Doctor Who Legacy Fan Area

You can't say they didn't warn you

About a week ago, for a little over £6 I bought access to the Fan Area of Doctor Who Legacy (DWL). I also got some Time Crystals and a cosy feeling from having supported my favourite game. After reflection and hard playing I can say that this was a bargain.

DWL is a free to download, free to play mobile game. In order to make money it follows a long established business model. Players buy in-game currency that can be swapped for extras, short cuts and access to exclusive areas. I’ve blogged about this in my Pirate Galaxy Blog here and here so I’ll try not to repeat myself. In summary I think this is not only perfectly fair, but it supports the creation of new games. It is also a model that allows us to play before we pay.

So how does DWL execute this strategy? First of all it has to make it clear to players that they have the option to spend their hard earned. Some games do this in a way that spoils the pleasure of the playing. Constant entreaties to spend, spend, spend are akin to having a collection tin shook in your face every ten minutes. Thankfully DWL is quite laid back with no in-game ads or annoying pop ups. The store is clearly marked and you can’t miss it, but it’s no annoyance.

Secondly the game has to make whatever they’re selling an attractive option. If you buy over 6 Time Crystals in one go then you get access to the Fan Area, which is 23 exclusive episodes/adventures ranging from easy to expert. All levels are immediately accessible, so you can jump straight to ‘Strax has a bad dream’ at the top of the list if you wish. Some of these levels have unique versions of companions with a 100% drop rate. The top 6 episodes also drop the three types of Time Fragments that are needed to get Rank 5 for Doctors, or past Lv. 40 for Companions. This is a great advantage if you have several characters maxed out but still haven’t got far enough in Season 5 to make these available. Getting into the Fan Area was the main incentive for me to pay and it was well worth it.

Ooh pretty

Cash buys you Time Crystals, which can be used in many ways. I currently have 59 in my main game, 15 of which I paid for. There's lots of way to spend them in DWL, but most don't tempt me. 

A while back I bought a couple of extra team slots. This allowed me to have one for each colour, plus one for my A-Team and one for my apprentices. Each slot costs 2 crystals so this was not a big expense and I’m not planning to get any more.

You can randomly roll a character from each season which would soon burn through the Crystals. I did this once early on but winning the characters in the game is half the fun. Again not a reason for me to swap cash for Crystals.

The Specials tab in the store is tempting and there you can buy specific characters or groups, such as all 5 colours of Adipose. This is an efficient way to fill up your TARDIS and I have considered it. Like I said though, where’s the fun in that? 

Fed up with having to earn experience for Companions? Maybe you've won a cool Companion and want to fast track them into your Elite. If so then Time Crystals will get them there in just a jiffy.  

At the bottom of the Specials are the Time Fragment deals. These are good and I have invested a few Crystals there. I do like to grind my way to a target, but there comes a point when it just stops being fun. When I find I'm no longer enjoying myself I go shopping. However the new increased drop rate makes this less of a chore and so I’m less likely to spend. This is the dilemma that Tiny Rebel Games (TRG) must have. Make progression in the game too hard or too expensive, and people will stop playing. Make it too easy and why should people pay? Then the game isn’t profitable and further development dies.

Man I could do some damage with that.

You can use Crystals to extend a match when you have been defeated and I bet a lot of people do this. Being felled on the verge of victory is hard to take. I did continue once by accident, but it just seems too much like cheating to me.

There is one more item on the Time Crystal menu that does interest me, and that is the S-Perk tab. This screen holds delights that would tempt the most jaded of pallets. For instance you can reduce all enemy damage by 10%, heal 50 HP for every hit you score on an enemy, and even double your damage when you make 10 combos. I’ve dabbled with the Expert levels and made no impression, here may be the weapons I need. This is where my Crystals will go.

