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.

       

Space Assassin

Background - 

Its a new year as 1985 rolls around.  Puffin are crying out for more books.  I can only imagine Ian's fingers are just bloody stumps from all the typing.  But things take an interesting twist.  A twenty four year old man from Australia has just finished reading his little brothers new book.  It is a gamebook called Warlock of Firetop Mountain.  Andrew's creative juices start flowing.  Believing that the authors have fantasy cornered he comes up with a plan for a Sci Fi version.  This is the first draft of Space Assassin.  It is not designed to be Fighting Fantasy but its own unique thing and he sends it off to Puffin for a look and I believe they send it to Puffin UK where it ends up on the desk of Philippa Dickinson, the godmother of Fighting Fantasy publishing at Puffin.  

No doubt under pressure to keep churning these popular books out at an unprecedented rate she calls Ian.

Phone rings and Ian picks up

"Hello, Ian speaking"

"Ian its Philippa"

"Philippa please, I promise the doctors said I need to stop typing so much.  My fingerprints are gone and my index figure has been reduced to a stub.  The next book will be ready as soon as possible, I promise, please don't send the boys around again."

"Ian, before you start..."

"My knee has not recovered from their last visit, but honestly when I get more ink for the typewriter.."

"Ian calm down!  Besides the boys are busy visiting Roald Dahl.  I was going to say I have some fan fiction that we might be able to use this month for a new Fighting Fantasy."

"Really, fan fiction?"

"Yep, its a bit different but we can change it to Fighting Fantasy no problem, only thing is its set in Space."

"Oh god no, do you not remember Starship Traveler?!"

"Hmm yes, and this one is also a bit short.  But unless you have another book ready to go?"

"Erm ok, I am sure it was just a one off.  Throw in a puzzle to take it up to 400 and it will be fine."

"I am glad you agree Ian, ill talk to you next month, I trust it will be ready.."

Phone hangs up.

But yep, according to the man himself he went and wrote a sci fi gamebook and sent it off and then proceeded to have zero control over the content which included a puzzle being in the game that was a surprise to him.  It also was written with a different system in mind but retro fitted to be Fighting Fantasy.  Again no memories of playing this one but always keen to see what a new author is bringing to the table.  I am worried about it being sci-fi though.

Covers - 

I actually like this cover.  Some futuristic security guards blatantly not doing their job and watching sports instead.  My question is why do all dystopian sports have spikes?  If anything sport is getting softer!  Look at football.  You used to be able to put in proper tackles but these days players fall over at a gust of wind.  Can you imagine throwing in some spikes for Neymar?  He would faint!

If anything the sport they will be watching wont involve any contact and the ball would be made of sponge for safety reasons.

No reprints of this one (which I think is worrying) and its straight onto the US cover.  They have gone for a black background for a change which helps the whole space aesthetic.  Looks like its an exo-suit from the Alien films except with a gun.  But why is there a pool with a tentacle monster in space?  And that drone in the background is shooting out electricity!  That close to water is very dangerous, HSE aboard the spaceship will be calling!

Premise - 

So the system of Od is ruled by a tyrannical scientist by the name of Cyrus.  He has a penchant for being a bit of a dick.  For some reason he sends robots and mutants to harass your world.  No mention of what form this harassment takes.  I will imagine that they are really annoying door to door salesmen and telemarketers. 

The worst of old Cyrus's crimes though is the kidnapping.  It is believed that they are taken away for him to experiment on and are never seen again.  However we do not have any evidence of this and it could easily be a case of wild speculation in the local pub.

Everyone though seemed ok with this, so no one important must have been taken.  But things have taken a turn.  Word has reached us that his next experiment will be to destroy our planet.  Covering the planet in radioactive isotopes and showering the planet with deadly viruses.  This sounds less like an experiment and more like genocide.  

The powers that be decide that the best way to deal with this is contact the local assassins guild and put a hit on Cyrus.  Well actually its not a hit.  We have to go on board his starship, the Vandervecken, and capture him and bring him to justice.  

