Have Maze Theory exterminated the competition?
In its 58-year history, Doctor Who has been turned into novels, comics, audios, and feature films. But despite its universal recognisability, it’s never managed to fully break into the world of gaming. Edge of Reality seeks to change that.
A combination of a port and an expansion of a 2019 Virtual Reality experience called Edge of Time, this game adds about an hour of new content onto existing VR gameplay that’s been adapted for consoles and supposedly PC (it’s unplayable without a controller…)
Along with the new levels, David Tennant now appears alongside Jodie Whittaker to bring the game’s story to life. They sound superb, but they don’t look it. The new graphics are far better than the original, but they should have avoided showing human faces.
The story itself… is nonsense. If your eyes don’t glaze over at the science-fiction gobbledygook, you’re a better Whovian than me. The Doctors task you (a random human) to go… places and do…. things to save the universe.
It’s really just a convoluted excuse to get you to the baddies, and the unique gameplay setpieces they bring. Although the original appeal was the VR immersion, these moments have been adapted pretty effectively. The Daleks require stealth, the Cybermen require speed, and the Weeping Angels require a tolerance for being TERRIFIED, in the horror game highlight of the whole playthrough.
Verdict
The game is not without a number of (occasionally gamebreaking) bugs, and some tedious linear level design between standout sections, which slow the pace of the otherwise brisk 3-hour game.
But when it’s good, it’s really good. It justifies its non-VR existence with smart gameplay decisions, fun Tennant moments, and an overall experience that is, without a doubt, the best Doctor Who video game we’ve ever had. And I hope it’s not the last one Maze Theory makes.