Dr Who video game

There is no doubting that The Doctor is well and truly back on our TVs, with David Tennant truly taking the character to levels that we haven't seen since, well William Hartnell. Just as Sean Connery will always be the Bond, so it is with Hartnell as Who, but Tennant has done for The Doctor what Daniel Craig has done for 007, made it more watchable. And with Steven Moffat taking over as producer we can be sure that the series will start appealing more to adults, especially if the recent two-part library story is anything to go by. In the meantime it remains a firm favourite among children and teenagers. As such this first Doctor Who video game is aimed at that core audience. It even has a 3+ PEGI rating.

Based around the popular Top Trumps card games, Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest adds new layers and levels to what could otherwise just as easily be played with the far cheaper cards. You can play as The Doctor, Captain Jack or Martha, or even as one of the many Whoniverse's monsters, if you have a leaning to the dark side. You can play against the computer, which, thanks to some decent programming, doesn't feel like it's cheating and making it impossible to win, like other puzzle games. There is nothing more frustrating than almost winning a game and having the computer pull an impossible move that trumps you. The game also has a two player mode so you can play with another human, which is always a good thing.

The game isn't particularly challenging but, like many puzzle games, it can become quite addictive. I gave the Windows version to my 13 year old daughter to play, who is also a big Who fan, and she loved it. The install wasn't completely straightforward, but I suspect that is more to do with Windows than the game, but being a Mac user myself I am used to simple, straightforward installs that don't ask for system updates before anything will work. The game is also available for PS2 and Nintendo DS, which will be much more straightforward in getting started. It seems ideally suited to the DS platform, as it is the sort of game you could happily play to wile away commuting time, but wouldn't bother with on another platform when there are more challenging games and monsters to kill.

TOP TRUMPS: DOCTOR WHO – INFINITE QUEST is out now from Eidos for Windows, PS2 and DS and is available from major retailers including Amazon and Play.