When I was a boy, my parents would buy me books that were known as "choose your own adventure." This was where you, the reader, were allowed to make choices to determine how the story progressed. For the most part, these books were Fantasy/Sci-Fi themed and helped to inspire my imagination which was quite active, as I'm sure all kids' were. While looking for a new iPhone app to help fight boredom, I came across Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain by Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone. These two British gents created Games Workshop and have not only been involved in the development of Role-playing games since the beginning but produced the books under the same title, Fighting Fantasy.
The app keeps true with my memories of this genre of books with the added bonus of not being able to cheat. In the past, it was possible to read ahead of each available choice. If it wasn't a good choice, all you had to do was turn back to the page that was conveniently marked by your thumb and try the next selection. Once you make a choice in the game, it's made until you either complete the quest, die, or start the adventure over. The creators went a step further to make the game more interactive by introducing combat and situations where luck or skill would determine if the game continued or ended in blood.
The game took about a week to beat but that was playing casually and following the instructions that the in-game guide suggested. The primary suggestion was keep track of where you are at by drawing a map. Although at times my mapping skills helped me to get further lost, it did allow me to be prepared for the second and third play throughs that were required to make it through the dungeon. The game guide predicted this as well. It was a fun game to play once or twice through and maybe a in couple years it'll be fun to pick up again.
I have two major complaints about this game. The first is major problem with the game. Every so often the game will freeze when the dice are rolled or an item is picked up. One item caused the game to take several minutes to load and if the game started from this point it would also take forever to load. The other problem was the sound. For the most part it wasn't bad except for when an enemy was defeated. The triumph music is pretty silly and should've just been left out.