The guild pimp me out in the latest weapons and pressure armor to deal with this.  Why me you ask, well because I am a master of 27 human and alien martial arts!  Hopefully the alien ones translate well to someone with two arms and two legs.  I set off to save the planet and find the Vandervecken in a nearby star system and smuggle myself onto its supply shuttle on the planet its visiting.

This Mission Briefing as its called (nice touch) is less thank two pages.  Which is disappointing to be honest but what we do get is really good and quite excited about this.

Playthrough - 

So we do get the usual Skill, Stamina and Luck but we also have some extras to looks at!  The first one is armour which can help protect from gunfire.  Its a 1d6 roll plus 6 and works just like testing your luck.  If you pass it protects you but its -1 to the total every time you test.

We also get a shopping list for equipment -

• Electric Lash - 1 (a gun that takes off the standard 2 stamina each time it hits)
• Assault Blaster - 3 (takes off 1d6 of stamina with each hit)
• Grenade - 1 (throw before fight and 1d6 stamina off everyone)
• Gravity Bomb - 3 (a mental sounding mini black hole bomb)
• Extra Armour -.5 (add 1 to your armour score)

You get 1d6 to spend and must take at least the Lash or Blaster for a gun.  

Rules for gunfire combat are different as well compared to hand to hand.  When I fire I need to roll equal or less than my skill score to score a hit.  The book though when it fires back must roll less than the skill, equal is a miss, so it is slightly weighted in the players favor.

Finally we get space provisions which are called Energizer Tablets.  These drugs perfectly replicate the healing powers of a corned beef sandwich.  In fact they are slightly better in that they restore 5 stamina.  But you only start with four!  Come on now I had 10 full meals in my backpack before and in the future I only need little tablets and only have 4 of them!  I guess none of my martial arts involve wearing a back back.  In other walkthroughs I have read though people call them pep pills but energizer tablets in my book which is the dragon cover.

A whole barrage of new stuff though and they sound really good, can't wait to try the gun battle out.

Skill - 9

Stamina - 22

Luck - 9

Armour - 9

That was a lot of 3's rolled.  Pretty average but not terrible.  Stamina is good which is great for the playthrough lasting a bit longer!

I roll a 6 for my equipment.  Great news that the Assassins Guild are sparing no expense.  Quite right as if it goes wrong we are all dead.

I decide to go for the Assault Blaster, a couple of grenades and 2 extra points of armour to take it to 11.  Lots of rolling involved in the Sci-Fi books so far but its still a lot less than Starship Traveler.

In my book the equipment section says 3 bars, 3 bars of what!?  With this question unanswered we start our adventure. 

The Vandervecken is pretty bad ass.  Already a massive step up from the art in Starship Traveler.

So I throw myself out of the shuttles airlock just before it docks and I use a clamp to attach myself to the Vandervecke's hull.  I quickly locate an airlock and make it inside the massive starship.  No doubt in a location as far away from Cyrus as its possible to be.

In the hanger I get the options of using a gravity bomb on the security door or a basic left and right choice through the vents.  Or the very tempting option to rummage through a pile of refuge.  Page 1 and you get an option to go through the rubbish.

I decide to have a look in the rubbish, why not!

My arrival on the Vandervecken

A quick rummage reveals that its a dead alien creature.

I feel bad that I thought this guy was a pile of rubbish.

The trail of blood shows he/she crawled out of the right hand tunnel.  He has an electronic device on its person so I pick it up.  Looks like some kind of bomb but its missing some pieces.  Not sure what to call it on my items list.  I go for dead aliens bomb kit.  The book tells me I put it in my pack!  I do have a pack!  How big are these energizer tablets!?

Since the right vent did not go well for our dead friend I opt to go left.  I make a right mess of opening it but a test of luck means I miss the cables electrocuting me.  Its blocked so I have to go in the right hand one.  I come to another hatch and hear a gurgling sound on the other side.

Id like to think I also spent hours hiding here.

