Gamebook Adventures 1: An Assassin in Orlandes = WIN!

I didn’t really mean to, but I spent a couple of hours playing An Assassin in Orlandes last night. When I say I didn’t mean to, I just meant to fire up the game and have a quick look; perhaps just make a quick character and see how it works. But then I read the first couple of pages and was presented with a decision. Clearly I couldn’t just stop there! A decision had to be made!

And from there I was weaving to the right, dodging to the left, running through alleyways, lurking in catacombs and catching my death. Twice.

The sad reality is, I’m no adventurer.

But the game is brilliant! I mean it really is a lot of fun. Like I said before, I was a huge fan of the Choose Your Own Adventures books from way back and loved working my way through them. Game Adventures has all those same elements of fun, except you don’t get to peek ahead to see if you made the wrong decision; you really do have to make a decision and hope it works out.

The story is quite entertaining, the graphics are well done, and the presentation on the iPad is excellent. I really had a great time playing and even though I went hurling into the hereafter and had to start over, the story was uniquely different both times. I ended up in a completely different place, with totally different information. There are lots of possibilities and clearly playing through just once isn’t going to give you the full experience.

If you’ve been waiting for this style of adventure game to come to the iPad, now is the time to act. You can still pick up the first book for $0.99 and see how you like it. I really think you’re going to like it!