Release Date: Nov. 25, 2019. Written by: Mike Collins. Art by: Patrick Goddard. Color by: John-Paul Bove. Performed by: Ingrid Oliver, Richard Franklin, Nicholas Briggs. Released by: Tiny Rebel Games. Platform Used: Steam Deck.
THE PLOT:
After UNIT loses contact with its base on the island of Flat Holm, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and her scientific advisor, Osgood (Ingrid Oliver) lead a team to investigate.
The base was established decades earlier, after a ship was sunk off the coast of the island. Mike Yates (Richard Franklin) joined a team that included his former superior, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, UNIT zoologist Charlie Guarneri (Nicholas Briggs), and a companion-less Fourth Doctor. At that time, the Doctor was able to resolve the crisis. Or so he thought.
Now the past is coming back to haunt UNIT. It will be left to Kate and Osgood to find a more permanent solution, this time with no Doctor around to help them...
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| The Doctor and UNIT arrive on the isle of Flat Holm. |
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: Dumb question: Why is this a Fourth Doctor story? We've got a Doctor who is: (a) working with UNIT; (b) irritable because the Brigadier didn't tell him everything; and (c) prone to speeches about both the environment and the arms race. Oh, and he resolves the situation by lashing up a gadget. This is so much the Third Doctor that it isn't even funny. This isn't a complaint about the story - But throughout, I couldn't help but feel that the wrong incarnation was being used!
Mike Yates: He's no longer with UNIT, for reasons that are obvious enough for anyone who saw Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Still, he's happy to be reunited with the Doctor and Benton. The sergeant holds no grudges and even defers at points to his old captain (another reason this should have been a Third Doctor story - It actually would make more sense if Yates was still a captain). Richard Franklin performs the 1970s story and, to the surprise of no one who has heard either the Hornet's Nest releases or his Big Finish Companion Chronicles, he does a splendid job.
Osgood: Ingrid Oliver narrates the present-day plot, and she's also good. Osgood remains the ultimate Doctor fangirl, at one point even going on a digression about a completely unrelated adventure - stopping herself, but also telling us to ask her about it later because it's a great story. She quickly develops suspicions about what's happening, but she is hesitant to share those with Kate.
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart: When it becomes clear that things are amiss on the island, she doesn't hesitate in taking charge and pressing forward. Osgood at one point is too hesitant in giving instructions to the UNIT soldiers. Kate promptly barks at them to listen to their scientific advisor. The ending scene, between Kate and Osgood, is a lovely little moment for both characters.
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| A battle (via match puzzle) between UNIT and an enemy. The puzzles do a good job of matching the story context. |
GAMEPLAY:
Like Orphans of the Polyoptera, this is a Doctor Who Infinity title - which means that it's basically a Match Three game. As if to justify my decision to review the Infinity titles separately, the gameplay here is much better judged than in the earlier title.
There isn't as much variety in the puzzles as in the earlier title, but that's actually a good thing. In Polyoptera, the constantly shifting puzzle types left me feeling as much like a beginner at the end of the game as the beginning. Here, the decision to limit the game to just a few puzzle types of gradually escalating difficulty allowed to me properly master the gameplay instead of having to constantly learning a new set of rules.
The puzzles also match the story. You're usually not just attempting to match colors. Instead, the goal is to defeat enemies by placing the correct orbs in the correct positions, or by navigating a unit to a destination point to escape danger. In short, gameplay and narrative complement each other, which is much more satisfying than when the puzzles merely interrupt the story every few minutes.
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| The Doctor tries to rescue a team member from the clutches of a giant octopus. |
THOUGHTS:
The Horror of Flat Holm was the last of Doctor Who Infinity's stories. I think that's a shame. Based on this title, Tiny Rebel Games had mastered the format. The story is well put together. There's a twist at the midpoint that I didn't expect, but that also made perfect sense. And, as noted, the puzzles are well-integrated into the narrative, far more so than in the earlier Infinity title I reviewed.
The story moves smoothly between present and past threads, the two timelines complementing each other rather than distracting. For most of the running time, the past story is the dominant one, establishing the backdrop for Kate and Osgood's crisis. Then the final quarter or so becomes entirely Kate and Osgood's tale, with their entanglements a direct result of the Doctor's prior adventure. It's a nifty idea, one I wouldn't mind seeing used in the actual television series.
It's quite well-paced. Outside of one twist, most of the plot developments are easy see coming. One character might as well be wearing a red shirt, given how obvious his fate is. Still, the story moves swiftly from one event to the next, there's some decent atmosphere, and I remained hooked throughout.
The only area in which I found this story to be weaker than Orphans of the Polyoptera is the heavy recycling of artwork. The art itself is good, and helps to set the mood... but there are too few character portraits, and they are reused too frequently.
The Doctor holds the sonic screwdriver while dramatically pointing at the background. Moments of exposition feature the Doctor, Mike, Benton, and Guest Character standing in a row like a chorus line. Oh, and a few panels show the Doctor kneeling, looking pensive. It's very effective the first time we see it. Not so much the next two times. It's a shame there couldn't have been just a few more character portraits in the mix, as the recycling becomes actively distracting (and occasionally unintentionally comical) after a while.
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| The Doctor points dramatically into the background. By the end, this gesture becomes a lot less dramatic. |
OVERALL:
I think The Horror of Flat Holm features the wrong Doctor, and it suffers from too much reuse of too few art assets. That aside, I really enjoyed this, both as a story and as a game. It merges elements of "Classic Who" and "New Who" to strong effect, the gameplay suits the story, and Ingrid Oliver and Richard Franklin do a fine job narrating the two threads.
Orphans of the Polyoptera left me disinclined to mourn Infinity's end. The Horror of Flat Holm, by contrast, has me really wishing that Tiny Rebel Games had found the success to keep going. I still have three other titles to go, and I'll judge each on its own merits - but their final outing shows that at least at the end, they had figured out how to use this format well.
Overall Rating: 8/10.
Set during: Season 13
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