Interviews

Talking DS Doctor Who Top Trumps with Eidos

It's going to be a two pack extravaganza

Talking DS Doctor Who Top Trumps with Eidos
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DS
| Top Trumps: Doctor Who

What with the new series of Doctor Who taking over our Saturdays evenings, the long-promised release of Doctor Who Top Trumps would now seem to be a well planned marketing scheme on publisher Eidos' behalf.

Keen to find out more about a game that's not yet been blessed with an official press release, we got onto Eidos' hardworking assistant producer, George Wright (who you might remembered from last week's Gauntlet interview) to get the lowdown.

Pocket Gamer: There have been a number of Doctor Who Top Trumps card packs, so which are you basing the DS game on?

George Wright: We used the two packs from the modern series of Doctor Who where David Tennant portrays The Time Lord.

What are the character attributes?

They're height, intelligence, monster rating, darkness and courage, which are the same categories found on the cards.

Can you provide a list of major characters?

All of the favourites are there. Using two packs as a source has resulted in a comprehensive list. Martha Jones, the Daleks, the Cybermen, TARDIS and, of course, the Doctor are just a few of them.

How much opportunity did you have to tweak the values (we've noticed differences between the mobile version and the card version of Doctor Who for example)?

We've made some minor 'upgrades' to some values. The reason was to balance the game because we are drawing from two card packs.

What modes will be available?

There's an adventure mode for unlocking cards and characters and a Quick Play option for a fast way to satisfy your Top Trumps addiction. Ability Cards and character Special Abilities are available to enhance the gameplay but can be disabled if you want to go back to basics. In addition, we have three mini-games which will test your knowledge of the deck and your observation skills.

Will you include a wireless multiplayer mode?

We do have a wireless multiplayer mode, which we're very excited about. It is single card download play so only one game card is required. We've had many challenges in the office.

How much of an issue is the artificial intelligence because playing Ubisoft's Top Trumps Horror & Predators, we found it could be pretty flaky?

We spent a long time trying to get the AI right in Top Trumps Doctor Who. The earlier matches in Adventure Mode will be relatively easy for the player, however in the last few levels the AI is challenging even for us Time Lord Veterans.

Will there be any extras?

We have a Data Core included in the game where unlocked card statistics and descriptions are presented for the player.

Finally, what do you think is the most impressive thing about Doctor Who Top Trumps?

It is the successful marriage of two popular brands. Fans of either the Doctor Who show or Top Trumps will be pleased with this game. Top Trumps has been an enormously successful game and our design tweaks have added an extra gameplay layer to that experience.

Thanks to George (again) for his time. Maybe he can get some proper work done now. Doctor Who Top Trumps is due to be released on May 16th.
Jon Jordan
Jon Jordan
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon can turn his hand to anything except hand turning. He is editor-at-large at PG.biz which means he can arrive anywhere in the world, acting like a slightly confused uncle looking for the way out. He likes letters, cameras, imaginary numbers and legumes.