Doctor Who: Legacy Review

It is very rare (read basically never happens) that my wife and I like the same game. I am all about role playing, strategic, action RPG, simulation type games. She likes hidden object and match 3 games. What we both like though, is the Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant Doctors. If you don't know what those are, you must be under a rock since they are part of the BBC's long-running Science Fiction show, Doctor Who. And a couple of weeks ago, Tiny Rebel Games released a licensed Doctor Who game called Doctor Who: Legacy (DW:L).

DW:L is a free to play match 3 game where you assemble a team consisting of the Doctor and up to five companions to try to defeat levels that the game calls episodes. These episodes are based on some of the actual episodes from the TV show, starting with Season 7.

To play the game, you match 3 or more gems of different colors. To match gems you just touch and drag the gem where you like it to be. No swapping with just the gem next to it, you can move it anywhere on the board. How you move it to where you want it will impact how the gems displaced move. Depending on the color you matched, one of your companions (or the Doctor) will attack the enemies shown at the top of the screen. The amount of damage done is dependent on the attack value of the character (more on that later). Combos (matching several gem groups of 3 or more) amplify the attack or healing effect of the matched gems. When each of the enemies health bar gets to zero, you move to the next wave (or win the episode). Each enemy you defeat has a chance to drop a time fragment or unlock a new companion or alternate art for your characters. (When you select the episode you want to play, it tells you what rewards are possible). You may even get a time crystal which can be spent in the game's store to unlock new companions.

Each of the characters in the game are from the TV show. Some are generic like the UNIT Commander, while others are well-known from the show like Rory and Amy Pond. Each character gains experience when you successfully complete episodes. That experience can be used to level up the character and allow you to raise their health, attack or heal values (all used during episodes to keep the team alive or defeat enemies). Each character also has a special ability that can be used after a specific number of turns or matches of gems. For instance, Rory's ability is Brace, which can heal allies for a certain amount of health. You start the game with the Matt Smith Doctor and Madame Vastra as your companion, but soon you will have a whole slew of characters to choose from.

Companion characters max out their level at 10. Then to progress them further, you use the time fragments you unlocked to raise their rank (unlocking the next 10 levels for them to gain). Even the Doctor's rank can be raised with the right combination of time fragments. Raising the rank also makes each character's special ability more powerful. This is essential as each episode of the game gets progressively harder and you need a maxed out team to defeat some of the hardest.

Earlier I mentioned that this is a free-to-play game. Unlike other free-to-play games, there are no timers. You can play as long as you like. The currency in the game (time crystals) seems to only be usable to unlock new companions at the moment, which is not necessary as new companions can drop from episodes. Note that some companions drop automatically on a given episode (like Porridge) while others seem to never drop no matter how many times you play the Angels Take Manhattan episode (River Song). Maybe I am just unlucky.

For those who aren't patient, you can purchase time crystals and use them to get companions (randomly) or through the Women of Doctor Who pack that contains Amy Pond, River Song, Clara Oswald and Nefertiti. I can imagine that eventually new "seasons" of episodes may also be available from the store by spending time crystals. Purchasing a pack of time crystals also opens up a fan area in the game that has more goodies to play with. So far, nothing feels like you need to spend to win. My wife did by some time crystals just to support the developers.

The developers for the game, Tiny Rebel Games, have done a great job with it and are actively with their player base. For the month of December, they are doing an advent calendar promotion by providing codes to unlock companions, time fragments or new outfits for characters and opening up special (very very difficult) bonus levels to play through when you have completed most of the other content in the game. All of which is free from their website. I particularly liked my new K-9 companion.

DW:L is a fun, easy to pick up but full of depth match-3 game. No timers and little need to spend to win. It is available on Android and iOS. If you are a fan of match-3 games or Doctor Who, go check it out. DW:L gets 5 Mick Happies. Allon-sy.