It was way back in 1963 that William Hartnell, the first Doctor Who, emerged from his police box Tardis, and a whole generation of impressionable young children spent much of their lives cowering behind the couch, peeking out now and again to see how the most famous Time Lord in the universe was faring in his battles against the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Yetis, the Autons, the Ice Warriors and various other intergalactical bad guys.

So it's strange, in many ways, that it has taken so long for The Doctor to find his way on to your Amiga screen in the form of Dalek Attack. The actions is set in the year 2254 when the Daleks and their evil creator Davros have taken over the world. Their evil plot is to turn the planet into a munitions factory to supply the Dalek armies.

The Doctor must thwart their terrible aims by running around a series of platforms, blasting various baddies and rescuing hostages. It's worth mentioning here that not all the enemies are Doctor Who originals but include Ninjas and others who have absolutely nothing to do with the TV series. Anyway, after a promising introduction level, Dalek Attack is a tad disappointing.

Although the graphics are well drawn and the music is of a reasonably suitable variety, the character animation is none too hot. Basically it's the gameplay that really lets down Dalek Attack. It would be better if it wasn't a shoot-em-up, and even better still if it wasn't so predictable - whenever you walk through a door there's inevitably a couple of Daleks waiting to exterminate you.

Actually there's an important aside here. Daleks roll around on wheels, they are incapable of jumping, so how the hell do they get up stairs. Obviously they can't. And if they can't how id they take over the Earth. Not much good just taking over the downstairs bit of the Earth, is it?

Anyway, this is only an average game, admittedly at a good price. But as anybody who has taken a serious interest in Time Lords will tell you, the essential point about Doctor Who is to outwit the enemy by skillful use of time travel, and sonic screwdrivers, and by having pretty women as assistants and cute mechanical dogs called K-9, so this would have been a better game if it was an adventure instead of a shoot-em-up.

Wider Erwarten ging die TV-Konvertierung nicht einmal komplett in die Hose, stattdessen wird von der Story bis zur Steuerung konsequentes Mittelmaß durchgezogen: Der größenwahnsinnige Davros will die Menschheit unterjochen und zum Bau seiner klapprigen Kampfroboter zwingen, der lebensmüde Dr. Who stellt sich den Schergen des Bösen in den Weg...

Deshalb kämpft er sich mal auf einem Gleiter schwebend, mal per pedes durch horizontal scrollende Kanäle, Straßenzüge, U-Bahnschächte und Industrieanlagen im Endzeit-Design und ballert auf alles, was sich bewegt. Außerdem muß der Held in jedem der sechs Level ein gutes Dutzend Geiseln befreien, wobei ihm Granaten, Smart Bombs, Power-Ups, Extraleben und -energie sowie vier Continues den ohnehin nicht allzu schwierigen Job erleichtern.

Seine Gegner tauchen nur sporadisch auf, so daß die bei einigen Gebäuden mögliche Fassadenkletterei fast schon spannender ist als die eigentliche Baller-Aktion. Sobald sich ein zweiter Spieler ins Geschehen einklinkt, wird es sogar halbwegs spaßig, allerdings auch gleich noch mal eine Ecke einfacher.

Die Steuerung via Stick oder Tasten ist simpel und nur manchmal etwas hakelig. Ähnlich durchwachsen kommt die Präsentation daher: Die oft ein wenig ruckelig scrollende Hintergrundgrafik ist passabel gezeichnet, aber nicht übermäßig originell, die Animationen sind ganz gelungen. Musik und FX werden wahlweise angeboten und klingen recht nett, aber keineswegs aufregend.

Dasselbe gilt für das gesamte Spiel - knallhartes Mittelmaß eben. (pb)

Oh dear. It's a Doctor Who game. Doctor Who is one of those programmes, like Blake's Seven, that seemed so great at the time, and you look back on with fondness and say things like, "of course it's not as good as it used to be, and I preferred Patrick Troughton/Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker as the Doctor" until you see an old re-run and realise it was always crap. Which is something it shares with this game.

The plot is standard Doctor Who fare, with some wibble about Daleks taking over the universe while Davros cackles manically in the background like the mad person you always manage to bump into on your way to the newsagents.

Somehow the Timelords get involved and the Doctor has to save the universe and everything.

Before you play the game you can choose your Doctor from an array of three. There's the one with the silly hat and the scarf, the one with the silly coat and stupid bow tie, and, er, somebody else dressed in incredibly ill-fitting clothes and looking like the last person on earth to be even remotely capable of saving the universe from a race of totally insane and heavily armed robots.

Then comes the shock when the game loads, because you're controlling our Doc on some sort of high-tech floating platform massacring everything in sight with a powerful laser and chucking grenades, smart bombs and all manner of death-dealing heavy weaponry at the enemy. This hardly captures the atmosphere of Doctor Who, and in my day he'd take the lot on with only a sonic screwdriver and a clapped out old car called Bessie.