Even if the Fan Area, S-Perks, character rolls or Time Fragments don’t tempt you, I’d still encourage you to put some money into DWL. Think of the games that cost £40+ and were left on the shelf after a few hours play. Now think of how many hours you’ve spent on DWL. Shelled out a few $ on a film and wished you could get those two hours of your life back? Why not donate the same amount to Tiny Rebel Games? 

Support the game and keep it living. After that you can buy my book. 

What? I deserve a plug too.

Nightmare in Silver: Mr Clever

This looks promising

Previous Episode: Nightmare in Silver: Stalemate

Next Episode: Asylum of the Daleks: Graveyard

Game version played: 2.2.1

The last episode was interesting with new powers to face, but none of your team levelled up. Maybe Act 3 of Nightmare In Silver (NIS) will fix that. Let’s put these Cybermen to bed.

The scene of the battle will be Natty Longshoe’s Comical Castle, where Clara and the Punishment Platoon holed up to fight off the Cybermen. The art is nice and spooky, is that a Dalek on the hoarding alongside the bridge? Nah!

We can see that this is another TV episode where you can win Black and Red time fragments. I’m hoping for Black as that cupboard is bare. The portrait of a chap in a leather flying helmet with '100% Drop' written above it looks promising too. Select the episode and confirm your team, which for me is the Eleventh Doctor at Rank 1, Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint both at Lv.2.

The carnage begins, and once again you only have Blue, Yellow, Red and Pink gems to match. First up you are faced with a Red and a Yellow Cyberman. The Yellow chap has the Lock ability but you’re a veteran of that so you know what to do. For me this first wave was no issue and I was rewarded for their destruction with a Time Crystal, taking my total up to 3. 

Wave 2 consists of three Green Cybermites. No special powers but one attacks every round so show no mercy. Again I saw these off quickly, this time getting a Green Time Fragment as bounty. 

Wave 3 next, and you have two Red and a Yellow Cyberman wanting to upcycle your brain. Two of them have Lock so they may clog your board up a little but you're tough, you can handle them. 

The final wave sees the return of Mr Clever, who obviously survived the beating you gave him in the last episode. He's better tooled up this time, able to attack or use his Mine power every round. Mine works just the same as Grab did in the previous episode, removing all gems of one colour from the board. In my match the Doctor was now ready to use his Cunning, and even though Blue is weak against Green, Seven-of-Nine-Doctor was soon just a memory. 

As Mr Clever is vanquished, you will see a greyed out portrait fall. The Doctor steps forward and introduces Ludens Nimrod Kendrick Cord Longstaff the 41st, also known as Porridge. Pleasantries are exchanged and the episode ends. 

Now this episode does deliver significant goodies. Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint now both have enough experience to reach Lv.3. When levelling up I gave them both an extra point on ATK, which is not generally accepted wisdom in Jenny's case, but it's my game and I don't care.

Warwick Davis, looking young
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

I had my Time Crystal and Green Time Fragment to fondle of course, but the real prize here is Porridge. He's a Black character so you now have 4 of the 5 available colours covered. Check his stats and you will see that he has very high HP at 103. This makes him a Tank character. Remember that your team pools its HP, so having a Tank on the team means that you all last longer in a fire-fight. 

Porridges special ability is called Shift at this level, and when used Porridge lays a bomb against one enemy. This detonates after 5 turns, doing a very respectable 1000 damage. In the next few episodes this will vaporise any opponent, and in higher levels leaves them badly wounded. A key weapon in your arsenal. 

If you leave it to Porridge, then he'll place the bomb against the strongest remaining enemy. However if you target one opponent then he will mine them instead. Getting the biggest bang for your buck takes some tactical thinking. If the bomb is laid on a weak opponent that is first in the line of fire i.e. on the left of the screen, then that opponent is likely to be dead before the bomb goes off, in which case it is wasted. Often the best thing to do is wait for the start of the next wave and bomb the baddest one facing you. The cool down for Shift is a hefty 10 turns, so you may even want to think about saving it for the final Boss wave. Abilities don't go stale so you can keep Porridge primed as long as you like. Don't waste him. 

