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‘Fighting Fantasy: Bloodbones’ Review – Dead Men Tell No Tales

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Tin Man Games has been applying their considerable gamebook know-how to the Fighting Fantasy series for a couple of years now, so far releasing eight of the most popular and noteworthy installments of the franchise. While there are a couple of conspicuous absences remaining, the developer has shown a good eye in its selections thus far. The latest release, Fighting Fantasy: Bloodbones ($5.99), is an interesting choice for a few reasons. This is the first of Tin Man’s Fighting Fantasy releases that isn’t written by either Ian Livingstone or Steve Jackson, instead being the work of Jonathan Green, one of the writers from the later days of the series. Bloodbones was considered a lost book for several years, as it was initially planned as the 60th entry in the series before publisher Puffin canceled Fighting Fantasy with the 59th book. Like its titular character, death didn’t hold it back for long. In 2006, fans could finally put their hands on Bloodbones as the 26th release in the Wizard Books revival of the line.

Of course, all that history and hype is of little consequence to today’s primary consumers of gamebooks, mobile gamers. For us, this is just the follow-up release to the grand adventure of Caverns Of The Snow Witch ($5.99). While Bloodbones takes place in the same fantasy world as many of the other Fighting Fantasy books, its supernatural pirate theme is definitely something we haven’t seen yet from Tin Man. It introduces time as a mechanic, and I can assure you that you don’t have a lot of it to spare if you want to win, giving you one more thing to consider as you weigh each choice. It’s an interesting idea, in theory, but in practice, it’s just one more thing that contributes to Bloodbones being a mixed bag.

Photo 2015-01-20, 10 31 15The story is a classic revenge tale, with the protagonist on the hunt for the pirate that killed his family. Things get very complicated along the way, but the ultimate goal doesn’t change. You have to put Captain Bloodbones into his grave and make sure he stays there. Broadly speaking, the game can be broken into two halves. In the first half, you’re searching for clues around the city of Port Crab, and in the second, you’re exploring an island. Time is a serious factor in the first half, but once you’ve made it out of Port Crab, the mechanic is mercifully tossed aside. Both areas involve a considerable amount of exploration, and in usual Fighting Fantasy tradition, it’s hard to know which items you’ll need until the story actually calls for them. This makes the first half of the game tremendously punishing, because you don’t have the time to be thorough, but if you aren’t, you likely won’t have everything you need for the second half. There’s one particular item that acts as a gatekeeper for the back end of the game, and you’d never realize its importance at the time it’s available to you.

The second half of the game feels a lot like Island Of The Lizard King ($5.99). It’s exploration-heavy, almost ridiculously so for what was once a paper book. It’s a bit less stressful than the first bit, provided you picked up the right items, but just as in Lizard King, you’d best be ready for a lot of fighting. You’ll also be testing your luck constantly, so I hope you didn’t settle for a low roll at the beginning of the game for any of your stats. Even with the best stats, you’re very unlikely to survive Bloodbones without learning the best route and having a lot of luck with your dice rolls. That could be said for any gamebook, but it’s particularly true here. Bloodbones is, without question, the most difficult gamebook I’ve played so far. It’s a long adventure, packed with frequent combat against strong enemies, plenty of instant deaths and situations that hinge on you passing a luck or skill check, and is very particular in its solution. It’s possible to get nearly to the end only to find out you didn’t pick up something you needed back in Port Crab and have to start over.

It sours what is otherwise a nicely varied gamebook. It never leans too heavily on one thing or another, and its pacing is excellent. While the writing isn’t quite up to snuff with inkle’s similarly-themed Down Among The Dead Men ($2.99), it’s still enjoyable to read and wonderfully evocative of classic swashbuckling stories. I’d go so far as to say that it’s even worth cheating your way through using the free read difficulty just to experience all of the interesting events Bloodbones has to offer. It’s a great way to scout for a proper run through the game on a higher difficulty setting, and it’s really only half-cheating. Even with the solution in hand, you’ll still have to contend with numerous battles and stat checks, so there’s still merit in a playthrough of the other two difficulty settings. You’ll have spoiled the surprises of the book by doing this, but that cuts both ways, since not all of the surprises are pleasant.

Photo 2015-01-20, 10 31 34 Photo 2015-01-20, 10 31 20

As usual, Tin Man Games has lavished this conversion with loving care. In addition to the extra difficulty settings, there’s also the usual art gallery, a list of fun achievements with some amusing names to seek out, and several little touches to add to the atmosphere. When you turn pages, instead of a usual page flip, a chain clears the page for the next one, and the game makes excellent use of background audio to enhance the mood. Naturally, since this is an electronic version and not a paperback, you don’t have to keep track of passwords or crack codes using ciphers, but you will occasionally need to type in puzzle solutions using the keyboard, so don’t get too lazy. Fans of the original book will certainly be elated with its treatment here.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a stiff challenge, but there are good and bad ways of going about that. Bloodbones uses a few too many of the latter, and it spoils what is otherwise a very nicely-designed gamebook. If you don’t think you’ll mind the nasty difficulty or just intend on cheating your way through it using free read anyway, you’ll find Bloodbones to be a meaty, interesting quest that feels a bit different in tone and pacing from any of the other Tin Man Fighting Fantasy releases so far. I suspect few will have the patience to see everything it has to offer, unfortunately.

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