I appear in some kind of prison block which is guarded by a Robot with a blaster.  I can engage in conversation, sneak off or fight.  I really want to have a go and gun battle so immediately I go for that.  Its at this point I remember how terrible I am at first person shooters and it takes me three goes to shoot the robot.  Luckily he is also terrible and only hits me once but it just pings off my armour.  I then get the option to pick up his Assault Blaster.....sh*t I could have got the gravity bomb!

Investigating the gurgling sound, its an old man in bad shape but I free him and he is very thankful.  He imparts some wisdom about the robot pilot and that if he asks me about feeling just say I don't know.  Fair enough, lets check the other cell.

Gizmo?  Is that you?

This cute little fur ball is in fact an Imp which bites me and causes me to lose another point of armour.  I leave the prison block and continue down the corridor.  The next door is described to be hot.  I decide thats probably some engine room and not where I would find Cyrus so continue on.  I walk on for some time and arrive at a t-junction but also a door that says extreme danger, enter only with authority.  Well that sounds bad so I head left.  

I know this feeling

This poor man is getting into trouble from his boss Cyrus.  Apparently the command robot on the bridge has developed feelings (interesting we have a take on AI) and Cyrus is blaming him for it as he is the head tech for the robots.  He has been ordered to shut him down as the robot has figured out Cyrus is a maniac.  The man is in a pickle though as he would consider that murder.  I just go along with him and make friends and he gives me a keycard for the door.

Next I arrive in a robot repair room.  They are all docile and I end up with a large simpering tool which means I can only carry two additional items.  At the moment I only have one so I decided to take it for just now.

This is reminding me a lot of warlocks layout.  A lot of corridors and hatches instead of doors.  I worry about missing items so at the moment opening them all.  

Which turns out to be a mistake.

This razor whirls at me but in good news I was clay pigeon shooting at the weekend and I wasn't terrible.  I one shot the razor out of the air.  I find a combat suit which I put on and it raises my armour to 14, but only then does it tell me its bulky so reduce skill by 1!  Wish I knew that before, can I change back?  Nope on I go.

The next area leads to what must be a Fighting Fantasy record with eight (yes 8) enemies.  These portabots all have skill 7, stamina 2.  I get the option to lob a grenade.  Yes, yes thanks ill do just that since the rules state it affects all enemies in the combat.  I only roll a 2 but that's enough to wipe them all out.  

I go through another door and find an armoury and yet another chance to pick up an Assault Blaster!  But I get a luck point back and pick up a pair of infra red goggles!

Next I have a locked door that I need to pull one of two levers.  I am left handed so go left.  The door opens and its yet another t-junction.  This time I mix it up and head right.  

It is called a Micro Helicopter but looks more like a space wasp!

I have tried micro helicopters and I am terrible at flying them.  I am not told what type of combat it is so its time to use some of my martial arts skills.  We are both skill 8 but he only has stamina 2.  One karate chop is all it takes.  Everything goes a bit wrong though as it catches fire and the room is soon ablaze.  I get the option to take two items but this would take me over my limit so I ditch the simpering tool.  I am now the proud owner of a plastic cylinder with ball bearings and an unopened cardboard packet with a red heart.  I open the package to find a deck of playing cards.  I wonder if space cards are different?

The next room in the never ending corridor contains a machine for copying tapes.  I take the tape from the machine but all the others are blank.  I wonder if they are recording music off the radio.  

And I wander into this dude.

The deity is one if the most unique fights I have come across so far in all the books.  He has six unique weapons and each combat round he rolls to see which one is used.  If you roll a 6 he uses an instant kill disintegrator but its only skill 5.  Its ranged combat but this could be a messy one.

He may have a lot of weapons but he proceeds to miss me with every single one.  Including the instant kill ray with his first attack.  I wont lie, that was terrifying.   I go over to inspect its remains but he blows up causing 4 points of stamina damage. 

The next room has a pool of water covering half of it.  I get the option to investigate the pool but looking at the US cover I feel it will just have tentacles in it so I go the dry way.  In the next corridor its a precarious walkway miles about what appears to be a countryside.  And of course yet another t-junction.  I go left, another t-junction... 

