Doctor Who Games: Why The Hate?

Given the frequency of Doctor Who-based articles on the blog, you'll have already worked out that I'm a massive fan of the show and its science-fiction universe. What you may not know if you do not fall into the same category is that two Doctor Who games are set to be released on the 19th of November- Evacuation Earth for Nintendo DS and Return To Earth. Predictably enough, the former sees the Doctor and Amy (as usual portrayed by Matt Smith and Karen Gillian) attempt to safely get the human race away from the planet Earth before solar storms make it uninhabitable, while the latter takes place (for humanity) hundreds of years later as the time travellers then attempt to return the humans of the future to their planet now it is safe to live on once more. Standard Who-plots, and yet both games have recieved pretty dismal reviews, with the DS game getting average 7/10s mostly while the Wii has been getting only 1s or 2s- but why? I am of the opinion that the series cannot be faithfully converted into a video game as the plots rely so much on the titular character's intelligence, wit and often far-fetched schemes to save the universe that adventures based around puzzles, plat-forming and stealth really don't fit in with the show's tone. Clearly, these two games are evidence towards my thoughts given their reception, but worse still the ratings (3+, 12+) seem to imply that BBC Games simply commisioned these titles to gain money for Christmas and not provide Who for gamers, a trait much worse than simply making a few mistakes in a year-long development. Whether the new Who games are as bad as the critics claim, I don't yet know, but expect my review of the DS' title (Evacuation Earth) next month!