks to the Internet Archive, you can play it right now online for free:

It might be hard to top the old-school video game glory of Dalek Attack, but soon thereafter the BBC did their best to try. It should have been epic…

Next: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

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Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctors (Credit: mobygames)

Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctors

Release Date: December 1997

Platform: PC

Publisher: BBC Multimedia

Destiny of the Doctors should have been the ultimate Doctor Who video game. Unfortunately, it became a perfect example of when hype overshadows results.

It was to be the first Doctor Who game on CD-ROM, which allowed for a host of new features that weren’t possible in past games. Longtime Doctor Who writer/script editor Terrance Dicks was even brought on-board to write the story.

Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Nicholas Courtney all recorded extensive new dialogue for the game. Jon Pertwee had agreed to participate but died before he could record his parts; audio clips from Third Doctor episodes were used instead. Voice actors were even hired to impersonate William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton.

Related: Five Creatures Doctor Who Needs to Bring Back

Enemies included the Daleks, Cybermen, Autons, Ice Warriors, Zygons, Sontarans, and more. Best of all, Anthony Ainley returned to play the Master in new video footage for the game (his final Doctor Who appearance before his death in 2004).

With all of that talent involved, what could possibly go wrong? Well, frankly the game just wasn’t very good. The plot was nearly indecipherable — something about the Master imprisoning all seven Doctors in a physic realm — but most glaring of all was that you didn’t even play as the Doctor. Instead you were a floating jellyfish-type creature called “the Graak,” created by the Doctors as a physic energy being to defeat the Master. I don’t know about you, but when I play a Doctor Who game, I want to play as the Doctor — not a made-up piece of floating protoplasm.

What’s more, the graphics were laughably bad even for 1997. The game was a massive disappointment and signaled the end of Doctor Who video games for more than a decade. If you’d like a peek, here’s the Master’s opening scene from the game:

It wasn’t until 2008 and the return of Doctor Who to the airwaves that we’d get another licensed video game, though it wasn’t quite what anyone expected…

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Top Trumps: Doctor Who (Credit: gamefaqs.com)

Top Trumps: Doctor Who

Release Date: 2008

Platform: PC, Playstation 2, Wii, Nintendo DS

Publisher: Eidos

In 2005, Doctor Who returned to television with Russell T. Davies at the helm and Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. With the show’s improved budget and modern feel, you’d think it would’ve been ripe for a video game adaptation. Strangely, it wasn’t until three years later that we got a Doctor Who video game, and it was hardly what anyone was expecting.

Top Trumps is well-known in the UK, but has maintained only a niche audience here in the states. It’s a collectible card game, with each card featuring a character with a number assigned to his or her specific traits. Players throw down cards, compare stats, and the winner takes both cards; the game ends when one player is completely out of cards. Over the years, a number of licensed Top Trumps decks have been released, including (of course) Doctor Who.

So 2008’s Top Trumps: Doctor Who video game was pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a Doctor Who-themed Top Trumps game in video game form. In other words: a virtual card game.

By all accounts, it wasn’t necessarily a bad game; it just wasn’t what anyone wanted from the first video game based on the revived series. Here’s a preview video:

Top Trumps: Doctor Who was never released in the US, most likely due to the limited popularity of the card game here. The next video game took things in a decidely different direction though, and eventually was released on both sides of the pond…

Next: The Adventure Begins (Again?)

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Doctor Who: The Adventure Games (Credit: BBC)

Doctor Who: The Adventure Games

Release Date: 2010-2011

Platform: Windows, Mac OS

Publisher: BBC Wales Interactive

Released to coincide with Matt Smith’s first two years as the Eleventh Doctor, Doctor Who: The Adventure Games was essentially the first attempt to create a modern Doctor Who video game.

Tremendous effort was put into the games, making them almost feel like additional, interactive episodes. Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, and Alex Kingston all recorded dialogue specifically for the games and rotoscoping was used to capture each actor’s likeness and movements. Series writers Phil Ford and James Moran scripted the game episodes, novelist/script editor Gary Russell provided voice direction, and composer Murray Gold even contributed new music.

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Five episodic adventures were released from June 2010 to October 2011: ‘City of the Daleks,’ ‘Blood of the Cybermen,’ ‘TARDIS,’ ‘Shadows of the Vashta Nerada,’ and ‘The Gunpowder Plot.’ Originally the game was only available on PC for gamers in the UK, but an official US release finally came through.

The reception for The Adventure Games was strong; having played them myself, I can say they were indeed pretty incredible. They were practically everything you could want from a Doctor Who game: ongoing, well-written episodes that felt like real stories from the series, with excellent gameplay and challenge.

