Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality | PS4 Review
Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality is a first-person puzzle game developed and published by Maze Theory and Just Add Water. It is set in the timeless classic universe of Doctor Who where you can explore new worlds, fight Daleks and Cybermen, and guide the Doctor through an epic adventure to save the universe from the latest threat that is wreaking havoc for the world. Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality is based on the VR game The Edge of Time and is currently available on Windows PC, PlayStation, XBox, and Nintendo Switch. For the purpose of my review I was playing the PlayStation 4 version.
Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality portrays the story of a virus that infects reality which has been unleashed and is piece by piece destroying time and space. As it progresses it causes random glitches in reality and can even go as far as re-writing the entire world. The Doctor, voiced by Jodie Whittaker, is trapped at the very end of the universe. However she has a wild plan to overcome this virus and save the world, a plan that you could only find in a Doctor Who plot. Throughout the game you take on the role of the Doctor's companion and you will find yourself facing Daleks and Cybermen as you travel your way through space and time in an attempt to retrieve the renowned Sonic Screwdriver.
Doctor Who is very much a timeless classic in the TV world and has provided fans with endless hours of enjoyment and a lifetime of wonder as they take in all the new ideas that the creators have. I’m admittedly not a massive Doctor Who fan so I prepared myself for very much feeling out of my depth lore wise whilst playing The Edge of Reality. However I was very much wrong. Aside from the locations, the Tardis and the obvious presence of Daleks and Cybermen, it didn’t really feel like a Doctor Who game and actually in places felt quite shallow and like it was certainly lacking something considering how rich in lore the Doctor Who universe is after so many years. Whilst for me, this wasn’t a negative because I don’t have that background and knowledge, I do feel like any long term fans of the show will be disappointed and feel the disconnect as a serious let down. For people like me who are just looking for something different, you will not feel overwhelmed by the lore and will be able to appreciate it as a standalone game.
Graphically, Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality really doesn’t do overly well. I had to turn the brightness up in the game settings to the highest possible and even had to mess with my TV’s settings just to be able to see at some points. It is just too dark in a lot of areas and really sapped my enjoyment quickly. The levels are fairly linear so I still managed to navigate but I shouldn't have been squinting and struggling just to see as much as I did. Unfortunately, I found that the game really lacked in a lot of areas. The timeless classic monsters were a flimsy shadow of their legendary TV counterparts and really very quickly just started to feel like a cheap rip off of the highly prestigious Doctor Who universe. It feels almost to me as if the developers rested a little too much on the fact that they were using such a rich universe already, rather than allowing the game to actually make its own mark and tread its own path through that world which is a real shame to me.
When I seen a Doctor Who adventure puzzle game, I really expected some mind boggling and intricate puzzles that feel really intelligent and I expected to feel dumb on a number of occasions, however the puzzles were all incredibly shallow and simple. I don’t consider myself to be massively good at problem solving, however they were all incredibly basic and didn’t really require much from me in terms of problem solving and exploring. The Doctor is renowned for his problem solving skills and also for how deep the problems he solves are, yet none of this was found in The Edge of Reality which is a real shame. If the puzzles were worth solving then I could very easily dismiss a lot of the negatives, however it just feels like yet another half-baked aspect in the game.
I feel like Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality was incredibly ambitious and tried really hard but ultimately fell short in a lot of ways. I feel like the developers relied far too heavily on the Doctor Who universe being enough to make this game great which simply left it lacking so much substance for me. It relied far too heavily on nostalgia and familiar faces, places and names to make it a fun adventure and it just didn’t have anything that made it a fun experience in and of itself and very quickly felt very stale and below average. Despite having an excellent voice cast to accompany the rich Doctor Who world, it just didn’t capture the essence of it for me and this is coming from someone that isn’t a Doctor Who enthusiast so I feel like anyone with a connection to the universe would feel incredibly disappointed and let down.
Lj’s Rating: 2 Daleks purchased from Wish out of 5.
For more information on Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality please use the following links...
Maze Theory - Developer | Publisher | Facebook | Twitter | Website
Just Add Water - Developer | Publisher | Facebook | Twitter | Website
Many thanks to Indigo Pearl for the Review Key.
Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality | Windows PC | PlayStation | XBox | Nintendo
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