The Doctor and Amy are making their way to Nintendo consoles this November in an all-new adventure. Total Sci-Fi’s Mark McKenzie-Ray attended a special preview of the Wii game Doctor Who: Return to Earth, hosted by Asylum Entertainment.

From writer Oli Smith and videogame developers Asylum Entertainment, Doctor Who: Return to Earth sees the Doctor and Amy stranded and separated aboard a seemingly deserted starship, the Lucy Grey. Players are tasked with reuniting the pair through a series of obstacles and mini games, navigating both characters in, out and around the Lucy Grey, while trying to avoid the fleet of robots that patrol the starship.

As you travel through each level, playing as the Doctor and Amy alternately, you collect different coloured crystals, which are used for specific functions. For example, red crystals allow you to put out fires, whereas green crystals will open doors. Players must choose carefully how many of each crystal to collect, as you can only store a limited number of crystals in your Sonic Screwdriver (or, if you’re playing as Amy, your ‘Sonic Device’).

Aside from being able to play as everybody’s favourite Time Lord, the Sonic Screwdriver/Device looks set to be a big part of the game’s attraction. BBC Worldwide has teamed up with Blue Ocean to create the Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver in Wii remote form. Aiming the tool at the screen, you can target floating orb-like objects to unlock doors, defeat enemies and perform other actions in your quest. Once you have completed a level, any remaining crystals become credits or ‘space dollars’ that you can use to unlock bonus content.


To continue through the levels, the Doctor and Amy must complete a number of mini games. A fuse box game sees you guiding an electrical node through a maze in order to repair the box faulty fuse. A space cannon game allows you to fire lasers at approaching asteroids before they hit the Lucy Grey.

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan lend their vocal talents to the Doctor and Amy and, with some gloriously witty dialogue plus the score from the BBC series, Return to Earth feels like an extended episode of the television show. Of course, it wouldn’t be a real Doctor Who adventure without some of the Doctor’s most fearsome foes, and fans will be pleased to hear that the game features two of the Time Lord’s greatest threats…

Doctor Who: Return to Earth is out for the Nintendo Wii on 19 November 2010. The Nintendo DS game Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth (which uses the same gameplay, though has a different storyline) is out on 12 November. The Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver Wii Remote and DS Stylus Twin Pack are available from 29 October.