Item - Flown the Koopa

Matt Wayne's first entry in the series is very much in the style of most of Clyde Bosco's work. The tone is light, the game design is simple, and there's even a brief appearance by the character of Wooster. It's not an especially satisfying read, though. For one thing, the plot, though containing some mildly amusing elements, meanders a bit too aimlessly. This isn't helped by the puzzles, which are often an unfortunate blend of mindlessly simple and tediously labor-intensive. There are some exceptions -- the puzzle on page 33 is simple but cute while the puzzle on page 95 is (to me at least) incomprehensible. Page 95 is also the source of another problem -- this page offers the reader the option of picking up an object, but there is no explicit instruction to mark the item on the character sheet; since the rest of the book spells out even the most obvious of instructions, it's easy to miss this opportunity to acquire a critical tool needed later on. In any case, this book is neither great nor awful; it's just sort of insubstantial. If you skip it, you won't miss anything, but if you play it, you'll only waste a small fraction of your life and might find it at least mildly entertaining.

My High Score - 3500

More reviews by Demian

[Rating: 0/10]
[Recommended? NO]

Taking its basic ideas and running with it into one of the most bizarre directions displayed in the series, "Flown the Koopa" makes little sense on the surface and never seems to turn around from its outpour of weak aspects. As elementary as the other Nintendo Adventure Books were, this gamebook bears very little resemblance to the source material and, quite rightfully, equally leaves Mario fans dumbfounded at the mockery that is this "adventure". Ridiculously bad writing plagues the almost-nonexistent set-up, and the narrative progresses so poorly that even without the always-willing-to-slow-you-down arbitrary puzzles, there are enough weak moments that limit the story. Even when decisions amount to something, however, the arbitrary venture of the narrative takes away all of the control and decision-making capacity through its frequently aimless, random sequences - things which, alas, amount to nothing, not unlike nearly the entire book in retrospect.

As an "old-fashioned" Nintendo fan with standards to uphold I cannot recommend this book, save as perhaps a historical timepiece to know once existed, part of the yet woefully inconsistent period in which it was written and published, catalogued not only in Nintendo's legacy but in that of child-oriented gamebooks as a whole. Really, though, with an underwhelming adventure like this... the not-so-creative series is begging for a GAME OVER. ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

More reviews by Shadeheart