Crinkly Computer Games
Doctor Who is a show with a repuation for high ideals let down by time/budget constraints. Computer games are a form of entertainment with a reputation for mindless violence enhanced by clever marketing. Combine the two and what do you get?
That's right. A form of mindless entertainment let down by time/budget constraints.
There have been many examples of this peculiar and oft-ignored sub-genre of Doctor Who appreciation, and many of them are available free for Net users. Even better, to save you the long trawl through countless FTP sites, I've prepared a catalogue of all the ones I've been able to find, along with the 8-bit emulators you need to play them. It's all legal, so long as you don't sell the files on or anything.
PC-Dos Games
This is an entirely new sub-section which owes its existence entirely to the work of one man, Mr. Patrick Wigfull. He has written two moderate-size Infocom-style text adventures based on Doctor Who. Better still, they work on a PC without any emulators or anything!
Pyramids of Mars Based directly on the Doctor Who serial of the same name, this game seems straightforward, but has some nasty little puzzles. I've nearly completed it, but I won't give any hints...
Return to Karn This game is an original effort, but still has its roots in an existing Doctor Who story. Find the Brain of Morbius. I can't tell you much more because I'm stuck. I installed the homing device and that's it.
Spectrum Games
ZX32The emulator I use for all Spectrum games. Win95 only.
The Five Doctors Yes. A text adventure version of the 20th anniversary show. This is probably best summed up by the fact that the author proudly boasts that the game is based on the novelisation. Easy.
Dalek Attack You probably remember this. A product of the early nineties and desperately trying to be Sonic the Hedgehog. Great graphics, for a Speccy. It's tricky, but comes with an optional cheat.
Dr What An early graphic adventure. Travel in the TRYDIS (sic) and do all sorts of weird stuff with obscure objects. It's actually quite good fun - and it's where Monkey Island owes its origins. Hard to control but well worth the effort.
Amstrad Games
CPE My favourite emulator for my favourite 8-bit machine. This re-creates the CPC464/664/6128 on your PC in DOS, but works in Win95 as well.
Dr Who & The Mines Of Terror One of those games you see details of in the Terrestial Index. To quote Stephen Fry: "It's crap... with glimmers." Colourful graphics, but there's no joystick support. If you can get Splinx to do anything then you deserve some sort of deification. Again, it's fun.
Roland In Time The Amstrad's answer to Bill & Ted. The space-bound 'phone booth with the strangely familiar music was the first Amstrad software I ever loaded. This game is really difficult. Jet Set Willy with blocky graphics, more colours and twenty times more difficult.
Time & Magik Another sneaky rip-off, included merely for completism. Travel through time in a grandfather clock in a text adventure. It does have pictures, but you'd be advised to switch them off (trust me on this).
Instructions
CPE
Quickstart A helping hand from yours truly, I remember setting up my first emulator with little pleasure.