ZX Computing


Dr. What
By CRL
Spectrum 48K

 
Published in ZX Computing #34

Dr. What

After a heavy intergalactic party where the supplies of Neuro Cardial cocktails have taken a bit of a battering, the four Doctors, What, When, Why and Where are all suffering from various degrees of a hangover. What is even worse is that they are all lost in four different places deep within the space time continuum. Can they sort things out using their Trydis? This is beginning to sound like a spoof on a well known TV character. 'Who?' you ask. 'Correct', everyone replies.

The four Doctors have got to try and reach the Jelly Baby of Infinite Wisdom and Ultimate Knowledge who is stuck away in the Tower of Darabur somewhere. The first problem is to try and get the Doctors reassembled in one spot and quite tricky this proves to be. Why is in What's laboratory and is the only Doctor with access to a key to allow him to enter and use the Trydis. Each Doctor can carry and use up to three articles at any given time. There is a row of buttons in each Trydis. Pressing a button teleports you to a specific location.

Each Doctor has only a limited amount of strength, depicted by a jelly baby being nibbled away in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Collisions with the nasties, including a Dalek, are the major source of energy loss. Each of the Doctors can be summoned as and when you want them. But be warned, if one of the Doctors dies, your quest is effectively over so abort that particular game and start again.

As a game, Doctor What raises several questions: What is the point of all this? Where is their dictionary so that they can learn how to spell "transcendental" properly? When will CRL realise that they can't get away with releasing poor quality, full price games? And why didn't they consign this load of rubbish to that great Jelly Baby in the Sky a long time ago?