Parents' Guide to Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins

Although fans of the long-running BBC show are a likely audience, players who've never seen an episode can also try to piece together the app's unfolding mystery. While creatures that were featured on the show end up being a central plot point in Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins, and the doctor is mentioned and briefly shown, the TV show really isn't an overwhelming focus. Osgood, a character who contacts you for help searching the phone, provides direction throughout the experience. You can choose from a few pre-determined responses when chatting with her, which may potentially shift the storyline somewhat. Different types of media are featured, ranging from still photos to voice messages left by the phone owner's friends and incoming video calls. All of that helps offer a more robust experience than just reading emails and texts.

While the overall mystery is interesting, the actual tasks can start to feel a bit routine. For much of the early experience, you're essentially chatting with Osgood, then searching through content on the phone, swiping repeatedly over items that are flagged as clues to copy them, and promptly sharing them with Osgood. A couple exercises involve multiple steps, but there aren't many actual puzzles to complete, and a number of tasks just involve fairly simple actions. The malevolent Weeping Angels' habit of freezing everything on the page can make some items a little frustrating to complete -- such as trying to delete corrupted items from the phone which requires you to swipe repeatedly on the screen. The clue-hunting isn't very challenging, and the story isn't particularly long, possibly completed in a day or two. That said, there's some fun to be had in Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins. If parents are OK with the $2.99 cost, and kids don't mind the fact certain tasks will be somewhat similar, they may enjoy checking out the interactive elements and overall mystery.