Gamebook Adventures 1: An Assassin in Orlandes [rating: 4/5]
Many years ago, too many to mention to be honest, I used to play the Choose You Own Adventure books where on each page you would have a few options as to what your character should do and you move to the page for that option. It made the book interactive and also re-readable as there would be multiple paths and multiple endings.
Well in this day and electronic age times have changed but in An Assassin in Orlandes you have the chance to re-live the choose your own adventure style books in electronic form and for first and old gamers alike it’s a lot of fun.
In ‘An Assassin in Orlandes’ you find yourself on a mission to find the assassin of the Grand Duke of Orlandes family who are being systematically killed off. The reason you are trying to find the assassin is because after witnessing one of the murders the assassin kidnaps your ex-girlfriend in an effort to keep you quiet.
Just like the books I read all those years ago An Assassin in Orlandes is well written and the multiple side stories twist and turn as you hunt the assassin. Some of the paths are dead-ends but that’s kind of the point, if all the paths led to the same result it would be pretty boring, and because of this there is plenty of replay value that will make you want to read through the game multiple times.
Before I go any further I most warn readers that reading is what you will be doing in this game a lot, that’s not a bad thing but if you are looking for action in the physical form you may need to look for your next app elsewhere as this is all about reading the story and making decision on the clues that are left for you.
Because this is an iPhone app rather than a book some nice additions have been added to mix things up a bit. Your character has four measures that also impact your success, Offense and Defense control how well you succeed in battles while your Vitality and Fitness also contribute to your overall success. The measures are initially set by the rolling of virtual dice and the virtual dice are used again throughout the game in your numerous battles where both you and your enemy will duel things out in a Dungeons and Dragon’s style battle to the death.
The battles can be quite confusing and can go on for quite a while. Also the number of dice and the number of sides that they have are not always equal and it can be very difficult to succeed in those battles.
The re-playability is increased by the inclusion of 40 achievements that you will find through out the game and while the game play is text based the illustrations throughout the ‘book’ are strong and help you set the scene of the various environments that you find yourself in. The is a lot of back story and additional detail provided in the game too that while isn’t needed to complete the game does add to the overall feel of the story and so it’s well worth spending the time going through the maps and the history of Orlandes as provided in “Orlandes uncovered”.
A game like this doesn’t live or die based on it’s audio and that’s probably a good thing as the background music is very repetitive and I often found myself muting the audio instead. I also found the app crash a couple of times but not enough to spoil my overall enjoyment of the game.
Overall An Assassin in Orlandes is a great first attempt at this type of game and for anyone who has read these types of books before and for someone who is looking for a different type of game this would be a great place to start.
The Good
- Strong Story Line
- Nice Scene Setting
- Multiple Possible Endings
The Not So Good
- Repetitive audio
- A Few Crashes
Reviewed By: Craig Willis
Price: $4.99 (iTunes Store)
Updated Feb 16, 2010
Reviewed Version: 1.2
1.2 (iPhone OS 3.0 Tested)
Size: 40.1 MB
Languages: English
Seller: Tin Man Games Pty Ltd
© 2010 Tin Man Games Pty Ltd
Rated 12+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Simulated Gambling
Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch. Requires iPhone OS 2.2.1 or later.