By Kieron Gillen on June 22nd, 2010 at 1:00 pm.
A quick one this. The second of the four Doctor Who episodes debuts on Saturday, immediately after the series finale. It involves Cybermen. Perhaps also their blood. I’m reaching here. Let writer Phil Ford explain: “”Blood of the Cybermen is classic ‘Who… From the intriguing title, through the pre-credits intro to the mystery surrounding the Arctic base, this is everything you expect from a TV episode – only this time you control the action. It’s an epic story, and one we could only tell in a computer game. We’ve ambitious sets, a thrill-a-minute narrative, and we re-introduce a Doctor Who adversary not seen since the Tom Baker era.” IS IT A BIG SCARF? Like the first, it’ll be available for free online, from the Who site. They claim the first episode had 525,000 downloads in the first twelve days. Which is impressive, but strikes me as lower than you may expect. Screenshots of Amy dressed impractically follow…
22/06/2010 at 13:07 Alec Meer says:
Yetis, I’m guessing.
I hope there’ll be more adventuring and less mini-game banality this time. I know there won’t be. But I hope.
22/06/2010 at 13:11 Grunt says:
I wonder if Karen will be awake reading her lines this time…
22/06/2010 at 13:22 CMaster says:
I’m not sure it was actually the actor’s fault for the oddness of the dialouge.
I think the problem was that the natural timing of people talking to each other was replaced by the computer choosing when to play each sound file, and the game designer’s hadn’t quite nailed it.
22/06/2010 at 13:33 Grunt says:
I’m not sure timing issues fully explains away excuses her flat delivery. Matt sounded much better.
22/06/2010 at 13:53 Vandelay says:
Agreed, Matt did a (mostly) very good job and significantly better than Karen’s. Hopefully, that is just down to her finding it difficulty to do voice acting rather than acting (which is a very different art,) instead of her just not being bothered.
22/06/2010 at 13:19 TonyB says:
I know there was the gag in the TV series about being dressed for Rio, but this time she’s in the Arctic, it’s snowing, the TARDIS which presumably contains other clothes is right there.
22/06/2010 at 13:55 westyfield says:
She’s Scottish, she’ll be fine.
22/06/2010 at 14:01 Rakysh says:
Exactly. When northern people get cold, we just put on a bigger t-shirt.
23/06/2010 at 03:14 Chris D says:
You’d be amazed at the number of girlswho wear pretty much the same thing during january in Edinburgh. Most of them wouldn’t bother with the jacket though.
22/06/2010 at 13:24 Wallace says:
This is the BBC. Maybe the budget didn’t stretch as far as alternative models.
22/06/2010 at 13:40 Rob says:
Sensible clothing will be available as DLC
22/06/2010 at 14:11 phlebas says:
Horse armour no longer least popular DLC ever?
22/06/2010 at 18:11 KindredPhantom says:
What about even less sensible clothing?
22/06/2010 at 13:51 Vandelay says:
After the amazing first part, I can’t wait for the second.
That is, the amazing first part of the TV finale and not ‘The Adventure Game.’ I concur with Alec, more adventuring please. I’m not so down on the mini-games (although, more variety will be needed,) but they definitely need to remove the stealth bits. Alas, with this short development time, I doubt they will be able to adjust gameplay significantly between episodes.
22/06/2010 at 13:52 Worbat says:
My one problem with the last one was the camera. It was horrible.
22/06/2010 at 13:55 James Brophy says:
The assistant is allowed to wear proper clothing.
http://tvmedia.ign.com/tv/image/article/870/870050/doctorwho-planetoftheood_1209414247.jpg
Hell, they even let Peri and Leela wear cleavage covering clothes from time to time. I am really curious what their budget was now.
22/06/2010 at 14:20 Urza says:
The Doctor Who adversary not seen since the Tom Baker era is the CYBERMAT.
22/06/2010 at 16:39 Krimson says:
Yeah, I read an eyewitness report from the first games debut in Sheffield. The reporter in question said one of the guys working on the games showed the people present a book of concept art, which contained Cybermats.
Either that, or it’s the return of this dimension’s Cybermen, as opposed to the Cyberdyne ones from the parallel dimension.
