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| The Daleks invade Earth! (Yes, again.) |
THE PLOT:
In the year 2254, Earth has advanced to the point that Davros, creator of the Daleks, has determined humanity to be a threat. The Daleks mount a full-scale invasion, leaving the Doctor and Ace racing against time to stop them. In the usual Doctorish way: You know - Zapping everything in sight with the lethal sonic screwdriver while blowing Daleks up in their casing with bombs...
CHARACTERS:
This is an arcade-style action platformer, so it's unsurprising that there really isn't any characterization beyond "Davros and the Daleks are evil." The version of the game that I played did offer the option to select a Doctor for gameplay sections (2nd, 4th, or 7th) - but given that the 7th Doctor is the one portrayed in all of the comic panel story segments, it's fair to label this a 7th Doctor game.
THOUGHTS:
I'll be up-front: arcade style platformer is decidedly not my genre. While I've found that I can enjoy many different types of games, ultimately I'm most enthusiastic about those that deliver what I most enjoy about books, movies, and television programs: good stories, interesting ideas, and strong characterizations. Arcade style platformers are, by and large, unlikely to offer any of these - beyond which, I have always hated platforming sections in video games (with the exception of the Uncharted series, which somehow makes them fun. But I digress).
In other words, Dalek Attack is a game that is not really for me. I promised to do a review of it, and it's playable online for free. Even so, I ended up abandoning it after just a few levels. I probably would have stuck with it, had in-game saves been possible... But again, it's arcade-style, which means that when you run out of lives you're back at the beginning again. And there's only so many times I'm interested in going through sewers before jumping around post-apocalyptic London.
A few YouTube videos assure me that, other than perhaps growing in challenge, the basic gameplay remains the same throughout. A lot of jumping, crouching, shooting, jumping, running along rooftops, and jumping. Did I mention jumping? To the extent that there is a storyline, it exists to justify the gameplay.
I will allow that the gameplay is reasonably engaging, in measured doses, once you get over how bizarre it is to have the Doctor shooting everything in sight. However, without the ability to save progress, there's no ability to play in measured doses; and after a while, the whole thing grows a bit tedious.
OVERALL:
Dalek Attack is a well-made game in its genre. Controls are reasonably intuitive, and the in-game action is responsive to controls. As platformers go, there's nothing to match the pace or variety of Nintendo's major platform franchises... But for a game made in the early 1990's, it looks good and plays well. Platforming enthusiasts should find much to enjoy.
Unfortunately, I'm anything but a platforming enthusiast. So for me, this was like attending a party where everyone else was a stranger.
Overall Rating: 5/10. Well enough made for what it is... Just not the kind of game that holds much personal appeal to me.
Set After: Survival (not yet reviewed)
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