After a roaring success with the first episode of the Doctor Who Adventure Games, City of the Daleks – which was download over half a million times within the first 12 days of its release – Sumo Digital turn their hands to another of The Doctor’s most infamous enemies: The Cybermen are back! Does Blood of the Cybermen build on the good groundwork that City of the Daleks created, or should it be deleted as an inferior being?
Responding to a distress signal picked up by the TARDIS, The Doctor and Amy – once again voiced by their TV screen counterparts, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan – land at an Antartic research base in the present day, only to discover that the Cybermen are on the march, converting the base team into an army of Cyberslaves, in an attempt to revive their armies and take over the Earth. The story is a solid improvement on City of the Dalek’s rather threadbare plot – the setting, along with the halls populated by zombie-esque cyberslaves shuffling around, gives the whole scenario strong vibes of the The Thing, and paired with the already rather fearsome Cybermen – who, this reviewer must add, are far more terrifying than The Daleks! -this Adventure is certainly a very thrilling one, and at moments a lot scarier than what you would expect for a game aimed at younger audiences. Phil Ford writes The Doctor and Amy wonderfully, and both Matt and Karen offer great performances compared to the rather flat delivery of their lines in the previous game. Murray gold has returned to score the game as well, offering a spooky soundtrack that further delivers the mysterious and threatening atmosphere of the game.
The Metal Gear Solid inspired stealth sections of City of the Daleks return for this second outing, however they are a lot more challenging than they were before, ramping up the tension as the player guides The Doctor and Amy down narrow tunnels, trying to avoid the grip of the Cybermen. The stealth sections are still broken up by minigames, however only one from City of the Daleks returns – the rewiring minigame – bringing a new game used to represent various biological processes, such as using a microscope and creating a serum to counteract the Cybervirus unleashed upon the base. Although there are less puzzles this time around, the new minigame is certainly a lot trickier than the challenges it has replaced, meaning that you hardly notice the lack of variety.
In all, after having hit the ground running with City of the Daleks, Blood of the Cybermen continues the adventure games good run of providing a brilliant interactive Doctor Who Experience. Although it may be a little more of a challenge for younger children compared to the previous game in the series, the game is still a wonderful little offering from the BBC that fans young and old can enjoy. As the Cyberleader himself would say… Excellent!
Developer: Sumo Digital
Genre: Adventure Game
Time: Completed start to finish, around 2 hours of play.
Gripes: Still a little lacking in terms of polish, but this is much improved from the first game. The AI for Amy can be a little iffy too, and will occasionally lead to your deletion by a cyberman!
Get it for the: Solid, pure Doctor Who adventure – It’s fun, it’s exciting, and it’s scary, everything that the show is.
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