Freeway Fighter

Background -

Ian's friends have arrived at his house.  Repeated knocks at the door go unanswered.  Concern grows as they have not heard from Ian in quite some time.  They try the door and its unlocked.  Warily they make their way through the house.  Its a mess!  Scrunched up paper lies everywhere, discarded ideas flood the property.  Strange noises are heard from upstairs but before they can investigate they hear a groan as Ian stirs from the typewriter.  

Friend "Ian, come on!  This has gone too far!  Look at the state of you!"

Ian groans "Must....finish...manuscript..."

Friend "Good god man you have published 6 books, you need a break"

Ian "Puffin....must keep going."

Friend "Look one night off is not going to make any difference.  We are going to the cinema.  You should come with us."

Ian "Maybe, I guess you are right.  What are you going to see?"

Friend "That's the spirt Ian!  Its the new Mad Max Film!"

Fast forward to the next morning and Ian is on the phone to Puffin.

Ian "I am telling you Phillipa its a big money idea.  Mad Max plus gamebooks, we have to get that license!"

Phillipa "And I am telling you Ian there is no way we are going to pay for a film license, they charge silly money!"

Ian "But it will be worth it!"

Phillipa "No it wont!  Look Ian we just cant.  But that does not mean you cant do something similar."

Ian "What do you mean?"

Phillipa "Well make some tweaks so its similar but just different enough so we don't get sued."

Ian "Oh ok I get it, like call it Crazy Chris?"

Phillipa "Yes but something better."

Ian "Psychotic Phil, Delirious Dave, Foolish Fred."

Phillipa "Just send me the manuscript when its ready and ill sort that out."

Fast forward a few weeks and the manuscript arrives at Puffin.  Phillipa looks at the title of Ludicrous Larry and scores it out.  Replacing it with Freeway Fighter.

So it might not quite have gone down like this but it is clear that Freeway Fighter is a Mad Max clone.  To be fair the story is similar to the second Mad Max 2 the Road Warrior which came out in 1982.  But Freeway Fighter came out in 1985, same year as Beyond the Thunderdome.  I do not think this is a coincidence!    

Covers - 

Now bearing in mind that its 1985 I do like the font.  It looks a bit more futuristic.   The car also looks pretty bad ass.  Alas its not my car.  Although I question the drivers visibility.  And why does everyone in dystopian futures wear black leather?  Is it easier to acquire? 

As this was an Ian Livingston original Wizard books republished it as part of their line.  Car looks interesting but I am not convinced.  I do like the strange sky colours behind it though.  But wait just a minute....

Look Familiar?

Yep its just a touched up version of a 1984 ZX Spectrum game also released by Games Workshop.  A bit disappointed that they never came up with something more original.

Now we are talking!

 

Now rather disappointingly the US Cover is probably the best overall.  It looks like your Dodge Interceptor.  And of course in typical Fighting Fantasy fashion the entire world is out to get you.  Including a helicopter!  But yeah, probably my favorite of the three.

Premise - 

Instead of the background we get the futuristic Vid News Bulletin 21 July 2022.  Well I am typing this exactly one month later on the 21st of August 2022.  Gutted I've missed it by a month or I would have played it on the same date!  So it was 37 years into the future so lets see how close to Nostradamus Ian actually was.

World war three has just been avoided and the power blocs of east and west are working towards peace and harmony.  

Well not so close there as Vladimir Putin seems intent on bringing back the Soviet Union and we are months into a terrible war in the Ukraine.  Hopefully Ian just jumped the gun and once this is over his prediction comes true.

Revolutionary farming techniques have all but eradicated world hunger.  

Alas not even close.  Farming has improved but not by enough to solve world hunger.  Maybe if we stopped fighting each other for more than five minutes we would have got closer.

Increased mobility has led to peoples greater understanding of each other.

Will give Ian this one, might not be mobility but the Internet has definitely helped understanding (and hate) and random blogs about 80s gamebooks.

Solar Energy now powered 90% of homes and 70% of industry.

Nope we are still massively reliant on fossil fuels and nuclear.  Although the change to renewables is happening now, but will probably be another 37 years to get that kind of numbers.  And it might be too late by then.

