Blood of the Zombies
2012

Ratings1

Average rating1

15

I'll give the book props for cheesiness ala Army of Darkness and budget zombie flicks. Aside from that, there's not much to recommend. It's supposed to be a special edition gamebook, but there's nothing spectacular about it.

App-wise, it's similar in polish to other Tin Man Games, so there's no complaints there. The game system is different from all other Fighting Fantasy gamebooks and is in a way too simplistic and punishing. One - just one - unlucky roll can kill you or basically makes it impossible to finish the gamebook. It's so superfluous that it's almost pointless to play. Doing hardcore mode is basically just abusing the unlimited bookmarks the app allows you.

The story itself is ok - you've been kidnapped while being a mythology-obsessed student - and now needs to put an end to a dastardly plan to eradicate all humans. Even the premise is a bit silly - for example, you got kidnapped while touring the world (student? really?). The writing itself is pretty bland and ignores it's own inconsistencies - like zombies crawling all over the manor despite it not being ready to release them yet, or none of the still living inhabitants reacting to grenades and machine gun fire all over the manor. Or the fact that you had been starved for almost a week and still rather hale.

I know, the tone of this gamebook is such that it's not meant to be taken seriously. I just got the feeling that there's no attempt at storytelling, and just glossing things over to get to the zombies. It also only works if you enjoy the journey, which I didn't. This gamebook adhered absolutely to the One True Path approach. Deviate even slightly (right instead of left, for example) and you either die a horrible death, or miss out killing one zombie and lose, or miss out one item and lose. With each replay you get a little further in, following the exact same path you took previously.

Plenty of much better gamebooks out there.

September 30, 2014Report this review