Post by CharlesX on Feb 2, 2023 13:04:17 GMT
I didn't think the world of this gamebook series, and only about 3 were written, of which I played either 2 or 3, I can't seem to remember, so this will very much be merely a review. I don't have the books anymore, so what I'm writing is from memory rather than a good long social media blog.
Like the Knightmare gamebooks these books are mainly novels, with short gamebooks of around 150 paragraphs at the end, and they were also all written by Dave Morris. So, they have his hallmark British humour and high-quality writing, although I for one don't think he's always perfect (take Keep Of The Lich-Lord, which had quite a few good elements but was arguably not one of the best Fighting Fantasy). You play as one of the Heroquest characters, IIRC in the first Heroquest you can choose between Elf, Dwarf, Wizard and Barbarian, and in the other two you have no choice but only play Wizard in one and Barbarian in the other. You are allocated Mind and Body points and can choose spells your character can cast. I don't recall whether you can complete any of the gamebooks without facing combats and\or tests via dice rolls, but I say the challenge level was about right for the majority. The gameplay and writing were good but nothing special.
I would say these gamebooks were the top half of 'meh'. They were published in the early '90s when gamebooks and Knightmare were not just popular but fashionable, but they are definitely well-written, and like Knightmare bring back good memories of the product they're about. You could say Knightmare was a better version of the same gamebooks (they are perhaps similar, being aimed at a similar age group and with a similar writing style), but I don't think that's true or fair, and if I saw these for sale in a second-hand store or cheaply on Ebay I would say why not get it.
As a criticism, I did slightly feel with these gamebooks like they were too gamelike, because in spite of writing and gameplay system which was a world better than Legend Of Zagor (if definitely miles shorter), I felt sometimes the gamebook's universe was very much never properly developed, and that unlike the better Knightmare books or Endless Quest they never escaped the shadow of their own (Heroquest) origins. I wouldn't say these were novelties, and absolutely not one-star work, but not something I'll deeply remember either.