The three day working week was now the norm.

Be still my beating heart!  Oh Ian how I wish you were right about this one.  Forget world peace and ending huger, this is the one.   But no, still slogging through five days a week.  Imagine how much more entries I could do with only a three day week!

England v USA in the World cup final in Australia.  

Ian could not have possibly known about the sheer corruption of FIFA which would lead to the world cup being in winter in Qatar this year.  As for the teams, well normally I would insert a joke about England being terrible but thy have come dangerously close the last few years and I don't want to jinx it.  

But in our book here a disease breaks out in New York and within four days 85% of the worlds population is dead.  There is not enough people left alive to work out what caused it.  Well after the world going through Covid in the last two years this one is dangerously close.  I like how Ian does not give a reason as if he had said someone ate a bat we would have lambasted such a ridiculous premise.  

Fast forward 6 months after the looting and killing for cans of beans and the world has separated into two types.  One type have had to create new towns and cities (the previous ones being inhabitable due to lack of food and disease) and the other type full of the bad guys who live in the wild as the new barbarians.  

I happen to fall into the first type and living in a nice place called New Hope, working on some kind of early warning system.  However the town elders have struck a deal with another community that have set up in an oil refinery.  They have got loads of fuel but not enough grain.  Guess what, we have grain but not enough fuel so I am to take a sack of grain down to San Angelo and then drive a tanker with 10,000 litres of petrol back home.  

Apparently I do not need convincing as I can see the benefit.  For once I would like the option to say no and the book turns you to another page which just says you live for another 20 years quite happily.  

But when they tell me about my sweet ride how can anyone resist.  It will be a Dodge Interceptor with machine guns, radio, roof mounted rocket launcher, ram bars, loudspeaker, oil spray, tyre shredding spikes, armour plating and bullet proof windows!  Even James Bond does not get all this.  Well maybe he does.  

Over the next two days I supervise the car setup.  When ready I check all the equipment.  Map (No GPS in this world), flashlight, med kits, compass, food, water, fuel canister, spare wheels, and a fancy puncture repair kit.  That is a lot of kit.  

Finally looking out the tiny slit of a screen I roll out of town with everyone waving me goodbye.  Its been over a year since I have been outside the town.  Quick question, with all that kit in the car where is the grain?  Its not even mentioned!  Did I even remember to take it?  

Playthrough - 

OK we have quite a few new rules to check in with.  Instead of the usual add 12 to your roll for stamina its add 24 which is quite the total!  The car gets it own stats.  Firepower which is how good the guns are (Car Skill) and Armour (Car stamina).  I am told the machine guns have unlimited bullets which means I must have a huge amount of ammunition in the car.  No wonder I had no room for the grain.

You get four rockets, three cans of spikes and two rear mounted oil sprays.  The book will guide you when they can be used but the rockets you can use to auto win a vehicle combat.  

Hand to Hand fighting works the same as normal but you only lose 1 stamina point per hit.  Interestingly first to lose 6 stamina points is knocked unconscious and the combat ends.  

Shooting is the same as normal combat but damage is 1d6.  Disappointed in this as I really liked the shooting mechanism in Space Assassin where each person did a skill test rather than here where its attack strength v attack strength.  

Vehicle Combat works exactly the same as shooting but instead you use the cars stats rather than your own.

Looks like you get ten medi kits which each restore the normal four points of stamina.  And you start with 200 credits which is current money.  

The adventure sheet I think is meant to look like a car - 

The Dodge Looks more like a tank

You also get a place to name your character and the person who owned my book took full advantage of.

Speed Flyer!

So yeah ill go with that name!

Skill - 10

Stamina - 31

Luck - 11

Firepower - 7

Armour - 34

Well I think I need to speak to the team that set up the car.  Firepower 7?  What kind of guns are we using.  I resolve to shoot everything with the missiles instead.  

Also there is place for fuel.  Now the book does not mention fuel much in the build up but from reading other blogs in the past I know it is a very precious resource and the end of many playthroughs.

