Item - The Wagon Train Trek

It's nice in a while to be able to read a choose-your-path book which presents an actual objective for the reader to achieve, and that sticks to that objective throughout (unlike many titles in the Choose Your Own Adventure series, which consist of an amalgam of disjointed storylines). This book, which is based on the classic The Oregon Trail computer game, has only one truly successful ending, and only one path to reach it. As a seasoned gamebook reader, I didn't find the gameplay here to be extremely challenging, though the young people the book is aimed at might disagree. Nonetheless, some of the 'failure' endings are actually quite satisfying, making it worthwhile to read over and over in order to find them. The book strikes a nice balance between being entertaining and being educational, which is something I've rarely seen since classic eighties series such as Time Machine or Survival. The pixelated artwork by Gustavo Viselner captures the feel of the old computer game, and is a nice touch for nostalgic fans.

I highly recommend this to children, as well as adults who want a change of pace but nothing too challenging.

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