Here’s a video walkthrough of the first episode, ‘City of the Daleks’:

Unfortunately, the BBC decided to take things to the next level and cancelled The Adventure Games in February 2012 in favor of a new venture. We’ll get to that in a minute, but first there was actually another set of Doctor Who video games released during The Adventure Games‘ tenure…

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Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth and Doctor Who: Return to Earth (Credit: gamingenthusiast.com)

Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth/Return to Earth

Release Date: October 2010

Platform: Wii/Nintendo DS

Publisher: BBC Multimedia

In March 2010, Nintendo paid a hefty £10 million to the BBC to bring Doctor Who to their consoles. The result was two games: Doctor Who: Return to Earth for Nintendo Wii and Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth for the Nintendo DS, both released simultaneously. Nintendo even went as far as creating a special sonic screwdriver Wiimote to go along with the launch. They probably shouldn’t have even bothered.

Both games were critically panned and frequently listed as among the worst games ever made for either system. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan provided voicework for the games, but it wasn’t enough to save them. The controls were difficult, the story was confusing, and the graphics were embarrassing. Evacuation Earth was slammed as a standard puzzle game with a Doctor Who paint job, and the best praise Return to Earth could muster was that it was masterpiece compared to the dismal DS game.

Neither game was released in the US or abroad, instead getting a limited release in the UK and Europe. By all accounts, the rest of the world dodged a major bullet (though I’ll admit the curious cat in me wouldn’t mind checking them out regardless).

Here’s a short TV ad for both games that at least TRIES to make them seem exciting:

Two years later, the world learned why the BBC had abandoned The Adventure Games when they tried once more for a major console title…

Next: They Abandoned The Adventure Games for This?

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Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock (Credit: Spong)

Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock

Release Date: May 2012

Platform: Windows, Playstation 3, Playstation Vita

Publisher: BBC Worldwide Digital Entertainment

After the abysmal failure of Doctor Who: Return to Earth and Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth, BBC decided to stop work on The Adventure Games and try again for a successful Doctor Who console game. On the surface, you can’t blame them; everything about Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock reads as amazing, but sadly, the finished product was anything but.

Players could alternate between the Eleventh Doctor and River Song, and Matt Smith and Alex Kingston again graced the game with their likenesses and voices. The Eternity Clock featured a massive, galaxy-spanning storyline, as players scrambled to assemble the pieces of the titular clock before Earth is destroyed — or all of time — or something. Unfortunately, despite all of the effort made to fit the story within Doctor Who continuity and the countless easter eggs for the fans, it was all a bit of a mess.

The real fun-killer, though, was the gameplay. Once again, the controls were horrid and stiff, with the Doctor uncharacteristically leaping and bounding through poorly designed levels. And though a patch was eventually released, the game launched with a slew of bugs and glitches that only added to the frustration. It wasn’t long before the BBC scuttled their plans for The Eternity Clock to launch a whole new series of console games. In fact, three years later and we still haven’t seen a new Doctor Who console title (LEGO Dimensions excluded, of course).

Here’s a trailer for Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock that makes it look a lot better than it actually was:

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Doctor Who: The Mazes of Time (Credit: tvmascine.wordpress.com)

Doctor Who: The Mazes of Time

Release Date: December 2010

Platform: Apple iOS, Android

Publisher: BBC Worldwide

Doctor Who: The Mazes of Time has the distinction of being the first Doctor Who title developed for mobile devices, having been released first for iPhone/iPad and later for Android devices. There’s not much else to say about it, other that the fact that it wasn’t horrible (which is an extreme compliment when compared to most games on this list).

There was no voice acting, but the game featured the Eleventh Doctor and Amy responding to a distress call and travelling through time and space saving the Jones family from a variety of Doctor Who villains. It was essentially a puzzle game, which makes sense; puzzlers generally make the best use of the touchscreen controls found on mobile devices. Despite its generally good reception, the Android version was reportedly very buggy and only ran on a handful of devices. Two expansions were eventually released: ‘The Christmas Trap’ with the Autons and ‘Angels in the Shadows,’ featuring the Weeping Angels (obviously).

Here’s a fun (if not awkward) little video from BBC Worldwide showing Matt Smith himself playing The Mazes of Time on iPad:

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Doctor Who: Worlds in Time (Credit: freegame.cz)

Doctor Who: Worlds in Time

Release Date: March 2012

Platform: Adobe Flash

Publisher: Sega

Doctor Who: Worlds in Time was the first (and so far, only) massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in the Doctor Who universe.

Sadly, despite the similar naming convention, it was no World of Warcraft. The game went for a simplistic, cartoonish aesthetic, appealing mainly to kids. You played not as the Doctor, but chose from different classes to create a new character, and assisted the Doctor in defeating his enemies and accomplishing goals. The gameplay itself was limited to only six different minigame puzzles, which were basically repeated ad nauseam. It was free-to-play, but like many MMORPGs, was supported by dozens of microtransactions.

