I had the pleasure of keeping a Doctor Who in my home for a few months in order to repair the Time Expander and some other issues that the game had. I really, really enjoyed my time with it, though I will say that this is also the most infuriating pinball game I've ever played! It can be absolutely merciless at times, but when you get a great game you feel like the coolest person in the world, and that's what keeps you coming back.
The Time Expander is probably the greatest toy in pinball, I can't think of anything else that affects gameplay as much and looks as cool as it does. I suppose the sky scraper in Godzilla Premium comes close, but even that doesn't have quite as much going on. The way the Time Expander makes its area of the playfield go from lock shots, to bash targets, to scoops adds so much variety. Besides that though the rest of the playfield is pretty good. There are some awkward spots, like the massive wall of REPAIR targets, and the randomness of the video mode start shot as the ball often exits the bumpers the wrong way, but overall the game is fun to shoot IF you can make your shots. A WHO combo is always fun to hit, but it's also very hard to get. Loops are also lots of fun too of course.
The rules are really special considering when this game came out. The different Doctors enhancing different areas of the playfield adds a layer of strategy not often seen in other games of its era. Personally I really enjoy setting the game so that Doctors aren't automatically spotted each ball. This makes it so you really have to work hard to earn all seven Doctors and makes a couple of them more valuable. Besides the Doctor system though the actual game objectives offer a lot of variety. Multiball, loops, video mode, WHO combos... There's a lot of stuff to work at and it all offers lots of opportunities to experiment with different strategies.
Lasty, the presentation had a lot of effort put into it and it shows. Voice talent from the show, an original plot that feels just like a real Doctor Who episode, detailed DMD animations, and the Dalek topper, which looks really cool even without the rotating head thanks to lights synchronized with speech. The music and sound is solid, with some really cool sound effects and a faithful, albeit somewhat repetitive, cover of the Doctor Who theme song. I've seen some complain about the artwork, and while it's certainly not perfect, I really like it. To me composition is the most important part of an art package and I think it's great on this game, especially the translite which sets the exciting tone of the game well.
Bristol
Southington, CT
Sydney
Dordrecht
