Tuesday, 29 May 2012

In Sane We Trust Doctor who:The Eternity Clock review



I've had a Heluva Week.I mean Real life has been tiring not bad just tiring and above that One week after Sonic 4.2 Eternity clock comes out I mean that's just not fair.But Of course I bought both and as I said I love 4.2 but this is causing one hell of a war in my brain.On one side as a doctor who fan I'm gushing like crazy but as a gamer.....it's.....I don't want to say bad but rough.Very rough.Maybe I should be more clear.

Eternity clock Follows the doctor and his wife/companion/love interest/person who annoys him,River song as they unravel the events behind a time storm that has been causing massive time changes even altering definate points in time allowing four of the greatest enemies in the series history to assume roles of power and invade earth in massive invasions.And that right there is one of the stronger points.As a fan it feel like the shit has really hit the fan....Not me the proverbial fan.....This joke is confused.Anyway It feels like this is big goings on and you feel like in terms of what your doing it's really saving alot of people.


You travel through four main time periods of england.Elizabethan,Victorian,Modern and future versions of the same places.and while that may not sound great it's actually not bad.The differences are actually alot better then you'd expect.You can tell it's the same places but different buildings on the same plots of land or different builds for the sewers.Also the enemies of the period have a massive effect.The Elizabethan getting of easy with having the very subtle and also very nice to see Silence.The silence aren't quite as violent as the rest only having sections where you have to keep an eye on a silent at all times through the platforming sections or else you forget why you're there and end up (Assumedly) getting killed.Those sections are pretty good all things considered and as for the actual platforming controls throughout the game.Simple and a bit finicky but it gets the job done.It's not by any means great controls but it feels good enough that you can get the job done with not many issues.Though once more I would like to emphasize especially with jumping the controls are nothing special.

The silence actually being more the third enemy in the game you face though Stages are very loose traveling around randomly through eras and you'll just face enemies of the era when the story gets to it.For instance you'll face Cybermen in the modern era before anything else but you'll see A silurian shadow in the Victorian era long before you've beaten the cybermen.The Victorian era does house the Silurian stages and Once again it is nice to see the silurians again this time led by A silurian general named Vekkis and really she's more just as a boss character.It would've been nice to see any actual background but It does the job I suppose.But speaking of the boss stage this is by far one of the rougher parts of the game.

Though I will give her this.Her plan was to pump Poison to the surface to wipe out humans slowly and painfully making her a bit of a sick puppy.Though again I may be looking for depth where there is none.Plus how could this face be a sick puppy?


First a minor continuity error when the doctor mentions the eternity clock before he learns of it but the boss fight itself is another story.the fight starts with the doctor safely solving a puzzle and the once solved it switches to river having to fend off Silurians with the sonic screwdriver.Lather rinse repeat 3 more times.First off I should mention the puzzles.They're good and do the job all in all but There is one that takes forever to solve and it just happens to be two of the four puzzles the doctor needs to solve.Now that in itslef is okay BUT the river sections are a bit tricky.You have to do a small minigame to deteonate the silurian guns and make them teleport away and enemies do not stop moving or attacking while you're doing puzzles making it so you have to be really quick on your sonic puzzle and while you will get used to it the length of the puzzles the doctor has to solve and the fact if you die you start at the beginning makes this one just unpleasant.

But That's the second part of the game that bugged the crap out of me.the first and fortunatly much less severe part that bugged me was A section with river trying to escape from a building being attacked by cybermen in one of the earlier-ish areas.The cybermen have invaded placing a massive cyberfactory in the middle of a city and have begun invading and apparently they've converted an insane amount of people.When the doctor heads back in time river is stuck keeping a time warp safe from cybermen and it's really slow.Like for the most part the game didn't annoy me except for two parts: the earlier silurian section and this one and my god this takes forever and god forbid you get caught cause then it's just insultingly slow.But besides that the cybership itself was actually pretty cool as well as adding an old cybermen construct known as the cyber planner.


  I have to admit I love the design of this thing.Still being a mainframe but just looking cool.Plus it makes for a very nice leader which I always fel the cybermen never really had aside from lumic is series 2.I do really like all of the segments of fighting the enemies in their stronghold and no more apparent is it then here.While Like I said I hate the fight against Vekkis But it's still cool and it definatly applies here.I just really like the feel of the area and that's heavily thanks to the graphics.While nothing spectacular the graphics are very nice....In terms of scenery and backgrounds.Actual character models however are ht and miss.The Silence,Daleks,Silurians and the doctor himself look more or less great.However the cybermen as well as river and a few others look off.Not bad neccisarily but off.but as I said especially for a $20.00 Title but again it's not without it's ugly points.

But even after those two huge drop points in the first half the second half makes up for it being very uneventful in terms of  some of the more iffy fights.The Daleks once again showing how badass they are instead of trying poison or some slow conversion they just say "SCREW THIS! WIPE THE BITCHES OUT!!!!" and more or less cause armageddon.Again Love daleks.Anyway one thing that may drive some people completly insane is the dalekkian chants of EXTERMINATE and whatnot.Well I don't mind the voice myself but yeah I could see it getting old.but all in all the Voice acting is actually quite good though one thing bugs me.The cybermen sound kind of off.I mean silence sound great,Silurians are fine and daleks are dead on but cybermen are much deeper and it sounds okay just off.


I do love the daleks stages just because after finding three fragments of the eternity clock the last being held by daleks and after facing two bosses (A dalek Strategist and A dalek Supreme not to mention a crap tonne of drones) You get to the last area and the epicness is coming through perfectly.As you head to the top of the Dalek Flagship you know you're gonna fight an emperor.But I wasn't expecting the model they used.I won't spoil it but at the very least try to find it cause it looks awesome and it one of the coolest parts of the game.


Now there is one thing that I didn't mention and that's the games biggest flaw;The bugs and glitches.This game is Pretty unstable sometimes.Bugs,AI Hiccups and a crap tonne of random weirdness in general.I'm talking elevators going into floors and god only knows that the stupid AI bugs can cause some major issues.But All in all is it worth $20.00?


Well lemme put it this way I'm doing another run as we speak.I do think that it's worth it for a fan.It's a unique experience that Nowhere else can you get.It feels right as an experience with story and even some of the games just feels like appropriate choices but again with that come very iffy glitches and some annoying early game moments.Like I said It's a nice fan experience but just know the costs.And now I'm off to watch Doctor who.The review is coming I swear.

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