All I want from a VR Doctor Who game is to
see the TARDIS phase into existence in front
of me, and then seamlessly step through its
tiny blue doors into its huge interior. That’s it.
Whatever else happens, if a Doctor Who VR
experience can get that moment right, it has a
shot at being worth playing.
Doctor Who: The Edge of Time fluffs it. The
TARDIS appears in front of you, you open the
doors and walk straight into a loading screen.
It’s a deeply deflating experience that sums
up this mediocre game. The Edge of
Time sees you play as a nameless
Doctor companion who is washing
their clothes in a laundrette when
reality starts to break down.
Moments later, the Doctor
appears on a TV screen, and
explains that reality has been
infected by a virus. The Doctor
herself is trapped at the edge
of time (whatever that means),
so she needs your help to
rectify the situation.
It’s a typical Doctor Who tale,
which is to say that it’s a barrage of
nonsense, but it hopes you won’t
notice that if it explains everything
fast enough. However, it’s alsohard not to get carried away by its relentless
upbeat tone, and it has the benefits of being
amusingly written and superbly acted.
Despite being stuck on the dark side of time,
Jodie Whitaker still makes a holographic
appearance as the Doctor, and is just as
excellent VR as she is on TV.
Unfortunately, the sharp script and sharper
acting are let down by what’s an inescapably
basic VR game. To fix reality, you need to find
three ‘time crystals’ located on three different
planets. This amounts to three abridged Doctor
Who adventures stapled together, interspersed
with simplistic puzzle solving and the
occasional bit of stealth.
Part of the issue is that the game
has no consistent mechanics. For
example, early in the game, you get
to ‘fly’ the TARDIS, which amounts to
turning the dials and pulling the levers
in a certain order. The appeal of this
is obvious, but the mechanic never
appears again after that initial puzzle.
Later in the game, you need to
sneak around an ancient temple
patrolled by Daleks in a fun-
but-basic stealth sequence.
Five minutes later, you’re
hiding yourself insideREALITY
CHECK
GAMES / VIRTUAL REALITY
Rick Lane flies a
virtual TARDIS, steps
into a moving comic
book and looks at
Nvidia’s new VR
super-sampling
DOCTOR WHO: THE EDGE OF
TIME (^) / £14.99 inc VAT
REVIEW
Sharing images and video is now a DEVELOPER Maze Theory/ PUBLISHER Playstack
common part of modern gaming. It’s
always fun to share a daft screenshot
or a cool video from your games with
friends, but the ability to create and
share media varies wildly between
different virtual reality devices.
For example, if you want to take a
screenshot on the Valve Index, you
simply press the trigger and system-
menu button at the same time.
Compare this simplicity with the
equivalent system on the Oculus
Quest. On this device, you need to
open the Oculus menu, go to the
Sharing section, select ‘Take photo’
and then wait in-game for the Quest
to actually take the shot.
It’s an unwieldy process, which
makes it near impossible to get
decent in-game shots to share. The
Quest’s video recording functions
aren’t much better either.
One of the big problems when it
comes to broadening the appeal of VR is
communicating to people just what VR
implies. Good quality images and videos
can make this communication easier,
but VR hardware manufacturers need
to make it easy to create and share this
media in the first place.
OPINION
SHARE TACTICS
All I want from a VR Doctor Who game is to
see the TARDIS phase into existence in front
of me, and then seamlessly step through its
tiny blue doors into its huge interior. That’s it.
Whatever else happens, if a Doctor Who VR
experience can get that moment right, it has a
shot at being worth playing.
Doctor Who: The Edge of Time fluffs it. The
TARDIS appears in front of you, you open the
doors and walk straight into a loading screen.
It’s a deeply deflating experience that sums
up this mediocre game. The Edge of
Time sees you play as a nameless
Doctor companion who is washing
their clothes in a laundrette when
reality starts to break down.
Moments later, the Doctor
appears on a TV screen, and
explains that reality has been
infected by a virus. The Doctor
herself is trapped at the edge
of time (whatever that means),
so she needs your help to
rectify the situation.
It’s a typical Doctor Who tale,
which is to say that it’s a barrage of
nonsense, but it hopes you won’t
notice that if it explains everything
fast enough. However, it’s also
hard not to get carried away by its relentless
upbeat tone, and it has the benefits of being
amusingly written and superbly acted.
Despite being stuck on the dark side of time,
Jodie Whitaker still makes a holographic
appearance as the Doctor, and is just as
excellent VR as she is on TV.
Unfortunately, the sharp script and sharper
acting are let down by what’s an inescapably
basic VR game. To fix reality, you need to find
three ‘time crystals’ located on three different
planets. This amounts to three abridged Doctor
Whoadventures stapled together, interspersed
withsimplistic puzzle solving and the
occasional bit of stealth.
Partof the issue is that the game
hasnoconsistent mechanics. For
example, early in the game, you get
to‘fly’the TARDIS, which amounts to
turning the dials and pulling the levers
in a certain order. The appeal of this
is obvious, but the mechanic never
appears again after that initial puzzle.
Later in the game, you need to
sneak around an ancient temple
patrolled by Daleks in a fun-
but-basic stealth sequence.
Five minutes later, you’re
hiding yourself inside
REALITY
CHECK
GAMES / VIRTUAL REALITY
Rick Lane flies a
virtual TARDIS, steps
into a moving comic
book and looks at
Nvidia’s new VR
super-sampling
DOCTOR WHO: THE EDGE OF
TIME/£14.99incVAT
REVIEW
Sharing images and video is now a DEVELOPER Maze Theory/ PUBLISHER Playstack
common part of modern gaming. It’s
always fun to share a daft screenshot
or a cool video from your games with
friends, but the ability to create and
share media varies wildly between
different virtual reality devices.
For example, if you want to take a
screenshot on the Valve Index, you
simply press the trigger and system-
menu button at the same time.
Compare this simplicity with the
equivalent system on the Oculus
Quest. On this device, you need to
open the Oculus menu, go to the
Sharing section, select ‘Take photo’
and then wait in-game for the Quest
to actually take the shot.
It’s an unwieldy process, which
makes it near impossible to get
decent in-game shots to share. The
Quest’s video recording functions
aren’t much better either.
One of the big problems when it
comes to broadening the appeal of VR is
communicating to people just what VR
implies. Good quality images and videos
can make this communication easier,
but VR hardware manufacturers need
to make it easy to create and share this
media in the first place.
OPINION
SHARE TACTICS