Once Matt Smith exited Doctor Who, it was curtains for Worlds in Time, as well. The game officially closed in March 2014, just after Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor debuted.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video from Sega, showing the development of Worlds of Time:

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Doctor Who: Legacy (Credit: Wikipedia)

Doctor Who: Legacy

Release Date: November 2013

Platform: Apple iOs, Android, Kindle, Facebook

Publisher: Tiny Rebel Games

Doctor Who: Legacy is a rarity in the history of Doctor Who video games: it’s a great game, it was hugely successful, and it’s still in existence. Launched in conjunction with the show’s 50th anniversary in 2013, Legacy is a “match-three” puzzle game, one of hundreds to take advantage of the current trend. But there’s much more to Legacy than meets the eye.

There are RPG elements involved as well, as each mission involves new characters and enemies. As you progress, you can collect new team members and level-up their attributes. Each week as a new episode of Doctor Who airs on television, characters and enemies from the new adventure are added to Doctor Who: Legacy, as well. There are also characters and events from the Big Finish audio range, Titan Comics, and the War Doctor novel, Engines of War.

As a regular player myself, I can tell you firsthand that Doctor Who: Legacy is a ridiculously addictive and richly rewarding Doctor Who experience. The brilliant addition of more and more content, timed to the release of new episodes and other events makes coming back to the game inevitable. It may not be the massive console adventure game that we’ve all dreamed of, but Doctor Who: Legacy is a still a fantastic effort.

If you haven’t downloaded it yet yourself, here’s a trailer to further convince you to do so:

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(Credit: BBC)

Doctor Who Browser Games

Release Date: 2003-Current

Platform: Internet

Publisher: BBC

Over the last decade, the BBC have released dozens of Doctor Who games on their website — far too many to write about individually. Most are minor time-wasters, but they’re free, and who’s really asking for much more than that?

The first was TARDIS Tennis in 2003, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a tennis game with a Doctor Who skin slapped on top. What made it odd though, was the choice of characters — the Doctor was merely a spectator, with the player choosing to play as John Lennon, William Shakespeare, or Queen Victoria. Whoever won got to continue to a second match against Winston Churchill. Why this hasn’t been adapted into an actual episode is beyond me.

The most recent browser game flips the formula completely, putting the creativity directly in the player’s hands. Part of the BBC’s “Make it Digital” campaign, Doctor Who: Game Maker gives users the tools and assets needed to create their own Doctor Who video games. Like Nintendo’s recent Super Mario Maker, visitors to the site can create their own games or visit the arcade to play games made by other fans. There are multiple types of games available to dabble in, so it’s a hugely immersive experience.

Here’s a trailer from BBC to give you an idea of what to expect:

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LEGO has announced that Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi will reprise his role as the Doctor in their upcoming videogame, LEGO Dimensions, with more details coming later this week at San Diego Comic-Con 2015!

(Credit: LEGO/WB Interactive)

LEGO: Dimensions

Release Date: September 2015

Platform: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii U, Playstation 4, Xbox One

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

And now Doctor Who moves into its most high profile video game of all, LEGO Dimensions. While not exactly a Doctor Who game in-and-of itself, the Doctor is a large part of the plot and features in his own add-on pack.

LEGO Dimensions takes the model established by the Skylanders and Disney Infinity franchises and completely ups the ante. Players take physical LEGO figures and place them on a portal that beams them into the game. Doing so unlocks new characters and levels, adding hours of additional gameplay.

The most unique feature of LEGO Dimensions, though, is how it blends settings and characters from multiple franchises into one game. The main characters in the story mode consist of Wildstyle from The LEGO Movie, Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Batman from, well, Batman (and technically The LEGO Movie again). Along the way they’ll interact with characters and worlds from The Wizard of Oz, Scooby-Doo, Portal, Jurassic World, The Simpsons, LEGO Ninjago, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, LEGO Chima, Midway Arcade, DC Comics, and yes, Doctor Who.

Related: Ranking the Companions of Doctor Who

It gets better, though; not only are all of those different characters present, but their voice actors are the real deal. In fact, LEGO Dimensions contains possibly the most impressive cast list for any video game ever made. Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, and Michelle Gomez all reprise their characters from Doctor Who, but they also join Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Gary Oldman, Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Alison Brie, Elizabeth Banks, Irrfan Khan, Joel McHale, Matthew Lillard, Bryce Dallas Howard, J.K. Simmons, Stephen Merchant, Ellen McLain, Sean Astin, and more. Not to mention, when playing as the Doctor, you’ll regenerate into each version of the Doctor when you die, and you’ll hear them speak through the use of classic audio clips from the series.

Have I convinced you this game is amazing yet? No? All right then, here’s a trailer focusing specifically on the Doctor Who portions of LEGO Dimensions:

It’s been a long, strange trip from the humble beginnings of Doctor Who: The First Adventure to LEGO Dimensions. So what’s next for the franchise? A standalone LEGO Doctor Who game perhaps? Or could the show’s all-time high popularity lead to a deal with another major video game developer, like Telltale Games? Who knows… but in the meantime, we’ll be happily overseeing the Doctor as he adventures through the land of LEGO with his newfound brickmates.

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