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Item - Planets in Peril

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(American cover)
(British cover)
Series: Star Challenge — no. 1
Translated Into: Pianeti in pericolo (Italian)
Planetas en peligro (Spanish)
Planètes en péril (French)
Wakusei kiki ippatsu [惑星危機一髪] (Japanese)
Author: Black, Christopher
Illustrators: Cintron, Maelo (interior and American cover)
Sullivan, Colin (British cover)
Date: 1984
Length: 117 pages
Number of Endings: 39 (22 victories and 17 failures)
User Summary: You must prevent a world-destroying weapon from falling into an evil villain's hands.
Guillermo's Thoughts:

(Review based on the Spanish translation).

This series introduces an innovation which in theory should feel compelling: whenever you reach one of the many successful endings, you have to turn to the end of the book, where you will be assigned a score based on how well you did in the mission. Unfortunately, this first book does not live up to its potential. While the story does not feel as silly as Ten-Ton Monster in the Which Way series, it still isn't very involving or coherent, being a run-of-the-mill science fiction tale for children. Moreover, several of the paths through the book (including many successful ones) have nothing to do with the purported plot, leading to a lot of confusion. Finally, gameplay does not feel very strategic, with the outcomes of most choices being quite random. This makes the gimmick of rating the reader based on their performance a lot less interesting. Overall, this is a book that is best left untouched.

More reviews by Guillermo

Shadeheart's Thoughts:

[Rating: 1/10]
[Recommended? NO]

Uninspired, dull and lifeless, in what could have been a fun experience the "Star Challenge" series enters another unrecommendable title into its already unappealing set of titles with "Planets in Peril". Devoid of either entertainment value or sheer spirit, blast away from this title far into the stars and don't feel the need to look back; you'll be missing nothing if you disregard this droning challenge to read through. ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

More reviews by Shadeheart

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