Item - Search for the Doctor

This really should have been a lot better. It's written by David Martin, who helped to create such memorable Doctor Who episodes as The Three Doctors and The Armageddon Factor, and it features a plot more complex than what is normally found in a gamebook. Unfortunately, it falls apart in all important areas. As a gamebook, it fails due to its uncomfortable past-tense style, its overlong sections and its pointless gameplay, which leads the reader by the hand, periodically inserting senseless (and largely irrelevant) puzzles and dice rolls for no apparent reason. As a Doctor Who story, it fails due to its surprisingly weak characterization, its excessive (almost fanfic-like) use of familiar elements from past episodes and its breaking with continuity. Fans could perhaps theorize that Omega's characterization here suggests that Mr. Martin was less than pleased with (or simply chose to ignore) the character's appearance in the episode Arc of Infinity.... Engaging in such speculation may in fact be more interesting than reading this book, which is a shame.

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