Whosday: Thoughts on "Worlds in Time"

From One Girl Geek

With Doctor Who: Worlds in Time available to play at last, how could I resist the urge to check it out? According to the website, it’s still only in preview stages, but that shouldn’t stop other Whovians from taking a look as well. It has some fun puzzle mechanics, is set to have lots of baddies and locales from the show, and it’s Doctor Who. If that’s not enough for you, it happens to be free and browser based; you don’t even have to install anything! Still not convinced? Maybe my take on the game so far will help you decide.

Come along, Whovians! Help the Doctor save the universe.

Basic Plot

In Worlds in Time, the Doctor finds himself in a bit of a pickle. Time is unraveling, and he can’t repair it on his own. He lands the TARDIS on Earth to look for someone to lend him a hand. This is where the player comes in. Somehow, the police box ends up in your living room, and the Doctor invites you to come aboard. After a quick bit of character creation you’re off on a grand adventure…in your jammies. The Doctor hands you a gadget and sends you off to investigate.

Time is unraveling? Not good, not good!

Oh good, there you are. Ready to save the universe?

Character Creation

You can play as a male or a female, and you can choose from one of four species: Human, Catkind, Silurian, or Tree of Cheem. I went with a human this time around, but if I ever make a new character I’ll be going Silurian. Some of those horn customizations are pretty sweet. Overall, I like the character creation system. It’s simple and short: name your character, pick a species, adjust coloring, and choose facial features from a set list. Pick a name you don’t mind letting anyone else playing the game see, though: it’s the name that will appear above your head in hub areas.

Character Creation Screen (Don't worry, the next screen lets you change your face.)

MinigamesStory progression, character leveling, and opportunities for upgrades are achieved through minigames. There’s a different type of puzzle for each interaction you can have with the world. So far, I’ve encountered three:

• Defeating enemies: pairs of colored orbs drop down, Tetris-style, and you must match up the glowing orbs with the correct plain ones to clear the screen.

Clear orbs, kill autons. Questions?

• Barricading doors: place bits of random junk to complete as many full horizontal lines as you can. Enemies constantly break your barricades, so you must constantly place more junk until the threat disappears.
  
  
  Back off, autons, or I'll throw a suitcase at you!


• Lockpicking: This is the strangest lockpicking minigame I’ve ever seen. In its defense, it does involve a sonic gadget, so naturally it is a little different. You have to shoot colored pieces at the lock, which also contains colored pieces. Match the colors to create sets of three or more pieces, and the tumblers start to fall away. This one is actually the most annoying of the three for me. I find it difficult to tell where the pieces will end up even though the gadget is supposed to be a pointer. This isn’t necessarily that bad, unless the level you’re playing is timed, and every shot counts.
  
  
  Time to get rid of some red ones...

The Sonic Screwdri–Er, GadgetWhen the Doctor gives you your gadget, it looks a bit like a Playstation Move controller (at least, mine did). You can, however, upgrade it as you play. Completing missions and collecting time shards earn you chronons and energy. You can spend these on powers for your gadget, clothing for your character, or furnishings for your room in the TARDIS. If you customize your gadget with upgrades, it will start to look more like a sonic screwdriver. You can build charge and power upgrades which, when attached to the gadget, help you play the minigames. I have a couple of powers, but I have yet to use them. Hopefully they’ll become more relevant as the game goes on.

"Basic Power" build screen

Me and my "gadget." Definitely looks more like a screwdriver than a lollipop now.

Assistants or Other Players: You Decide

When you log in, your character appears in a hub area. From here, you can choose to team up with fellow players for missions or go home to the TARDIS. If you choose to go to the TARDIS, you can still take missions, but you’ll be sent with several random assistants. This is nice for folks who just want to play the game and don’t want to worry with other people. I’m glad that Worlds in Time provides this choice. I haven’t teamed up with anyone yet, but it might make things a little easier. The assistants normally need to be directed to specific tasks, or they’ll just stand around and smile.

London hub area. Weather: cloudy with a chance of giant pink blobs.

My character in her jammies, shown with a few possible assistants.

Other Random Thoughts

• It struck me while playing that the player is doing the grunt work for the Doctor. You get sent out to collect time shards to help him save the universe while he stays in the TARDIS. (I assume he’s trying to fix her.) I hope the Doctor takes an active role in some of the missions.
• It’s a little cruel of them to start you off without so much as a pair of slippers. Most companions at least have the sense to wear shoes, right?
• When I saw the option to “buy chronons” I thought, “Oh, no, I’ll never be able to clothe my character properly because I won’t buy anything.” This worry was quickly negated when I got a pair of shoes from a time shard. Do more missions and collect the shards. You’ll get plenty of freebies for clothing and furnishings, plus enough chronons to buy upgrades.

• 
  Collect these.


• Did I mention you get your own room in the TARDIS? It starts off a bit sparsely furnished, but as you collect things in the game you can furnish it however you want.

It's my room! And look, I even got better clothes so I don't have to run around fighting autons in my PJ's.

Conclusion

I only have a few nitpicky issues with this game. The puzzle minigames aren’t exactly earth-shattering, and I wish the Doctor would show up more. Also, I would like to know if there’s a way to become “friends” with people in game so you can team up with them on a regular basis. I think I’d be more interested if I could get my Whovian friends to play with me.

Overall, I’ve enjoyed Worlds in Time, and I’ll probably continue playing off and on. If you’re a Whovian and/or like Flash games, check it out, but don’t expect too much. If I pick it up again, it will be for the fun of having a room in the TARDIS, fighting Doctor Who monsters, and visiting locations from the series.

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All images are screenshots from the game. Play “Doctor Who: Worlds in Time” at http://www.doctorwhowit.com/. You can also follow it on Twitter under the name @DoctorWhoWIT.