 | 'Doctor Who: Shadows Of The Vashta Nerada' (preview) |
Earlier this month, DoctorWhoTV reported that producer and head writer Steven Moffat is very fired up about the fourth online Doctor Who adventure:
"We've gone all-out for the season finale," says Steven Moffat, executive producer Doctor Who. "Shadows of the Vashta Nerada takes place entirely underwater – something which would be impossible for the TV series, as water is so expensive. It's thrilling, terrifying, educational and fun. Just steer clear of those shadows…"
A fan favorite monster from David Tennant's third series on the program, the Vashta Nerada premiered in the two-parter 'Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. A carnivorous race of microscopic beings dwelling in the shadows, they were an instant hit, leaving fans hungry for more. Honestly, Moffat has a real gift for creating new series monsters. The story is that the first half of the 6th series will not feature any returning monsters (meaning no obligatory Dalek adventure), which may disappoint some fans, but sounds perfect to me. Doctor Who needs more new monsters of the Vashta Nerada's ilk.
In the meantime, one enemy will be making a comeback in this Doctor Who Adventures Game.
Via http://www.digitalspy.com:
After the claustrophobic and rather brief third episode 'TARDIS' comes the most ambitious Doctor Who: The Adventure Games instalment yet. Following directly from the last episode's ending, the Doctor and Amy find themselves in a sprawling underwater colony several centuries into the future. And it hits the ground running, with a hulking, two-finned shark trying to smash its way through the seabed tunnel to drown the duo, and so it's up to the player to flee through a series of doorways to safety.
Each door has you play one of two new simple mini-games, completed by repeating a series of numbers into a keypad. With the TARDIS cut off thanks to a collapsed tunnel, the duo work their way through the passages, surrounded by deep blue sea at all sides and the beast on their backs until they reach the base's centre of operations. Arriving to some hostility from an AI computer and the base's crew, a series of dialogue choices convince them that the pair are not a threat, and you learn that the shark isn't the only thing that's causing bother around these parts.
As well as a mysterious sickness sweeping through the base, mid-conversation the lights cut out to give our shadow-dwelling friends the Vashta Nerada their grand entrance, devouring a crew member's flesh in the blink of an eye. With the emergency lights barely operating and the staff gravely ill, it's up to the duo to tread back through the tunnels, avoiding shadows along the way. A single step into the dark spells game over, as does failing another new mini-game of lining up circling lights with a mouse press. Like the chapter's opening moments, it's a mad rush of using the Sonic Screwdriver on panels and legging it down narrow stretches to safety. Other areas feature lights slowly moving down the corridor, requiring a steady pace and timing instead.
The end destination is a generator room populated by Vashta Nerada-controlled divers, bringing the return of that now familiar stealth gameplay we've seen in previous chapters. Although you need to sneak around and avoid their cones of vision to survive, this area does present one of the trickiest puzzles yet as you attempt to lure them out of the dark shadows and into the light. With the menace disposed of, several wire-matching mini-games make a reappearance as the Doctor repairs the power to the base, and with a little more investigation starts to piece together these seemingly random threats.
Returning to the crew, the base opens up to reveal laboratories and a large canteen cheerfully decked out with Christmas decorations. The areas are largely devoid of purpose, although they're enjoyable to look around and feature collectable cards in the nooks and crannies. As the lights are fully operational the tunnels are also free to explore, paving the way for the next task of finding a cure for the sickness, with an adventure game feel in looking for ingredients lurking in crates and in supply rooms.
With a remedy in hand and access to the base's records, the Doctor finally uncovers what's behind all the problems plaguing the base - the shark, Vashta Nerada and the sickness included - and so the final chapter sees him and Amy travel to the source to put an end to it. With this fourth and final chapter you get a sense that Sumo Digital is becoming more effective at pacing and structuring, reserving the stealth sections for key moments and peppering adventure game elements throughout to keep things ticking along. With its larger setting and multiple threats, 'Shadows Of The Vashta Nerada' is a fitting end to such an enjoyable series.
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