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Item - Citadel of Chaos

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Series: Eternal Champions — no. 2
Author: Thomson, Jamie
Illustrator: Longworth, Mark
Date: 1994
Length: 300 sections
Number of Endings: 21
Shadeheart's Thoughts:

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

Having grown up with the Sega Genesis game upon which the "Eternal Champions" gamebook duology was based, and having held a generally mixed to negative opinion of said game, I fully expected "Citadel of Chaos" to be an appreciable yet incomplete experience from the beginning - and to that end I wasn't disappointed. Alas, there are definitely things I enjoyed and things I didn't - and it largely boiled down to how closely I believe the book followed its own expectations of the reader. With heavy reliance on letting the ability to make choices create the illusion of a (short-lived) novelty factor, I was certainly disappointed by the relatively average writing, lack of innovation in the plot points, gimmicky attribute assignment, poorly-executed balancing and the overabundance of drawn-out battle sequences. While this title's paths are definitely better-conceived than its predecessor, the raw potential of this story never emerged past one's awareness of the grim undertones and dark implausibilities for widespread success apart from what is clearly right or wrong. At no point did I find the story to be in any way immersive, and as far as setting up narratives are concerned, this threadbare excuse for an overworld comes across as cold, distant and unapproachable... not to mention how it renders any readers' emotions as obsolete.

Unfortunately, this is a gamebook experience I cannot recommend - the cheap set-up and overreliance on fitting the story into the conventions of its genres are an initial no-no, and what's more is that at no point did I find myself suspending my disbelief because of the unevenness of the book's tone and plotlines. I suggest you take a pass on this one - this is hardly better than an escapist excursion into an underwhelmingly barren world, and besides, there are plenty of better-executed gamebooks to champion out there. ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

More reviews by Shadeheart

Special Thanks:Thanks to Nicholas Campbell for the cover scan.
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