My Gamebook collection ever expands, and while I still mostly pursue the fantasy RPG style of book, I’ve recently acquired a few unusual ones based on licenses. Here’s a few reviews…
Dinobot War was written by Dave Morris (author of countless other gamebooks) and released back in ’85. It’s for kids obviously; short, linear, predictable and with terrible art. It’s also nonsensical with the ‘plot’ involving Dinobots, time travel and Disneyland probably having taken at least half a lunch break to devise. Arguably not worth the $1 I paid, although the Achilleos cover is nice.
Another book based on a cartoon series and also released in 1985 Snowmen Of Hook Mountain is even simpler and easier than the Dinobot book. I beat it (by retrieving the ‘Thundrillium’) after only two selections, and my playthrough didn’t even include Hook Mountain or any Snowmen! This one cost me a few dollars – $5 maybe? – but probably isn’t worth that.
R.L. Stine is famous for his Goosebumps series of kids books but early in his career was a prodigious author of gamebooks. This is yet another one based on a cartoon and is one of many GI Joe books. Operation: Mindbender (1986) tells a story of a brainwashing plot by a Cobra lackey who wants to usurp Cobra Commander. I don’t know if he succeeds or not since in my playthrough I failed. The writing is leagues better than the previous books and I imagine this one would be fun for a young fan of GI Joe.
There were several Indiana Jones books released and this one, Eye Of The Fates is the oldest book I review here from 1984. In the story you assume the role of a child who (of course) helps Indy find a mystical artifact. My playthrough ended anticlimactically – with a conclusion that suggested the mystical eye didn’t even exist – so I can’t explain that bonkers illustration. It’s fast paced and reasonably well written, but ultimately forgettable.
This book was an incredible find at a thrift store in Scotland. It’s one in a series of He-Man books from 1985 but unusually this was the only one that is a gamebook, the others being normal novels. Furthermore it’s got a simple system of dice-rolling (compared to the choose-your-own-adventure systems of the others books I describe here) and is hardcover and full colour. The story is crazy and it’s (possibly) impossible to fail to win by actually killing Skeletor! A fun little book and a lucky find.
This is one of only two James Bond books and is one of those weird licensing oddities since it’s based on A View To A Kill and not the entire Bond series. The story is based around a portion of the film (the horse-doping) and is short and frankly boring. But the art is spectacular and if nothing else the book gives us a little more information about Grace Jones’s May Day character. Given that these books are a little pricey now, this is strictly for collectors only.
And that’s it for now. But I own several other licensed gamebooks and if you’re interested could do another post like this. Let me know.