I go left again and end up in the scene form the cover.  I learn that the sport is called Zero-G Fangball and its the Epsilon-Indi telecast!  I calmly pull out my deck of cards and offer them a game since they clearly are not that bothered about their job.  But turns out they do not want to play and its blasters out.  Turns out Guard 1 is terrible but Guard 2 is an absolute sharpshooter but my armour takes three hits for me.  They have triggered an alarm though so I make haste through a security door.

Why would you not put up handrails!

The text specifically calls out the lack of handrails over the mystery pool of water so I take the path around the edge instead.  

Wrong choice.

I alas do not have any of the wonderful sounding Anti Mollusc Formula Four so its a straight hand to hand fight.  Alas I have not read about the mollusc nervous system either so I do the standard two stamina damage.  Both are skill 8 but the dice are kind and I only take three hits.  As their lifeless bodies float to the surface I have my first energizer tablets to bring the stamina back to a healthy 19.

A Space Orc?

I am told this guy holds a disintegrator which I know from the other battle is an instant kill.  He offers me a question to get past but I look in my pack and get an option to use the deck of cards again.  I pass a luck test and bamboozle it so much with a question it ends up a drooling mess.  I was also a drooling mess when I was trying to follow what my character was saying.  I dive through one of the portals behind him.

A VR Game!

I sit down in the seat and find myself in a game with its own set of rules.  Its a bit like world of tanks.  

I wont lie, my first read through of the rules has confused me.

Once you get into it though it becomes a lot simpler.  I was actually really enjoying it.  Initially the other tank put me in trouble as I lost two shields without reply but I got him back twice (including a lucky miss from him).  But then I got behind it twice and missed both times.  Another trade put it 2-1 shields wise for me and I then managed to go 17 turns without us bumping into each other.  Finally by blind luck I ended up behind him again and took him out.  This battle lasted quite some time.

And the logical finish to this was of course to appear in some kind of anti grav transport tunnel heading towards a big mouth creature called a Toroid.  Now it was skill 0 (a first) but I had to kill it within 3 turns by shooting it and it had stamina 12.

First roll hits and I roll a 6!  Only need to score 6 with two shots.  But my second shot misses.  Third shot hits and I am not joking I roll another 6 for damage.  Absolute scenes here that no one understands.

Very strange room to have on a intergalactic spaceship

The next room has the ominous message of step on the wrong tile and its goodbye.  I have to pick a path and add up the numbers and turn to that reference.  If it makes no sense its game over.  I have no idea, I assume you get a clue that I have missed.  It wont be up all the way up the middle.  I decide to start middle and go left (left has been serving me well so far), so 255.  And yeah fully expecting my death it actually makes sense.  I am leading a charmed life in this one that's for sure.

Its back to back encounters now as I find these guys blasting me as I go through the door.

No I have not read a book about robotics.

I really wish I had found the library in this book, would have helped no end with all these encounters.  We are all skill 8 so its a very even battle.  I do prevail after taking the first Sentinel out quickly but the other guy lasts a lot longer.  I get him down to 1 stamina and then roll a 6 for damage.  That's like a head shot when the enemy only has a sliver of health left.  By the end of the encounter my armour is in absolute tatters and I take my second tablet to boost the stamina.  Armour won't be stopping anything going forward now.

I have made it to the bridge!

I decide to have a chat with the pilot since I am pretty sure any more firefights will result in my death.  He wastes no time in small talk though and immediately he starts contemplating existence and if we are dreaming each other.  I remember the prisoner's advice earlier to say I do not really know so I go with that.  He tries again but I feign disinterest and he asks me to leave.  

I make my way into the computer room and am shocked by how old it is.  Not real life shocked by 80s tech but my character is shocked as it does not have any cryogenic cooling.  I get the option to shoot it up but I am meant to be taking Cyrus alive so crippling the ship does not factor in to my thinking.  I go straight into the next room and bump into Cyrus himself!

Wait are you not the Vampire from House of Hell?

