Usborne Puzzle Adventures

[CharlesX]

This thread is both to discuss memories of Usborne Puzzle Adventures, which are barely more gamebook-esque than a puzzle magazine, but extremely cool, and also to let y'all know how I'm finding my nostalgia binge of the three-gamebook Usborne Advanced Puzzle Adventures, which I had a taster of last weekend and will get back to when I go on holiday in 3 weeks or so.
   So, the puzzles in UAPA can be pretty difficult so far, although I haven't played half of one of the gamebooks. The amazing artwork and lively humour is just as I remember it, although it doesn't feel the same as when I was a young person, like playing an 8-bit computer game or watching a cartoon I would have enjoyed as a young person. So far I'm preferring the standard difficulty level, although whether that's because Usborne is better at that level, the advanced one isn't for me, or I haven't read enough, I don't know. One thing which does resonate is how amazing and unmissable this series is. As another poster here, I think Kieran, said there may have only been 30 books in the original series, however, they are all classics, and this deserves to be remembered like The Berenstain Bears or Professor Branestawm or Eagle.

[kieran]

Jun 11, 2022 19:04:55 GMT CharlesX said:

the advanced one isn't for me

I have vague memories of trying one of the advanced ones once and staring dumbfoundedly at every single page.

and this deserves to be remembered like The Berenstain Bears

Or as I remember them, 'The Berenstein Bears'.

[sylas]

I find the advanced ones to be more time-consuming featuring a lot of codes and broken bits of clues. I recall many of them being so vague and confusing that even looking the answers you simply do not accept them as answers. Most can be quite fun and clever though but it's an uneasy balance in difficulty.

[CharlesX]

Now my holiday has started on have finished one of these Usborne Advanced Puzzle Adventures (Codename Quicksilver) and started another (Cobra Consignment).
   They are heavily hard, if they are aimed at pre-fourteens they must before-fourteen geniuses. So I didn't find Codename Quicksilver fun, I guess it I were a lively teen as into the series as I was then I might have found the puzzles more stimulating, but the fact most of them were code-based definitely didn't appeal. There's no denying the high quality of writing and artwork but  I wonder whether the main series was the best, rather than either the more advanced or the series for younger readers.
   Cobra Consignment seems slightly less outrageously difficult then Codename Quicksilver, and I'm wondering if I'm giving these things a fair shot, since although I like puzzles I don't go for tougher ones such as higher-grade Sudoku.

[kieran]

I always found the ones that relied too much on translating codes pretty tedious.