Porridge was played in NIS by Warwick Davis who comes across as a cracking bloke and has a sci-fi/fantasy CV many would kill for. His comedy acting is bob on, making Life's Too Short so cringeworthy that I couldn't watch it. I hope that isn't the last we'll see of the Emperor. I'd love to see him turn Clara's head and get the girl.

Nightmare In Silver: Stalemate

Previous Episode: Nightmare In Silver: Closed For Business

Next Episode: Nightmare In Silver: Mr Clever

Game version played under: 2.2

There, next to the plant at the back

You are blooded. You have faced the Cybermen and left them shattered and smoking in your wake. Nothing can stop you. Push on.

From the Play Episode screen you can see that your next mission is again on Hedgewick's World of Wonders, but this time you seem to be in the Punishment Platton's barracks. Is that a cuddly Dalek in the background? A mascot perhaps. Again this is a TV story, and you have the chance to win both Green and Red Time Fragments.

In my case my team consisted of the Eleventh Doctor at Rank 1, Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint both at Lv. 2. This early on you would probably have exactly the same unless you've rolled for characters in the store.

The episode starts with the appearance of a single Red Cyberman, the Doctor shouts to get down and the battle begins. With a bit of targeting you soon establish that Blue is strong against Red enemies, so the Eleventh Doctor will be effective here. You won't see any Green or Black gems on this level so making matches should be simple.

The first Cyberman is well armoured but weak and I soon finished him off, only for the Doctor to declare that the Cybermen were upgrading, and you'd better be careful. Pah! I scoff at their upgradability. Another Red Cyberman attacks, but this chap has the Lock power. What does that do? Best to you kill him before you find out. I tried, and even had the Doctor's Cunning ability to help, but 2 rounds later the Lock power was unleashed.

Lock has two forms but it will be a while before you come across the other. In this version, random gems are locked in place for a number of turns. This is annoying and stops you from moving said gems, either directly or by dragging others through them. Nothing to panic about, just take a few extra moments to plan your move. The gems' colours are still visible, and if they form part of a pattern then they still contribute to a combination. As well as boosting damage this also causes them to vanish from the board, being replaced with unlocked gems.

I soon had #2 beaten, and I laughed at his shouts of Delete as he bit the dust. The wingnuts were at last learning, and they then sent 3 Green Cybermen into the fray, including our old friend the chess player. Now the Eleventh Doctor is at a disadvantage against these, but luckily Red is strong against Green so it was Jenny Flint's time to shine. Two of these blighters had Lock and they each attack on a different schedule. One attacks each turn, one every other turn and the last every third. This offset attack routine can be nasty. In this combination, if they were to survive long enough, every 6th turn you get hit by by all three at once. If you fail to spot this coming up it can be painful.

In my case I soon had them whittled down by one, and Jenny Flint then started to Smoulder for the first time. This let me convert Blue gems to Red, which Jenny then used to blast the last two off the board. Lovely.

Wave #4 then charged into the fray and I had 2 Red Cybermen to deal with. With impeccable timing the Doctor's Cunning came to fruition and they didn't last long. As they died a Time Crystal fell.

It's a start

Lastly, the Boss shows up, none other than the Eleventh Doctor himself. This is him in his partial cyber-state, the self-styled Mr Clever. He looks like a less curvy, yet more modestly dressed Seven of Nine. Mr Clever is Green and has the Grab power. This allows the enemy to steal all the Gems of one colour from the board, which are then replaced by other colours. Sometimes this can actually help if you have an unhelpful board in front of you. In this match Mr Clever stole all the Blue gems, which wasn't very clever as they are weak against Green. He should have taken the Red.

By this time Madame Vastra's Riposte was ready, and with back up from the others he was soon sent packing. Victory!