The Dodge in all its erm glory

I hit the open road and marvel at how much the world has fallen into decay already.  I stop at a town 15km away and my character decides getting out would be a mistake.  I mean yeah its not been far!  But I hear a shotgun go off and get the option to investigate.  Haha no chance, off I drive.

I drive on down the road avoiding all the obstacles and arrive at a garage.  

 

So I can talk to her or drive on.

Now Ian is clearly targeting the young males who would read this book.  But she looks a lot more, erm, haunted in the picture than I believe he was picturing in his head.  Also its a garage just outside New Hope, the place that is desperate for petrol.  Clearly a trap.  I say no thank you mam and wheelspin out of there. 

I manage to reach 190kph and feel the freedom of not being bound by any rules.  Careful there that's new barbarian thinking!  Then the red Chevrolet from cover rolls into view and I start to think that having the police around would be a good thing.

Lets take a minute to take in the sweeping vista of the lone tree outline.

Its Firepower is 8 so its already better than my car so I press the missile button and wipe it out.  Everything really kicks off then as I get a message over the radio from New Hope.  Its been attacked and 8 people have been killed.  But the main part of the story is that the Mayor Sinclair has been kidnaped!  

I of course assume its Sir Clive Sinclair, this is 80s Britain after all.  Pictured in his C5 car, appropriate for a gamebook about cars!

But its now I realise I am running out of petrol and use my spare canister to fuel the car.  That is not a good sign.  The Highway is blocked and I now have the famous T-Junction!  No indication or clue but its east or west.  

I head west and the bridge is out but we go for the old drive fast enough and land on the other side.  I have to make two skill rolls to avoid a horrible crash but make them and get rewarded with.... another T-Junction.  This time west or south.  I decide to keep going west.

I find a lone biker flagging me down.  At this point I am worried about two things.  1, I need to find petrol so ill have to do something.   And 2, this blog is going to be very boring.  Well I am repaid for this by having a grenade lobbed at the car.  I pass a luck test and only lose 2 stamina points and now end up in a fire fight with two bikers.

Now if you get hit even once you lose a skill point which is brutal.  Lucky they don't hit me at all.  But it was a long, long battle.  I had a skill advantage of five over the second guy but my I kept rolling terribly for damage and they have a lot of stamina!

And of course I get nothing for this at all and continue on.  I arrive at another blockade where I am forced south but first I can look at the cars.  Hopefully there is some petrol here so ill have a look.  And in good news it does indeed result in finding a full can of petrol.   

I head south and once more get the dreaded T-Junction and its south or east.  I decide to keep heading south for just now.  And already I have to use my precious fuel canister and I am back to being on the look out.

Its night time and I get a few options, I decide to pull off the road and sleep in the interceptor.  This appears to be a good decision as I get two stamina points back.  Alas as I travel south it turns out the road is mined and I hit one which takes a chunk of the interceptors armour off.  Luckily though the engine is not damaged and I am able to start it before any of the outlaws turn up.

The terrain starts to become more desert like and I get the option to keep going or turn east.  I think going south is triggering petrol checks so I gamble and go east, only to be told in fact you turn left toward San Angelo anyway in the next paragraph.  

I come to a railway bridge and a nutter drops a pillar from it which my amazing driving skill helps me avoid.  I decide to go after the attacker as he needs taught a lesson.

He looks less wild and crazed and more like a race car driver.

He buggers off on a motor bike so I decide to have a look around his caravan.  In revenge I eat his corned beef and take a grenade.  Again I arrive at a dreaded junction so instead of going south I decide to head west to find some fuel.  And yet again in the next paragraph I get told I turn towards San Angelo anyway.  Starting to feel a bit railroaded here.

I find another interceptor.  Id like to think this was another person playing Freeway Fighter but did not do as well.

I take the wheel as another spare meaning I have 3 now.  No idea where these are stored as my car has only 1 and its a space saver!  I look inside and get bit by a rattlesnake.  Luckily I have plenty med kits but it does cost me a skill point which is a disaster.  I am told I gleefully shoot the snake in revenge and my reward?  Some plastic tubing.

