Computer Games: 2000-2004

2000 – Dr Goo III: The Rubblewum War

PC Windows (download)
Programmer: Josh Bender, using Games Factory and (uncredited) sounds from Team 17’s Worms [website / email]
Thanks to: Erin Holmes, Sean Wolf, Dustin Carpenter, Chris Faust, Dave Trowbridge, Ryan Middleton, Timothy Boocock

The third in a crazy and popular collection of arcade games available for free online created by Australian Josh Bender, in which you control the eponymous Dr Goo as he saves the world from the evil Rubblewums who are trying to destroy Earth’s only other defence – the stars. By this point the gaming had got needlessly comlex – although the first two were quaint little bits of freeware, Goo III took the level one step too far. Fortunately this was the final in the trilogy… although a Dr Goo IV has been constantly rumoured to be on the cards.

Controls
Left and right cursor keys, ctrl to jump. ‘S’ to save position.

Passwords
4455 Security Shield deactivated
6024 Death Box deactivated
0750 Walk on Water
7545 Green Zapper deactivated
1272 All stars already collected
9602 Deactivate Radioactive Barrels
2002 Level 2 warp
3392 Level 3 warp
4056 Level 4 warp
5152 Level 5 warp
6543 Level 6 warp
7470 Level 7 warp

2000 – The Hidden Menace, Timewarp, The Jeffrey Coburn Series Quiz

PC Windows (download)
Programmer: Robert Dunlop (aka Argolis Software) using Clickteam’s Games Factory

After his prior successes in the homemade arcade world, Dunlop took a break for a couple of years and then came back with a vengeance… and with a link to a long-running range of Doctor Who audio dramas (known, imaginatively, as “The Doctor Who Audio Dramas”) who were only too happy to welcome Robert onboard.

The first, Doctor Who: The Hidden Menace – Escape from Southbank Caves, was based on the plot of recent release. In it, the player controls Tim, and must help him escape from the various evils lurking in Southbank (which are well laid out, but missing the beautiful graphics he’d gained such a reputation for). We’re assured it all makes more sense if you’ve heard the tape.

The second, Doctor Who: Timewarp, centred around the exploits of the Doctor, played in this incarnation by Jeffrey Coburn. The plot is minimal, and this is the kind of tricky platformer we’ve come to expect from Robert.

The final, Doctor Who: The Jeffrey Coburn Series Quiz, pitted our superior knowledge against that of the computer’s, as it spat ten random multiple choice questions (from a batch of 54) for us to mull and tear our hair out over. Or it would have, had we heard any of these tapes and had any idea what the point was.

Controls
The Hidden Menace: Arrow keys
Timewarp: Left and right arrow keys, right shift to jump
The Jeffrey Coburn Series Quiz: Mouse

Answers to the quiz (grammar and spelling retained)

