Item - Inside UFO 54-40

As someone that took the 'rules' seriously, I felt robbed by the 'trick' in this book. As other reviewers have noted, the pages describing the planet of Ultima cannot be reached through any of the story paths in the book. The idea being that you just turn to those pages and somehow - you're there!

WHAT??

I've never understood how this is a cute trick. The book-within-a-book shenanigans in Hyperspace? Cute. Saying that the only way to reach the 'best' ending is by effectively cheating and cutting the Gordian Knot? Dumb, dumb, dumb. I was furious at the age of eight, and I'm still steamed about it. Other than that, I found the book mildly entertaining, and some of the bitter-sweet endings were well-thought-out.

More reviews by Aussiesmurf

UFO 54-40 is a lot of fun. There are lots of interesting characters to meet, both human and alien. The book explores many sci-fi themes and concepts such as space travel, alien life, and computer logic. Some of the choices present real moral dilemmas, and the U-TY Masters are formidable antagonists. I really like the idea of the Paradise Planet of Ultima, even though for once, the book actively encourages you to cheat to find it. As a unique concept it makes this adventure stand out. Granger's illustrations work well with the subject matter, my favorite being a nice cut-away drawing/map of the UFO itself at the start of the book. 3 out of 5 stars

More reviews by auximenes

Ratings: 2

Edward Packard is legendary, but by 1982 he'd yet to reach his peak abilities. Space fantasies generally pan out well in the series, yet UFO 54-40's earthling-abducted-by-alien storyline is just all-too-familiar. It's like thrusting 100 UFO stereotype storybooks into one piece, albeit with 30 endings. The lack of creativity, as well as a clear and challenging objective, makes entry no. 12 average at best.

More reviews by barryattles

I really enjoyed this book as a kid but did struggle to find Ultima until I realised there was no possible way to get there by choice but by a cheat (turning to the correct page). It was disappointing in that respect, but the choices and the prompting of imagination were very good!

More reviews by canadiandude007

This is a fairly interesting science fiction adventure, though it's certainly not the best of the series. The book also contains the rather annoying gimmick of making the reader search for the planet Ultima, a place which is in the book but completely unreachable by regular play. It's on page 101, in case you care....

More reviews by Demian

My brother and I had an opportunity to read this once during the 90s, courtesy of our local library. It's an awesome gamebook; of course, the real draw is the fact that you basically have to cheat to find Ultima (my brother found it by flipping through the entire book until he reached the two-page spread with the picture). A solid read, and definitely worth a look.

More reviews by DukeNukem 2417

Though I was excited when this book was first released, it was not a favorite of mine at the time. However, upon re-reading the book, and particularly on exploring choices that I never remember making back then, I am surprised by what a strong Choose Your Own Adventure book this is. Looking back, it seems that 1982 was the year that the series really came into its own, and - for me at least - the entries from that year (numbers 12-16) are among the strongest in the series.

More reviews by gergsnickle

29 normal ends, 1 cheat. Ugh.
But that don't matter none! 10/10. Best Space Travel book ever!
5 aliens
4 (I think) humans
And 3 or more escapes
Space is weird (of course) but this is one I'll come back to for sure.
Space Travelers, I HIGHLY recommend this book!
Oh--the cheat. Page 101 starts on Ultima--if you care. Besides, it's an ending. Very minor disappointment. Can not make choices to get here.

More reviews by Good

(Review based on the Spanish (Timun Mas) translation.)

Inside UFO 54-40 is one of the greatest gamebooks ever written. This is a science-fiction game where the science-fiction part is taken quite seriously, unlike the vast majority of gamebooks. Every choice in the book is meant to illustrate a specific philosophical point, and the end result is much more solid and satisfying than the New Age elucubrations of an R. A. Montgomery, for example. This means of course that readers expecting pure entertainment - such as several reviewers on this page - will be left disappointed; all I can respond is that they are seriously undervaluing the book (they will probably enjoy Cosmic Kidnappers in the Alien Adventures series, which is quite fun but much shallower). The "hidden ending" apparently irritated a few readers, but I found it to be a cool idea that was taken even further by Kim Newman in Life's Lottery. Finally, the book includes an innovative game mechanism in which the reader has to blank his or her mind in order to make good their escape; this is much more interesting than the "are you reading this book on a Thursday?" thing that readers of other gamebooks have had to suffer through. Overall, this is a book you absolutely have to experience if you want to call yourself a CYOA fan.

