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Item - Battle for the Ancient Robot

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(box front)
Series: 1 on 1 Adventure Gamebooks — no. 2
Contains: You Are E-Ben, Attack Robot from the Planet Cybos (Gamebook)
You Are Mikael, Earth's Greatest Star Pilot (Gamebook)
Author: Ward, James M.
Illustrators: Nelson, Mark A.
Grainger, Sam
Date: June, 1985
ISBN: 039454837X / 9780394548371
User Summary: Champions of two star-faring races scour the galaxy for pieces of the Ancient Robot, a powerful and dangerous artifact of a lost civilization.
Demian's Thoughts:

Of the first four sets in this series, this is my favorite by far. As in much of James M. Ward's work, the writing is pretty minimalistic, and the encounters are cheesy. However, since this has a sort of Flash Gordon feel to it, the simplicity and cheesiness actually work well to support the flavor of the adventure. The plot isn't too important anyway; it's the gameplay that really shines. The players must race to find robot parts as quickly as possible, and each robot part acquired adds new capabilities to a player's team. This keeps things tense throughout the game and adds a welcome element of strategy to the proceedings. Sadly, though, things aren't absolutely perfect. As with most of the series, rules ambiguities pop up here and there, breaking the flow of what is otherwise a really entertaining head-to-head challenge. This seems to be one of the most common entries in the series, as it pops up frequently on eBay and in other places. If you can find a partner willing to negotiate around vague rules, you should definitely pick up a copy and give it a try.

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Special Thanks:Thanks to Vince Scalabrino for the various game aid scans.
Users Who Own This Item: AlHazred, Ardennes, auximenes, B0N0V0X, BarefootJimmy, Barker1952, bookwormjeff, Cloquewerk, dave2002a, Ed, Erikwinslow, exaquint (1, 2), Ffghtermedic (shrinkwrapped), Fireguard, Gurvo, jdreller, karalynn, katzcollection, killagarilla, knginatl (box w/both), le maudit, marnaudo, mlvoss, nelsondesign, ntar (Book 1 & 2), Sheridan77, SilentGunman, Sir Olli, sireeyore, slyfra, spragmatic (shrinkwrapped (NEW), Tremendez, Twise, vindic8r (With slipcase), Virtua Sinner
Users Who Want This Item: arcaril, bbanzai, BobaGabe (good two player), CSquared, dylang, Hugues, kinderstef, NEMO, Nomad, twar, Waluigi Freak 99
Users with Extra Copies: kinderstef - i only have e-ben book
redpiper05 - I only have the E-Ben Book

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