Before being diverted, who was the Doctor going to visit before finding Morningstar Manor?: Hans Christian Anderson
For how many seasons did Jeffrey Coburn play the Doctor?: 4
How many audio Dramas featuring Jeffrey Coburn also featured the Master?: Four
How many episodes has The Seventh Dungeon of Drakmoore?: 7 (well, the answer’s actually 4, but there’s a bug in the game – try clicking 4 and watch it “correct” you)
How many Jeffrey Coburn stories had four episodes?: 11
How many stories were written by John S. Drew?: 5
In Apollyon, where is the Dr taken after he regenerates?: Hospital
In which building does the Doctor leave Dara in Fictional Hypothesis?: The Louvre
In which caves is The Hidden Menac set?: Southbank Caves
In which century is 7th Dungeon of Dramoore set?: 13
In which of these stories does the Doctor travel ‘alone’?: The Crimson Scarab
In which story did Christine become a travelling companion?: The Seventh Dungeon of Drakmoore
In which story would you find the character Jessica Hoblock?: Mesomorph
In which year is Shadow of the Dragon set?: 2041
Target Zylon & which other story featured the ZYLONS?: Terror on Terra
To which Star Cruiser are the Doctor & crew transported to at the beginning of Target Zylon?: Revelation
What are the creatures in Augury of Death?: Kajiir
What are the names of TWO of the Melan research team members in Chronic Rift?: Jakim and Manim
What does the Doctor find a “clue” in/around in Shadow of the Dragon?: Mud from the ground
What is story 18 (there were 20 stories)?: Radio 2000
What’s the name of Anne (Shadow of the Dragon) Smith’s father?: Kingston
Where is Mesomorph set?: Ireland
Which companion was in Backbone of Night?: Dara
Which friend does the Doctor meet up with in The Crimson Scarab?: Hubert Laroche
Which magician does the Doctor visit in Backbone of Night?: Carter Evans
Which of these is a character NOT played by Sheri Devine?: Petra
Which story DIDN’T feature the Daleks?: The Chronic Rift
Which story features Jeffrey Coburn in the part of the Doctor?: The Price of Paradise
Which story had a working title of Winterworld?: Devinaura IV
Which story is 72 minutes long (Programme Catalogue Time)?: The Seventh Dungeon of Drakmoore
Which story was 10D?: The Augary of Death
Which ‘test’ is Christine given during The Chronic Rift?: Drowning
Which was story 13D?: Morningstar Manor
Who composed the title music used in Shadow of the Dragon?: Keff McCulloch
Who did Sheri Devine play in The Chronic Rift?: Zora
Who did the Doctor ‘regenerate’ into during Countdown to Armageddon?: Jeffrey Coburn
Who did the Doctor ‘regenerate’ into during The Chronic Rift?: Jym DeNatale
Who directed Apollyon?: Thomas Himinez
Who directed Dark Dreams?: David Segal
Who directed Mesomorph?: Chip Jamison
Who does Chip Jamieson play in 7th Dungeon of Drakmoore?: Sir John
Who helps the Doctor and Christine in The Hidden Menace?: Tim
Who is the female vampire in Backbone of Night?: Elizabeth Renata
Who played the ‘magician’ in Backbone of Night?: Jym DeNatale
Who plays companion Dara Hamilton?: Sheri Devine
Who preceeded Jeffrey Coburn as Doctor Who?: David Segal
Who stole Dara’s purse in The Doomsday Signal?: Lucky
Who was Tara’s boyfriend in Radio 2000?: Rocketman
Who Wrote Dark Dreams: Joseph Medina
Who wrote Empire of the Daleks?: Joseph Medina and Thomas Himinez
Who wrote Jeffrey Coburne’s third-to-last story?: John S. Drew
Who wrote Seventh Dungeon of Drakmoore?: Thomas Himinez
Who wrote the Jeffrey Coburn series Handbook?: Charles Danbee
Who wrote the last story of season 29?: Paul Ebbs

Downloads

2000 – TARDIS Adventure

Cybiko (Type in and download)
Programmer: Greg Smith

The Cybiko is a handheld organiser/mp3 player/wap browser/games machine designed specifically for teenagers, and includes a very limited BASIC programming language. Released in 2000, Greg Smith quickly put together a manual for Cybiko developers, which featured a full (if small) program called TARDIS Adventure, included as an appendix for beginners to type in and play, and for more advanced users to examine and learn from.

Although starting off purely in the downloadable book available from the Cybiko website, one user typed the game in, exported it to PC and saved it. The resulting file is available here, and can be used either with a Cybiko emulator or exported back to an original handheld system.

Cybikos were discontinued in 2005 (with a final retail price of $99) and the company now deals in software for other mobile platforms.

Downloads

2001/2 – Dalek Soccer 2000, Atlantean Soccer 2000, Macra Cadabra, Dalek Soccer 2002

PC Windows (Download)
Programmer: Ric Lumb (aka Cheeky Monkey Games) [website]

During a “gap” (which would seemingly never end) in production of Doctor Who: Timelord, Ric Lumb set about creating a number of simple games to pass the time.

The first, Dalek Soccer 2000, simulated a pub-style football table with a bright, colourful game of football putting the Imperial Daleks against the Renegade Daleks for two 45-second halves. The smooth engine and the funky music 

(a midi version of Blink 182’s ‘What’s My Age Again’, representing one of his favourite bands – although he was initially searching for a Nirvana track) cancel out the difficulty of getting two people crammed onto one keyboard (perhaps Ric has an especially large keyboard?) and made for a rather fun game. Shortly afterwards he also issued an alternative version, Atlatean Soccer 2000, with the characters replaced with those from The Macra Terror and The Underwater Menace – Ric had spent a lot of time frequenting a tongue-in-cheek forum known as The Atlantean Fish Forum, and this was his thankyou present to them.