MORE THAN NOSTALGIA
Yes, I know that the sets are wobbly, and that the monsters are nearly always a failed rep actor in a wet-suit, but Doctor Who holds a certain magic for me - and before you ask, my complexion is clear, yes I AM interested in women, and, no, I do not possess an anorak. As a wee nipper, watching Jon Pertwee battle against Autons, Sontarans and Roger Delgado's Master was an essential part of my week. And, of course, there were the Daleks. If it wasn't for Terry Nation's gliding creations, Doctor Who probably wouldn't have made it past its initial twelve-week run.

However, in the second story in this fledging series, the Daleks glided up to menace William Hartnell and Co. And, in doing so, won themselves a place in the history books. It is ironic actually that in the 27 years Doctor Who was on our screens, only the Daleks broke the mould of the popular 'men in suits' idiom - although it was the easiness of copying them in the playground which started 'Dalekmania' in the 60s.

Whatever the reason for their success, even now in these days of Bart Simpson and the Toxic Crusaders, the Daleks still keep people glued to the telly - well, they would do it if the BBC saw sense and brought the programme back!

Obviously, for such a long-running programme, there is no shortage of Doctor Who merchandise, but whilst there have been a number of Who derivative games, only two 'official' titles have hit our screens - until now. The first was a tawdry Acornsoft BBC Micro effort, which starred Peter Davidson's Doctor as he worked his ways through a series of dire puzzles and simplified arcade sequences.

The second was 'The Mines Of Terror' by Micropower and starred Colin Baker's incarnation - although, rather sadly, licensing restriction meant that Micropower couldn't use popular characters such as the Daleks, K9 and Co. and the result was a dull little arcade/adventure involving the Doctor, a metallic cat, and a race of robots who trundled along on castors - sound familiar?

THIRD TIME LUCKY?
Thankfully, no such restrictions limit Alternative's latest attempt at a Who tie-in, but the game still falls short of expectations. Opening with a sampled Dalek tirade and a dodgy, warbling rendition of the programme's theme tune, Sylvester McCoy's face appears on screen to give us a wink before fading away to be replaced by the show's old diamond logo. So far so good then.

Next up, an option screen appears allowing the player to choose which Doctor out of Patrick Throughton, Tom Baker and Sylvester they wish to control. In addition, Ace and a UNIT Soldier offer themselves as a companion for later in the game, and K( also wags his little aerial at the prospect of joining in the fun - I must say, though, that I was disappointed that Jon Pertwee wasn't included, but never mind. On selecting your Time Lord, he duly legs it to the Tardis and dematerializes into the game.

Unrestricted by a meagre budget and guest appearances by people like Bonnie Langford and Ken Dodd, Alternative's binary vision of Doctor Who is a multinational affair with the Doctor battling against his oldest foes in Britain, Tokyo and the USA whilst simultaneously searching for parts of a machine which will enable him to put an end to their plans forever - however, despite such grand intentions, the game still looks as if the backdrops have been roughly assembled and would wobble if touched!

Actually, I'm being rather cruel here, but it has to be said that so much more could have been done with the game's graphics. The Doctor sprites are too small and, although recognisable, are far from impressive. In additions, although Alternative will please die-hard fans with the inclusion of Ogrons (apelike henchmen), Robomen (converted humans harking back to Hartnell's era), and Emperor and Special Weapons Daleks, the sprites just aren't imposing enough, and it's hard to be intimidated by a Dalek or Ogron which is little more than half an inch tall and is barely distinguishable from the similarly-coloured backdrops.

SEWER SO GOOD
Starting in a sewer setting, the Doctor pilots a Dalek anti-gravity disc which he must steer through the narrow drainage system - shooting anything which gets in his way as he goes. Yes, indeed, Alternative have broken the good Time Lord's life-long tradition of not killing things unnecessarily by arming him with a laser gun - although on later stages Alternative try and validate this by explaining that it isn't in fact a laser gun but a specially-modified Sonic Screwdriver. Hmmmmm.

Oh well, once out of the sewers and having defeated what appears to be a two-headed Loch Ness monster in a dull blasting match, the action switches to that of a conventional arcade/adventure with the good Doctor out-running the aforementioned Daleks, Ogrons and Robomen in search of the machine parts. This section proves extremely tough, and even with the extremely agile 793 year-old leaping from platform to platform, it often seems nigh-on impossible to avoid the pursuing baddies.

Providing our hero's energy holds out, though, he eventually gets to repeat the pattern throughout the said countries., before eventually heading towards Skaro - home of the Daleks and base of their evil leader, Davros.

I'm not sure if I was expecting way too much because I'm such an ardent fan of the programme, but Dalek Attack falls short on a number of counts. Admittedly, the game proves quite fun in the short-term, but prolonged play prompts irritation thanks to numerous 'no-win' situations, and I'm also disappointed by the platform action the programmers have opted for.

Bearing in mind that every story climaxed with the Doctor outwitting his foes, I feel that Dalek Attack would benefit from more puzzles in the action. Also, the general 'look' of the game wrecks the multi-national 'epic' scenario the game is given by making it look dull and lifeless.

It is by no means a complete loss and I'm sure that it's sub-twenty quid price win it a lot of fans, and Alternative are indeed to be commended for this price point, but even so I hope when Alternative have another tab at the licence - and I sincerely hope they do as they are on the right track - it regenerates into something better than this.