Unphased by their previous, and somewhat detrimental, foray into the world of video gaming (that Top Trumps game really was a top trump), in 2010, and as part of the show's rebrand coinciding with the arrival of Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor, the BBC once again set their sights on bringing the show to a whole new dimension, but this time they reassured fans that it would be done in a much more imaginative and ambitious way as they managed to bag a glistening £10 million contract with Nintendo. Sounds good, right? And surely this was just what the Doctor needed in order to make a triumphant return to the gaming universe with a vengeance? Well, that was surely the plan, anyway. In truth, the products of this latest escapade - Return to Earth for the Nintendo Wii and Evacuation Earth for the DS - proved to be as unoriginal and unimaginative as their titles would suggest. While Evacuation Earth was limited in terms of what it could realistically offer and achieve, it does have a much more "classic Nintendo" vibe as it draws obvious inspirations from the popular Professor Layton games in that it's ultimately a puzzle adventure, a concept which can no doubt be enjoyed for what it is by players familiar to that problem-solving territory. The Doctor's character certainly does lends itself to such, however what could've been an opportunity to provide fans with a brilliant story is wasted and there isn't really anything within the narrative of the game itself to distinguish it as a fully formed Doctor Who adventure in its own right. And then there's Return to Earth, its "gripping 3D action adventure" Nintendo Wii counterpart. 3D it might be but the graphics were unfortunately far from desirable, and it would have perhaps been a less unbearable chore for players to have to destroy the countless array of enemies if it had been easier to actually see them amidst the splurge of pixelated nonsense. The Wii game was universally panned after being labelled "an insult to Doctor Who fans" with a 19% rating from the Official Nintendo Magazine, as well as being voted the Worst Wii Game of 2010. Oops. It was released alongside its own Sonic Screwdriver Wii remote though, which is a pretty cool keepsake, and it did manage to come in at #11 on the UK's Wii sales chart for the week of its release. Let's focus on the positives.
Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.