The following year saw a brand new type of game (although loosely based on the classic Breakout arcade), as Ric once more paid tribute to his favourite forum with Macra Cadabra. The plot is explained in-game:

During the recent cold weather experienced in Atlantis several baby Macra were caught up in blocks of ice – this made the mother Macra (apparently called Bessie by most accounts) very angry and she started spitting balls of acid at the resident fish people of Atlantis. Two clever mermaids found a device to deflect the acid balls and smash the ice blocks to free the baby Macra (how very convenient) – hopefully once the babies are free the mother Macra will finally bugger off and leave us all alone!

Blink 182 makes another appearance, as does a midi version of The Barenaked Ladies’ ‘One Week’.

Later in 2001, Ric completely revamped his Dalek Soccer game and renamed it Dalek Soccer 2002. Yes, we know. It became an isometric 3D game, which wasn’t nearly as cute as the original, but this is made up for by the collection of friends and foes watching from the audience.

Controls
Dalek/Atlantean Soccer 2000 – Player 1 uses Q and A, Player 2 uses P and L.
Macra Cadabra – Left and right cursor keys
Dalek Soccer 2002 – Player 1 uses Q, A, Z and X, Player 2 uses P, L, < and >

Downloads

2001 – Return to Gallifrey

PC Windows (download)
Programmer: Mike Downing (aka Gwlad Games) [website]

Michael Downing, under the name Gwlad Games, formed his website to assist in his learning of HTML and Visual Basic. He also began programming games for his children Jamie and Emily, and distributing them as freeware. The games are all very simple and colourful, and clearly aimed for a very young age-group.

In October 2001, the game Return to Gallifrey appeared. This is a bright, colourful, board game where the aim is simply to get from the 1st square to the 35th by rolling a virtual dice. The player takes control (well, as much control as you can have when all you’re expected to do is click on the ‘roll’ button repeatedly) of one of several characters such as a Dalek or the Doctor, and can set up to three computer players to battle against. There are squares on the board marked red which hinder progress, and green which assist.

As Michael Downing describes in his help file, “As a lifelong Doctor Who fan I put this game together for fun using pictures and music from fan’s sites on the web.” Well, as long as it kept him (and the kids) happy I guess.

Controls
Mouse 

2001 – Asheron’s Call

PC Windows (Download / CDRom)
Publisher: EB Games and Turbine, Inc.

Asheron’s Call is an online 3D adventure – after downloading the program to their PC, or buying one of the adventures released on CDRom, all users can interact via an internet connection, and take part in the same fantasy adventure.

In various locations around the fictional land of Dereth, users began spotting a blue box (including at 6.8N/11.6E, 5:4S/33.2E and 74N/16W), which was unusually not a usable object, and would promptly disappear upon being approached. Those familiar with British sci-fi TV instantly recognised it as the TARDIS. Those not familiar were confused and bombarded message boards with leet speak.

2002 – Evade the Daleks

PC Windows (Download)
Programmer: Paul Aislin [website]

Apparently you have to outrun some Daleks. The plugin required doesn’t seem to work with the latest version of Internet Explorer, so we can’t really tell you much about this one.

There’s Daleks, there’s evasion. We hope, anyway, otherwise we’re suing for trade descriptions, you see if we don’t.

Controls
Mouse

2002 – Dalek Dissolution Earth

PC Windows (Download)
Publisher: Pixel Pie [website]

A classy first-person arcade-style shooter programmed in Flash, set during the Daleks invasion of Earth. The aim is simply to kill the Daleks and not be killed yourself. The entire website sadly disappeared just a couple of years later.

Controls
Mouse

Tip
An easy way of getting an ‘early warning’ on where the Daleks are about to appear from is to download the game, rather than play it online. Then maximize your Flash player, and select View > 100%. You will see the Daleks appear well before they enter the gameplay area and start shooting.

Downloads

2002 – Doctor Who and the Vortex of Lust

ADRIFT [Platform Independent Interpreter] (Download)
Programmer: Chris Cole

Well I think we can safely be assured that this game is not canon.

Using the flimsy plot device of a temporal breach in the TARDIS causing companions from the past and future to reappear (K9’s already there though, so presumably it’s a fourth Doctor adventure – Sarah also confirms the fourth as “the Doctor you know” later in the game), and all humanoids to gain a heightened sexual desire, you as the companion must engage in enough sexual activity to earn 150 points. Chris Cole is a regular writer of AIF (Adult Interactive Fiction) and in a 2002 interview he explained “I’m a big Doctor Who fan, and it was really fun to write”.

The back cover of a fake box-art goes into more detail:

The classic British cult classic premiers as a memorable AIF Adventure Game by Christopher Cole. When a Temporal Storm hits the TARDIS, some of the Doctor’s companions appear on board and start behaving in a very sensual manner.