Time to check the booty, which in my case was a single Time Crystal. The experience gained wasn't enough to get anyone levelled but it all counts. However I did get 2 Achievements rung up which is always welcome. I got No More Green I for beating 10 Green Enemies, and Exterminate I for using ally abilities 5 times. I already had Time Tot for making 25 gem combos.

Nightmare In Silver: Stalemate is an unspectacular episode but you are introduced to two new powers and you take on tougher opponents. A nice escalation in your introduction to the game.

Neil Gaiman - taken by Manfred Werner

Now to the actual television episode Nightmare In Silver (NIS). My first feeling after watching this episode was one of disappointment, but after recently re-watching it I thought it was good. The first watch problem was that my expectations were high, as this was the second Doctor Who episode written by Neil Gaiman.

His first was The Doctor's Wife, a quality episode, perhaps my favourite Eleventh Doctor story. I was hoping for something equally original, written by a man who obviously 'gets' and loves the show. NIS is a significant episode as regards Cyber-lore but I wouldn't call it original, and I'm not keen on the direction the Cybermen have taken.

The new Cybermen look great. Sleek, lithe and lethal. This race has always improved itself and it's the basis of their origin, both the original Mondas and the new Lumic versions (what?). My problem is that after NIS they have become too much like the Borg. The Cybermites are like big Nanoprobes, assimilating victims and joining their minds to the Cyberiad, which is basically the Borg hive mind. Borg and Cybermen are of course both Cyborgs, and this similarity was used to good effect in the Doctor Who/Star Trek cross over Assimilation2, which by the way is a good read.

The Borg are a great sci-fi creation, body horror at its best. They came after the Cybermen but have probably eclipsed them in geekdom fame. Making the Cybermen more like them rather than more distinct from them is not a good move.

One last moan. The Cybermen can now disconnect parts of their bodies which is handy (sorry) and the Borg can't do that, but the need for the human brain is the one thing stopping the Cybermen becoming robots. If they can now remove their heads and then walk about and fight, then it can't be that vital. I think NIS is an upgrade too far.

Now I've got that off my chest, I think the NIS story is good. I want to live in a reality where Warwick Davis is the Emperor of the Universe. Matt Smith is given a Smeagol/Gollum scene to show off in and he does it well. I've always enjoyed 'base under siege' stories and this one ticks that box near enough. I was also pleased to see gold used to temporarily foil Mr Clever. It's nice to see that weakness back, and with a bit more of a logical explanation.

I also liked the odd ball collection of misfits that was the Punishment Platoon. They were a more engaging military unit than some of the efficient, faceless, ray-gun fodder that we've seen in the show recently. I do think that the self confidence Clara showed when the Doctor put her in charge was so fearless that it bordered on insanity. She's full of herself that one.

So overall NIS didn't live up to Neil Gaiman's debut, but that was hard to beat. I'm nervous of what's happened to the Cybermen, whether that's Steven Moffat's plan or Mr Gaiman's. Still I have faith in both of them so there's a good chance I could be proven wrong. I hope I am, and that it isn't the last we've seen of Neil Gaiman on Doctor Who.

Doctor Who Legacy 2.2

Nice and Blue

You’re just getting the hang of the game and what do they do? Release another upgrade. The new patched version 2.2 of Doctor Who Legacy has been available for a week now. I like it.

The first thing you’ll notice is the new icon and start screens. I wouldn’t say I prefer the new look to the old but it’s nice to have a change. A facelift every few months is no bad thing.

Second thing you’ll come across is the daily log-in bonus. This is nice, and I’m sure it will tempt the punters to keep coming back. You’ll notice that there’s no Black or Yellow Time Fragment bonus and only 1 Red, though that is the first of the sequence so it probably balances out. There are still plenty of chances to earn all Fragments in the game, but it seems that Black and Yellow characters will find it tougher than others to upgrade.