As I trundle onwards I am accosted by a bike and side car with machine gun.  I am told that they are wearing a cap and flying goggles like old pilots with scarves over their mouths.

Yeah that's exactly what he is wearing.

I decide instead of a straight fight to dive into my box of tricks and deploy a canister of spikes.  These fools go straight over them and puncture two tires and go off into the sand and I easily leave them behind.  

And then it happens, I get another fuel check and I do not have any.  The Interceptor judders to a halt and I am forced to walk back to New Hope (or San Angelo if its closer) on foot.  Well at least I didn't die!

Notable Encounters - 

One of the more interesting locations is the farmhouse - 

Erm..honestly its notable!

The blandest of bland illustrations does not do justice to the biker gangs base which have an alarming amount of bazookas.  No problem though as we have rocket launchers in the car.  Just blow up the outhouse and its fine to roam around.  Its got an old shop and of course booby traps but most importantly this is where we find Sinclair!  Who just says thanks for rescuing him, asks you to radio home to tell them he is on his way and then jumps on a Harley and buggers off.

Probably the best encounter before the end sequence is the Blitz race.

Its more exciting than it looks!

The reward is a vital can of petrol but god knows how much you actually use up trying to win the race in the first place!  Anyway you race against a yellow ford and its actually quite a long sequence where you have to make decisions such as when to brake, accelerate, ram, use weapons or veer to block him getting past you.  Its well done and feels very frantic.  Just remember which gang you tell Chuck Norris you belong to as he will test you on it later!

This guy thinks he is a roman.

The dude is riding around as a centurion on a chariot.  Its very random but at least it is a little bit different.  However not that we would know he is riding a chariot as we do not get to see it!  Or his fancy gun!

Ignoring the background, this is pretty cool!

Its a battle with a helicopter!  It is quite disappointing though that its just a standard battle.  I feel this could have been an epic film style battle.  But  guess its a shame you only have 400 paragraphs to work with.....oh wait.

This is not that notable but I wanted to include Leonardi's amazing illustration.

It is quite a boring race and feels tacked on after the thrill of the blitz race.  It is a bit different though where you just roll dice and first one to get to 24 wins.  Again though, massive waste of petrol!

Things pick up in the final part of the book.  In true Mungo fashion we get a companion - 

Amber lasts longer than Mungo but is equally useless..kind of

She takes you to the Doom Dogs camp, and its quite a good segment.  Amber of course almost blows it by knocking over a stone potentially giving you away.  But the whole camp location is enjoyable and feels like a climatic finale.  Except its not the end.

That of course will surely be the epic battle at San Angelo between the residents and the remaining Doom Dogs!

Frantic fast paced action!

Its not actually that exciting.  The big battle in Lizard King was much more exciting.  Its a poor version of that.

Oh and thats also not then end, we have to drive the tanker back to New Hope.  Now that is anti climatic!

Artwork - 

Oh boy.  Right let me start with the disclaimer.  The original art for Freeway Fighter was rejected.  So our artist Kevin Bulmer had nine days (Yes NINE!) to do all the artwork as a favor to Ian Livingston.  So taking that into account its a pretty amazing job.  And its not all bad.

I mean this is a great Chuck Norris!

I also like the helicopter! But we have to be honest, it shows that it was only nine days.  As most of it is terrible.  I mean just look at things like the farmhouse!

Amber is actually a human and not a strange robot.

The bosses car does not even all fit in the page.  Amazing night scene as well.

Do I even need to keep typing?

Please make it stop!

It makes you think how bad was the original artwork that it got binned in favor of this!?

Now tell me, what are looking at here?

If you said A blockade made out of tree logs with a laser gun then I can tell you have already played Freeway Fighter.

I have to give particular love for the detailed backgrounds - 

Now it would be ok if this was just a little doodle in the background.  But in all of these this was the complete sum total of the background!  Lesson learned, nine days is not enough time for a job this big.

The Big Bad - 

Again not a real big bad here but I am going to go with the leader of the Doom Dogs!  The Animal!  

A big buff bad dude!