I decide to sit down first with him and have a chat.  I am 99% sure its a terrible idea but I owe it to justice to find out his true intentions.  But of course the drink is spiked.  My stamina sees me through though and he threatens me with an advanced piece of kit.  Nope you had your shot at trust so I dive at him.  Its only some old clockwork kit!  He escapes down a hatch and I follow him down.  But he has managed to get into some exo suit called the Waldo!

I get the option to search the backpack but all I have are ball bearings.  Ah why not I shrug.  Amazingly it reduces his skill by 1 point as they make him unsteady on his feet.  What are those ball bearings made of?

Its boss time!  He has skill 9 reduced to 8 so we are level there.  He only has stamina 12 though and its a gun fight so this might be close.

I hit with my first shot and roll a 3 so he is down to 9.  He misses, no doubt having a comedy fall as he steps on some ball bearings.  Its a repeat in the next round, he misses and I take off another 3.  Its even better next round as I take off 4 stamina.  He hits me though but its only a 2, he should have used the Lash!  Boom!  Head shot!  6 stamina off and its all over.  I read the best instruction you can get in Fighting Fantasy, turn to 400.

Wait what?  Really?  That's it!?  I finally make it all the way through and that is all we get!?  There is a huge chunk of empty space as well on the last page that could have been used!  That makes it even worse!!!!

This would be like the entirety of this blog being - 

Played Space Assassin, it was ok.

Notable Encounters - 

Mapping out this book I realised that I have missed a lot of amazing encounters!

Fancy a pet space squirrel? 

Its not even as simple as that, they can all escape or you could eat their food and its instant death.  Even worse, if you don't feed your pet squirrel he tells the Zark that you are a bit of a dick and that he should shoot you.  Treat him well!

You can deactivate the reactor core which leads to a scramble through the ship to get to an escape pod.  It leads to failure but I prefer to think of it as an alternative ending.

Anyone that's worked late at the office will recognise this scene.

The cleaners do not take kindly to you and they attack with their vacuums!  This may sound exotic but my partner was telling me the other day that a cleaner at her work put someone in a headlock for putting a cup with washing up liquid in the dishwasher.  Id like to think this had happened on the Vandervecken along with people not cleaning up after themselves.   No wonder they are so angry!

This gentleman is actually very nice to talk to.

There is also an interesting series of questions from a bunch of Simulacrums.  At first it looks like random guessing but if you read carefully there are hints which point you to the right answer.

But ok lets talk about the encounter that really defines this book that I managed to miss by miles.  Which is just as well as its a pain in the ass.  On the ship there is a mini planet.  In theory this sounds like a fun and novel idea.  But its nothing more than another maze like the one in Warlock.  There are a few encounters like with these guys - 

This lot can be very friendly but one faux pas with the wrong gift and its instant kill!

But most of it is very dry and boring and it took me ages to map it out, and even then I am pretty sure I have a part of it wrong.

Artwork - 

Its another new artist, Geoffrey Senior who looks after the art this time.  I think we can all agree its a massive step up from the previous sci-fi book.  The Vandervecken, the Pilot and the Deity are my favorites from the playthrough.  And those village backwater aliens are also great.  I find Geoffrey is excellent at capturing the aliens, especially when you think what information he must have had to work with.

Finally some evidence that Cyrus is a bit of a monster.

The Robot Guard in the prison.

All in all some excellent stuff here.  But its not all good news.  There is a lot of artwork of scenes that are not that important.  This is not the artist fault but it is frustrating as there are plenty scenes in the book that would do great with an illustration.

A hall with black dots...ok

The cryo chambers

The lake is pretty cool, but you cant do anything about it, you just have a look and move on!

And this is just a dead end!  If you see this you are dead already.

Just a waste as I would have loved to see more from Mr Senior but from what I can see on Titannica this was the only book he illustrated.

The Big Bad - 

Cyrus's motivations other than being a mad scientist are not really fleshed out.  I do like the brief cat and mouse game you play with him when you first meet.  If only I had not drank the wine I could have used my infra red goggles.  He can also just bugger off in an escape shuttle and leave you just watching if you are not careful.

The Waldo looks bad ass!