More reviews by Guillermo

Early Edward Packard was the author at his most innovative, and perhaps no entry in the original Choose Your Own Adventure series captures this better than Inside UFO 54-40. You are a passenger on the Concorde, a supersonic jet en route from New York City to Paris, France, when the space oddity crosses your path. A shining white disc streaks in your direction at high speed...and then you're sitting on a mat in an empty, sterile room. There's no time to gather yourself; a telepathic voice from an alien race known as the U-TY masters fills your head. You are their captive aboard the Rakma, a spaceship that will soon transport you to an intergalactic zoo far away. The U-TY masters allow minimal leeway when it comes to your response; will you demand they return you to Earth, or subtly try to learn more about these transcendent beings?

Angling for further information on the U-TY masters is precarious; if they decide you aren't worth their time you'll be returned to Earth immediately, but will they successfully wipe your memory of the day's events? The U-TY masters are searching for the legendary planet Ultima, a paradise they would give anything to attain, but leveraging this weakness to get yourself home is difficult. The Chamber of Earth People on the Rakma is filled with humans abducted over the centuries and held in chronological suspension; would you like to ask any of them for help? Kim Lee can get you a face-to-face meeting with the U-TY masters, who take the form of floating balls of light. They claim to have foreknowledge of everything you will ever say or do, but can you outsmart them and flip the balance of power?

If you decline to join forces with Kim, you could work with Incu, a shadowy alien from the planet Alara, who possesses a way to trick the U-TY masters into thinking you know the way to Ultima. If you use Incu's idea, you have the choice to honor your promise and get him back to Alara before you return to Earth, but keeping your word will cost you dearly. If you chose not to work with Incu at all, you could hatch a plan with a tentacled creature named Qally, of the planet Karim. The U-TY masters intend to steal valuable artifacts from Earth museums before departing for the intergalactic zoo, and you can volunteer to assist on a heist in hope of escaping. The U-TY masters can read minds, however; do you have the discipline to keep your thoughts a blank slate until you're on Earth? Failure to convince the aliens of your "pure" motives will land you in Somo, doomed to hibernate for a billion years. Maybe you chose from the beginning to team up with Angus, a wise-looking elderly man in the Chamber of Earth People. He offers the possibility of mounting a shuttlecraft with him and taking off before the U-TY masters realize you're gone, and here is a relatively easy path to success.

Maybe your first statement to the U-TY masters was a demand they return you to Earth. This could lead you to an alliance with a many-eyed alien named Mopo, but if you and Mopo make it to Earth together, you'll have more challenges to surmount. Will other humans treat your alien friend with respect, or exploitation? If you never meet Mopo, Ingmar the Swedish farm boy from three hundred years ago offers limited guidance on how to get off the Rakma before it leaves Earth. You'll meet a strange-looking furry alien named Bru, of Planet Six, who has found a way off the Rakma. Alongside Bru you face some of the same problems you do with Mopo on Earth, people wanting to exploit the alien for their own profit. Can you make it all the way home without losing Bru as a friend? Your time aboard UFO 54-40 is short, but there are many avenues to failure as you attempt to emancipate yourself from the U-TY masters.

"If we could not laugh, we could not bear to cry; if we could not cry, we could not bear to live." —Chinese philosopher Sung Chi, quoted on P. 76 of Inside UFO 54-40

There are moments of fascinating philosophy in this book; my favorite is when you and Kim Lee confront the U-TY masters on the subject of laughter. They have puzzled for centuries as to why humans laugh and cry; it seems irrational. When you and Kim Lee show the aliens that their inability to feel emotion means they aren't truly alive—that for all their comprehensive intelligence their existence is a sad, empty thing—it drains all power from them. What good is absolute knowledge if you will never feel anything? It's a powerful commentary for those who seek immortality at the expense of humanity, their one priceless asset. Despite this, Inside UFO 54-40 is too unfocused overall for me to consider it transcendent, though I appreciate the cheeky fun of how the reader is supposed to arrive at the planet Ultima since no choice leads to that part of the story. I love when gamebooks go outside the box. Maybe if the threat posed by the U-TY masters were more chilling or immediate, Inside UFO 54-40 would be a great work of interactive fiction, but as is, this is an above average Choose Your Own Adventure that had potential for much more.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74

This addition to the CYOA line was always interesting to read, and I still open it from time to time. Though the idea of Ultima was not one I could see myself actually caring about, even if I was on an alien space ship, the rest of the story was pretty unique and kept my interest.

More reviews by stevesterling

This book didn't really connect with me for whatever reason - I didn't like it. It just seemed... odd, not in a good or funny way like other CYOAs, but in a way that just left a bad vibe, so to speak, after reading it. That's more a personal taste thing than a judgement of the book's objective quality, though.

Maybe it was the illustrations by Paul Granger (Don Hedin), which seemed excessively dated and cartoonish - almost reminiscent of 1960s cartoon style and quite unlike those in later CYOAs. The writing style was also a little different, probably because this was an early book, but not in a way that I liked, either.

More reviews by Stockton