Item - The Reality Machine

Because you really like an arcade VR game, you are approached by the company owner to try out the next-generation VR game. You are presented with two games, dealing with Space and Time.

This book feels a lot like You Are Microscopic, another Packard adventure. In both cases, some scientist seems to skip all ethical considerations and offer you the opportunity for an absurdly dangerous situation.

There's very little gaming involved in the book. With each of the primary paths, you get a "game" that sets up some of the ability of the space or time skills. Then you get the "level two" experience. This has those skills applied to real life. Yes. You are effectively given super powers by a computer chip placed behind your ear.

Using different chips, you can speed up time, or slow it down. Not just the experience of time, but you actually speed up or slow down your body processes. In normal CYOA fashion, this gives you the opportunity to excel at sports.

On the other side, a chip allows you experience things you imagine as if they were real. The incredible level of danger this involves isn't explored as much as it should be, but you get at least one path where you freak out and are stuck in the fantasy.

This has the normal Packard style, and there are a few things that are annoying, but it's actually a pretty decent book. I don't know if I'd come back to it, but it's actually a bit more memorable than I expected.

More reviews by Jordashebasics

A savvy eye for the future was always a strength of Edward Packard's. How well did his vision of virtual reality hold up in the years after The Reality Machine's 1993 debut? You are fascinated by SURREAL ACTION, a new science fiction virtual reality game at your local arcade. You've invested serious coin into mastering its incredibly realistic gameplay; no one can approach your skill level. Nonetheless, you're surprised one Saturday to see a man in a business suit watching you play. The man—Dr. Telos—owns Reality Unlimited, the company that created SURREAL ACTION, and he'd like you to test out the latest version, which is in research and development. The new concept is called the Reality Machine; players wear small adhesive chips that pass data directly to the brain. Which program will you enter first, SUPER TIME or SUPER SPACE?

Your appetite for space travel gaming is best satisfied by SUPER SPACE. As the simulation blasts you off in a rocket beyond earth's orbit, crablike creatures attack. It feels creepy and real; can you ignore these slimy aliens so your real body's stress levels don't eject you from the game? This is level one; Dr. Telos is eager to usher you into level two, but the experience will be even more intense. He offers to let you put on the level two black chip in your own home, but experimenting outside his supervision may result in health complications. No human has interacted with a VR so sophisticated. If you test out the black chip at Telos's lab, you have a plethora of scenario options; would you like to be an Olympic skier? Hunt for treasure in the deep sea? Skydive from an airplane? Land on Mars and roam its hazardous surface? These experiences and more sit at your fingertips, but even an intrepid gamer may not be ready for sensory immersion to this degree.

One couldn't be blamed for choosing SUPER TIME instead. Two sets of electronic chips—red to slow down time and green to speed it up—can be applied not just in the game, but to elevate your metabolic process and change your body in the real world. Wearing the green chip transforms your life almost immediately. You move so rapidly that you break the one hundred meter dash world record in private on your first attempt; continue wearing the chip and you'll become the world's most famous athlete and accomplish things beyond human limits. The chip is priceless...but will there be negative effects years down the road? If you chose not to wear the chip in the first place, Dr. Telos puts it on himself, but the side effects are severe in a grown man. As you follow him to the hospital, a thug named Wolfie abducts you with a gun to your head. He knows about the chips and will kill to take them for himself; will you attach a green chip to your body so you can fight back, despite your misgivings about the unproven technology? You'll have to push the limits of the chips to survive...but what more effective stress test of the equipment could there be?

The Reality Machine is a book with flaws—occasionally the technology is presented inconsistently, and your forays into virtual reality are disappointingly limited—but it's a fun, thoughtful story. The best action occurs in the real world, such as when Wolfie hounds you to hand over Dr. Telos's VR secrets. A watermark question inhabits each story path: how much virtual reality is too much? Can hacking the human body to eliminate every weakness end up stripping away what makes life worthwhile? Your wisest decisions in these pages may involve stepping back from the edge while you still have the option, but don't be afraid to get a little crazy; a book like this exists so you can play with radical possibilities and not be in real danger. I'd rank The Reality Machine in the upper half of the original Choose Your Own Adventure series; it's an entertaining, well-calibrated episode.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74