He is a tough skill 11 fight.  With studded gloves so he takes off two stamina!  Hope you have brass knucks to match it!  But what I like about this fight is you do not have to end up in a fist fight with him.  Instead you can end up in a firefight with his goons.  Once you defeat them he comes out and grabs you.  And Amber clocks him over the head with a wrench or something.  So maybe she was not as bad as Mungo!  As for his motivations, he is just a bad guy.

Menagerie - 

This might be the shortest menagerie section ever!  Its just a lot of highwaymen, bikers and gang bangers!  Sometimes you come across a Wild Dog or some Wolves.  Its much more vehicle orientated but even then there is not a lot of variety.  Lets give a shout out to this guy though - 

Look at the intensity of his eyes!

Its not even a combat haha!  He just throws rats at you and runs away!  However it does lead to an entertaining death!

Entertaining Deaths - 

So not sure if you are aware but you might run out of fuel.

You can also fail by giving they keys to the interceptor to various guys, such as -

Giving the keys away when mugged at Joes garage.

Giving the keys to a man at a booby trapped ambulance.

Giving the keys to bikers at a road block.

Basically do not give the keys away.

Getting shot by a laser gun (in this world) pointing out of a log blockade.

Everyone in San Angelo just giving up when you get attacked.

Driving into sand dunes.

But my favorite is of course after the aforementioned rat man.  If you get bit by a rat you find out just before you make it back to New Hope with the tanker that you have the plague.  In a great act of self sacrifice you leave the tanker with a note explaining what happened and flee into the wilderness.  This ending gets you a statue!  And actually is better than the "good" ending!

Pete's Corner - 

With 2022 Petrol Prices this was very realistic!

 
Final Thoughts - 

Well from my playthrough this was not the most fun.  Rolling up stats for the interceptor was cool and having all the cool toys for the car made for an exciting start.  

But a lot of it is as dry as the desert you are in.  It is so repetitive both with enemies and encounters which shows how limiting the theme can actually be.   Maybe they could have done something a bit more fantastical with the dystopian setting with mutants and monsters.

The blandness is shown in the art.  We have talked about the issues with it and how it came to be but unfortunately it really does bring the whole book down.  A lot of it does not even match the descriptions in the text.  Its Starship Traveler bad and I do not say that lightly.

The book does pick up after you meet Amber, its a shame as I feel she could have been used more but it feels like she is bolted on.  But the run from the Doom Dogs camp to the end is much better and they have much longer and descriptive paragraphs.  If the rest of the book had been like this it would have been much better!

Disappointingly it is only 380 paragraphs in length which is poor.  I could understand if there was a lot longer descriptions and detail in the encounters but this is not the case for the majority of the book.  

The ending while not as bad as Space Assassin is pretty terrible.  It is a couple of lines saying the petrol really helped out and if you rescued Sinclair even better.  Sinclair was a missed opportunity.  How he ended up ahead of you makes no sense and he could have helped more when you found him.  Or it could have had a lot more details finding him.  Anyway it could have been fleshed out a lot more and even used as a companion for a bit.

The world of course makes no sense!  Its absolutely riddled with people just waiting around with traps for any travelers that happen to be going by.  But who is travelling around to sustain all these people?  All of them would be long dead from starvation.  

I did however enjoy the blitz race, it was much more detailed and the sequence leading up to the animal fight was quite good.  The new rules were an interesting take as well and I really enjoyed the oil cans, spikes and missiles.  However stamina is high and it needs to be for the shooting rules but it can also make combat drag out if you roll low consistently for damage.  

There is not enough variety though between the different types of combat.  Hand to Hand, Shooting and Vehicle all feel very similar.  But of course the real killer is the ridiculous need for fuel.  Yes its realistic but god it is boring looking for fuel.  Also why are you sent out on a mission with a car that has no chance of getting there without multiple fuel stops when there is no fuel to be found.  Not a fan of realism in a series called Fighting Fantasy.  

And how is everyone else driving around and racing and flying helicopters if petrol is such a rare resource?!

So all in all some really good ideas within the book but sadly they are never fleshed out to their potential.

Score - 4 out of 10.