22/06/2010 at 22:00 Adam Whitehead says:
This dimension’s Cybermen last appeared in the Sylvester McCoy era, though, so wouldn’t count.
Still, claiming the Cybermats are a long-awaited enemy as they haven’t been seen since the Tom Baker era is a bit suspect. The Cybermats haven’t been seen since the Tom Baker era simply because they were rubbish.
23/06/2010 at 16:29 phlebas says:
Did anyone say long-awaited?
22/06/2010 at 15:11 Alaric says:
Guys, I’ve never watched a single Dr.Who episode. I keep hearing about how awesome it is. Do you think I’ll be able to appreciate the game? I don’t think I am up to watching decades worth of TV shows, and I’m afraid that without that knowledge I won’t understand the game even if I am able to beat it.
22/06/2010 at 15:18 MrBRAD! says:
You don’t need to watch heaps of the tv series. Just watch from the beginning of David Tennant’s stint. You won’t regret it.
22/06/2010 at 16:44 Krimson says:
Actually, you should start watching from Christopher Ecclestons’ series. Everyone seems to forget about him, but most of his episodes were really good. My favourites are ‘The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances’, ‘The Unquiet Dead’ and ‘Dalek’ .
22/06/2010 at 17:00 Hidden_7 says:
Basically since the show was resurrected in 2005 it’s one contiguous series that you don’t really need prior knowledge to enjoy. It helps, I’m sure, but I have a decent enough time with it, and I’ve only ever seen the modern series.
Although, word of possible warning to properly set expectations. The show can be a lot of fun, but it’s also quite silly, and is essentially a family / children’s show. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, by any stretch — PIxar makes family / children’s films, and they are amazing — but it does mean the tone and writing style aim a fair bit goofier than maybe other sci-fi programs out there. Basically if you go into it looking to get in touch with your inner child and have a good smile, and aren’t expecting Battlestar Galactica or similar, you should have a good time with it.
23/06/2010 at 00:05 malkav11 says:
I dunno that I’d go quite that far. It’s got a lighter tone overall than some recent SF, and yeah, it gets a bit goofy from time to time – it can hardly avoid doing so when the SFX are, ah…well, their heart’s in the right place, bless ‘em. But yeah. Especially since some of the key enemies (Daleks, say) were designed decades ago with even more questionable FX.
Still, there’s some really heartfelt, deep emotional bits in the two seasons I’ve seen so far – particularly Eccleston’s run, with the conclusion of The Doctor Dances being a particular favorite of mine, and Father’s Day reducing me to convulsive sobs by the end. And overall it seems to have a more…nuanced approach to morality than many shows I’ve seen. It’s not grey. The bad guys are bad guys and do some terrible things. And the Doctor can and will enact the appropriate response to them. But there’s also regular moments where the enemies show sides that aren’t wholly unsympathetic, and we catch glimpses of more to them than just villainy. And while the Doctor is not willing to let villains continue to wreak havoc, he’s generally willing to try solutions other than simply killing them within that parameter.
I doubt these games reach the same level of quality, but I do wish they were available outside the UK at present. (And I gather they won’t be free when they do release worldwide, which is unfortunate but I suppose makes some sense due to how they were funded.)
23/06/2010 at 02:38 James T says:
Modern Who is essentially a British ‘Avatar’ for children (certainly it treats them with about the same respect that ‘Avatar’ treats adults). I’d say watch a select smattering of the old show (there are plenty of ‘best episodes IMO’ lists out there), some of Ecclestone’s (oh, I don’t recall which… ‘Dalek’ I guess?), and ‘Human Nature’/'Family of Blood’, the only Tennant story that won’t melt your eyes; oh, and ‘The Fires of Pompeii’ was alright too.
22/06/2010 at 18:11 walk_star says:
That saucy redhead look to anyone else like Alex Sim-Wise? Yeah I’m American and thus don’t know the characters’ names…
23/06/2010 at 03:21 Internet guy says:
Why are the Cybermen wearing jumpsuits?
23/06/2010 at 13:09 James Brophy says:
Good bloody question.
26/06/2010 at 10:55 Cyber Matt says:
the jumpsuit is because the cybemats are making them cybermen but not taking there clothes off so they are stuck on