Item - Earthquake

This book has probably the clearest characterization thus far in the series; although the characters aren't all that interesting, they're fairly well-defined, so even someone like myself who doesn't know the Transformers very well can have a pretty good idea of what's going on. The book also has some satisfyingly long paths without limiting its number of endings, which is a sign of a decent design. Like the rest of the series, though, it's far from perfect. The writing style remains fairly condescending (especially when it comes time to make a choice), and the plot itself is silly and improbable even by Transformers standards. There are also a few choices in which the reader is asked to flip a coin or think of a random number rather than making a decision; although I might have enjoyed this gimmick at one time, it seems totally senseless here and now. Perhaps worst of all (mainly because it's a pet peeve of mine), the book uses the word "effect" when it should use "affect" (see page 37). For shame! For shame! Overall, I'd say that this book, like the rest of the series thus far, is only really worth reading out of curiosity or nostalgia; it otherwise has little to offer the average gamebook reader.

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