But as bad ass as it looks its also not the most challenging with only skill 9 which you can also reduce like I did.  I think its skill should be upped a bit but be able to take it down with the correct items.  The thing is because its ranged combat, you can give him a high skill and not make it impossible for low skilled characters as you are not rolling skill v skill.  

Menagerie - 

Well what a mix there is here.  On one hand you get the futuristic enemies such as the many robots.  Some of them are traditional enemies but a few times you find yourself surrounded by 6-8 small robots, really designed for you to lob a grenade at.  But what I did like was the uniqueness of some of the fights.   The Deity for example I really enjoyed, with so much different options and it managed to cause a little bit of poo to come out when he got his disintegrator out.  The Toroid as well with only a few shots to take it out before it eats you (should have had an illustration) adds some tension to the encounter.

And you can be a ruthless dick and kill nice scientist underlings.  

But we also have some more fantasy type monsters such as these - 

A Scorpion with Wings, its called a Winged Scorpion

The Thran Shapeshifter is pretty much a Vampire

And there seems to be a strange obsession with everything octopus!

Explains all the tentacles in the US cover!

Entertaining Deaths -

Oh we get some good ones here team.  Lets start with eating the Space Squirrel food.  Not a stamina hit, straight death!

I particular like the option of giving the tribes chief a can of nerve gas.  He accidently sprays it in his face killing himself and then his tribe kill you in vengeance.

Failing to pay cost of a pan dimensional homing device.

Turning on the gravity in the garbage chute and being ejected into space.

But this books winner is with out a doubt the absolutely ridiculous situation of defeating a guardian robot in a random hall.  Turns out he is guarding a safe which in itself is booby trapped!  Its got a black hole trap if you press the wrong button, which I am pretty sure would have caused a catastrophic problem for the ship.  This whole situation makes no sense.

Pete's Corner -

Don't reason with Robots

 

Final Thoughts - 

Ok during my playthrough I thought this was really enjoyable.  It was not until I mapped it out that I realised that its Warlock of Firetop Mountain in Space.  This makes sense as that was the only gamebook Andrew Chapman had read.  The spaceship walkways are just the same as the mountains tunnels with a door off the main passage.  But with the same amount of upsetting t-junctions!  God I forgot how much I hated t-junctions.  The final confrontation with Cyrus is also very reminiscent of the battle with the Warlock.  But the big reminder is his version of the maze of Zagor which is the planet in the spaceship, and is just as frustrating.

I thought I was extremely lucky with my playthrough.  Honestly the two rolls of 6 to take out the Toroid was so jammy.  But not as fluky as a complete guess at the route for the number path.  Now it is a terrible unthematic encounter, don't like it.  And to make matters worse the advise you can get about it is flat out wrong!  All I could think though when I read I made it was, yeah no one is going to believe this.  Id already worked out that I could use the Indiana Jones clip as a finish!

But the real luck was the route I took and not ending up on that god forsaken planet or any of the instant kill rooms.

What I really liked though was the new mechanics.  Armour is great but even better was the shooting combat.  It made for much faster paced combat encounters and as you are rolling against your own skill rather than skill v skill made it a lot fairer, especially for low skill characters.  I mean I was skill 8 for most of the playthrough.

And at least there was no you must have this item or its game over, the items would help in the right situations.

Lets talk about the tank game.  Its really interesting and a testament to how Andrew can plot out an idea.  It can be a little boring after a while and takes up far too much of the book but from a technical stand point I think its amazing.

But this kind of sums up Space Assassin.  There is some really good ideas in here and I found my playthrough pretty fun.  But its also full of some filler.  The planet has to go, or at least reduce its size and have some actual encounters on it rather than repeated plains and hills.  Its an interesting idea but not executed well.  Combined with the tank game and multiple reference passages just directing you straight to another page I feel a lot of potential was missed.  Which is a shame as more encounters like the ones in the route I took and this would have been great.

But that ending is terrible.  And I don't just blame Chapman, Puffin or anybody should have picked this up.  

Would love a modern rewrite with this premise.

Score - 5 out of 10.