The AIF Adventure game runs on ADRIFT 3.9 and is intended for mature audiences only. Anyone under the age of 18 should not play this game.

Of course, the real question is – when did Sarah learn all those tricks on Metebelis 3 anyway?

Controls
Type-in game.
Also use mouse to click on “discovered” areas of the map to jump straight there.

Partial Solution

(Note that this solution just gets you to the maximum 150 points as quickly as possible – there are plenty of extra options for things to talk about with the other characters (and a few things that you can do to them that don’t score any points – seems unfair that “kiss Tegan’s pussy” doesn’t get you so much as a single point, although you do get to ‘enjoy’ the graphic descriptions), most of which are covered in a help file attached when downloading the game).

E, ask K9 about breach, N, N, E, tell Peri about breach, kiss Peri, Peri rub cock, Peri suck cock, lick Peri’s ass, lick Peri’s pussy, titfuck Peri, fuck Peri, assfuck Peri. W, S, S, E, S, S, W, play darts with Ace, round 1, round 2, round 3, round 4, kiss Ace, Ace rub pussy, Ace rub cock, Ace suck cock, rub Ace’s pussy, lick Ace’s pussy, assfuck Ace, fuck Ace (at some point you should also titfuck Ace for 1 extra pt, but we haven’t worked out when). E, N, N, W, N, E, kiss Nyssa, Nyssa rub cock, Nyssa suck cock, lick Nyssa’s pussy, titfuck Nyssa, fuck nyssa. W, S, E, S, S, S, W, ask Adric about Tegan. E, N, N, N, E, N, N, E, tell Tegan about Adric, Tegan touch pussy, Tegan touch ass, kiss Tegan, Tegan suck cock, lick Tegan’s ass, titfuck Tegan, fuck Tegan, assfuck Tegan. W, S, S, W, S, S, S, W, give picture to Adric. E, N, N, N, E, E, N, examine food dispenser, 12553m, get wine, S, S, S, W, kiss Leela, Leela rub cock, touch Leela’s tits, touch Leela’s pussy, lick Leela’s tits, lick Leela’s pussy, fuck Leela. E, N, W, give wine to Sarah, Sarah suck bottle, Sarah dance, Sarah touch cock, Sarah suck cock, touch Sarah’s pussy, lick Sarah’s pussy, fuck Sarah (after this point TME is stuck – can you help? Contact editors@millenniumeffect.co.uk if you can!)

Anonymous review for carouselchain.com
I Don’t Know Dr Who serie, so it was boring for me.
Rating: 3/10

2003 – Whack-a-Dalek

PC Windows / Mac (Online)
Publisher: daleks.fanspace.com

An uncredited game based on the popular seaside arcade machine where the aim to hit as many of a particular character (in this case Daleks) in the alloted time (in this case 30 seconds).

The website promises more Dalek info later, but it’s been saying that for three years now…

 The game is currently available here.

2003 – Doctor Who Concentration, Destroy the Dalek Spacecrafts, Doctor Who Slot Machine, Doctor Who Hangman, Metebelis III Spider Race, Doctor Who Snake

PC Windows / Mac (Online) (Slot Machine available as a download, for no readily apparent reason)
Programmer: Kevin Wilson [website]

In 2003, Kevin Wilson launched his website Kevin Wilson’s Complete Guide to Doctor Who, and alongside it seven Doctor Who related games. One of these was a simple quiz, but the other six were old arcade games, restyled in a Doctor Who-ey way.

Doctor Who Concentration challenges you to a game of memory, as you turn over two logos at a time and try and pair them up.

In Destroy the Dalek Spacecrafts, you must, erm, destroy the Dalek spacecraft! A never-ending game in which Dalek ships fly from left to right and the player is challenged to hit as many as possible.

For the slot machine game, you simply choose a bet (£5, £50 or £500) out of your initial £10,000 credit, and keep rolling the slots (which come up with various Doctors face’s) until you’ve run out of money.

Hangman is a simple game of hangman, but all the answers are Doctor Who related.

The Metebelis III Spider Race allows you to place bets on a race between some spiders. Supposedly the giant ones from Planet of the Spiders, but we’re fairly sure they weren’t that colour in the 70s.

Doctor Who Snake is the classic arcade game Snakes (which gained popularity again on early Nokia mobile phones in the mid-90s), but with an ever-lengthening TARDIS trying to eat Daleks. Right.