The first time I logged into the 2.2 it instantly awarded me three or four Achievements. I knew that the game was ignoring some of my heroic milestones, so they must have ironed out some bugs. However I still haven’t got Exterminate Red I, when I do have Exterminate Red II & III. Exterminate Green looks busted too. For the record I have 43 out of 56 Achievements, though it should be 45.

Oh the Horror!

There are a few changes in the Setting menu of the Options. You can turn off the ‘flash’ of the characters eyes when you use their abilities. I like that feature so I've left it on. More dramatically you can change the look of the gems on the game board.

There are five skins to choose from, the first being Christmas. This isn’t new, but now you can have it permanently on. Why you’d want to I don’t know, as it's uglier than a litter tray's contents. The Van Gogh skin also becomes an option, and is interesting but murky. I find it hard to tell the difference between Blue and Black gems in frantic moments.

The brand new skins begin with Beast, based on the script seen in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit. It’s not so bad, the colours are clearly distinguished and it isn’t garish. Dalek is next, a simple design which makes my eyes go a bit funny with all those grills lined up in rows. Master is perhaps my favourite of the skins, looking like the Toclafane spheres from The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords. The way each colour gem is orientated slightly differently makes the board look quite chaotic, subtle. Ood is another simple inoffensive design which I could tolerate, with the gems looking like the Ood telepathy ball. Lastly we have the Silence skin, based on the 5 bar gate tally marks used by the Doctor and his companions to record a sighting of the Silence. I love the scene in Day of the Moon when Amy is exploring Graystark Hall, she sees her palm is flashing, and that her hands and face are covered in tallys. Then she looks up and sees a horde of Silence roosting on the ceiling, oooh! Shiver. Karen Gillan knows how to sell a scream. Anyway the Silence skin looks much like Beast, only a bit scruffier.

Welcome back Sir

Of course each to their own and the range is quite varied, so most should find one they like. The default skin is still there, and you don’t have to use any of the new ones so there isn’t anything to complain about.

A new ‘cheat’ has been added which allows you to upgrade a character using Time Crystals rather than Time Fragments. Cheat is a bit unfair, more of a shortcut. I have several characters at the maximum level for their Rank but am short of Fragments. I was happy to grind for a while but the novelty was starting to wear off. The Fragment drop rate is significantly higher now so maybe this will be less of an annoyance once things balance out. You accumulate a few free Crystals as you play, so you could just look at them as super fragments, rather than in game cash if you’re squeamish. It does seem cheap to upgrade, 4 crystals for a Doctor, even less for Companions, with it seeming less at higher levels. I was quoted just 1 Crystal to upgrade Jenny Flint to Rank 5. Tempting. I resisted, for now.

One of my favourite changes to the game is the time metre that appears above the gem you’re moving. It counts down your allowed 5 seconds, turning red as time runs out. This stops you having to mutter, “One elephant, two elephant, three elephant…”, attracting worried glances from your fellow bus passengers.

Cancel? Or Confirm

The biggest change to the game is the new Rank 5, and the dual colour ability that it provides. To get to level 5 you need some of the new Time Fragments, Rassilon, Omega and Infinity. I believe these start to appear in the later levels of Series 5 and in the Expert area. I haven’t won any yet, so best not to comment. It all sounds very cool and I'm keen to get there. If you have any experience of Level 5 then let me know. Even the wiki’s cupboard is bare on this subject so far.

The last significant addition is the Challenge Levels. This just holds 2 episodes so far, with more to be released in a steady drip. In these you need to have certain Characters before you can play. For the first you need the Eleventh Doctor, for the second you need the Tenth Doctor and Rory Williams. I’ve played them and they’re fun, dropping Time Crystals when you first play. These first levels are easy so you should be able to rattle them off.

Once again I’d say that Tiny Rebel Games have come up trumps. New content, more options, and a facelift plus bug fixes. Lovely. The only things I don’t like are purely optional, and so avoidable. Bravo!