Controls
Mouse

Hangman Answers
Easy: Dalek, Sontaran, Troughton, Cyberman, Scarf, Wotan, Varga, Yeti, TARDIS, K9
Intermediate: Robomen, Gallifrey, Fendahl, Leela, Omega, Master, Sil, Kinda, Battlefield, Davros
Hard: Morbius, Romana, Skaro, Spearheads, Bessie, Daemons, Sutekh, Silurian, Turlough, Romanadvoratrelundar

The games are currently available here.

2003 – K9 vs The Daleks!

PC Windows (Download)
Programmer: Simon Charlott (as SCSoft) [website]

A very cute PacMan clone, featuring K9 in the collecting-dots-and-eating-fruit roll, and the Daleks replacing the ghosts as the fruit-vulnerable antagonisers.

We’re not entirely certain what the replacements for the fruit are that turn the Daleks green (yes, Terrance Dicks fans, the cowour of scawed Daweks is gween!) but they seem to be some sort of rainbow sweets. Very pretty.

This was the only standalone game created by SCSoft, who usually focussed on mods for various versions of Quake. Good thing too – his mods are really good, whereas K9 steers like a cow. On ice skates. Not that the original PacMan was that much better, to be fair. And as Simon pointed out to us, it’s probably as steerable as the original – in that case, TME hereby awards this game the prize for being the most accurate K9 simulator yet!

Controls
Cursor keys

2003 – Doctor Who Trumps

PC Windows (Online)
Publisher: BBCi

The official Doctor Who website, who previously had foccussed on quiz-based games (leaving the only arcade style game, Exterminate!, to beeb.com to produce), hit home with this fantastic exciting fast-paced game of… trumps.

Trumps is a classic card game from the 1970s, in which two players would start with half a deck of cards each. Each of these cards contained an item (usually along a theme, such as cars, boats, or civil servants*) each featuring a list of characteristics, and a score from 1-10. Each player could pick a characteristic and the one with the higher score in that respect won both cards.

A great fun game for kids to kill a few minutes, the concept of having an online version is… Interesting.

The Doctor Who version rates characters by strength, style, intelligence and fear factor. The characters include the Ogrons, the Ice Warriors, Adric, the Doctor (a card for each incarnation up to and including the eighth), the Sontarans, the Early Cybermen, the Telosian Cybermen, the Late cybermen, the Wirrn, the Kandyman, the Fendahl, K9, the Krotons, the Menoptra, Sarah-Jane Smith, the Silurians, the Yeti, Davros, Giant Spiders, the Master (Ainley), the Quarks, Cybermats, Giant Maggots, Romana (v2), Omega and the TARDIS itself.

The game is currently available here.
*This might not be true

Controls
Mouse

2003 – TARDIS Tennis

PC Windows (Online)
Publisher: BBC Sport

An online Flash game released to celebrate the latest round of tennis matches the BBC were broadcasting at the time. The players, however, were historical figures – Queen Victoria, William Shakespeare, John Lennon and Winston Churchill. They arrive at Wimbledon in the game (which opens with the 70s theme, and a sting from the Pertwee era) by means of the TARDIS.

To give it a nice retro feel, the creators appear to have used a fontface based strongly on that used on the Commodore C64/128.

Controls
Player 1/2
Up: E/T
Down: D/G
Left: Y/F
Right: U/H
Hit: Space/Z
Pause: P
Quit: Q
Cursor keys can also be used to move player 1.

Three versions of this game are available to play online – the main one here, a worldwide version here, where Victoria is replaced with Elvis, and an early version here in which the graphics are altered slightly to display the height of the ball constantly.

2003 – XGRA: Extreme-G Racing Association

XBox, Playstation 2, GameCube
Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment

The fourth in the popular racing series featured a very subtle reference. Wayne Peters contacted TME in 2008 to let us know that, while working on the Aerodrome level, his “rabid Whovian” background encouraged him to slip a police box hidden into the background.

2004 – Doctor Who: The Tides of Time, Doctor Who: Dawn of the Orinth

Mac OS (Download)
Toastprophet Games

A rare foray onto Macintosh territory for Doctor Who gaming. ToastProphet seems to be a vaguely witty youth, who’s set up a website to spew his humour onto the world.

As part of that humour, he made a couple of freeware games. Which are doubtless very fun if you own a Mac and have been staring jealously at PC owners ever since Dalek Attack (word to the wise: You missed nothing).