1. High Spy
Author: Robert Coulson
Illustrator: Jim Holloway
First Published: May, 1987
ISBN: 0-88038-514-6
Length: 128 pages
Number of Endings: 14
Plot Summary: You are Jason Kare, a young athlete trying out for the
U. S. Lazer Tag Team in order to compete in the 3010 World Games. Your life
becomes a bit more interesting after you overhear a suspicious conversation
between two outworlders, however....
My Thoughts: This is definitely rather reminiscent of the
espionage-oriented Endless Quest books, except that
it's set in a fairly generically-described future in which Lazer Tag is a
major sport. It's fairly dated and not overly creative, but at least the
game design is pretty good -- there's a focused story, and it takes some
intelligent (though not too difficult) decision-making to reach the optimal
ending. The Lazer Tag games that one might think would be a major part of
the book are pretty unthrillingly described, though, and I can't help
thinking that this might have been more fun with some sort of combat system
included. Still, while I wasn't overly impressed by the book, I got at least
a bit of enjoyment out of it while it lasted.
2. Danger, Second Hand
Author: Bruce Algozin
Illustrator: Jim Holloway
First Published: May, 1987
ISBN: 0-88038-515-4
Length: 128 pages
Number of Endings: 10
Plot Summary: You are Zip Logan, Lazer Tag MVP; when you investigate
a restaurant bombing on the famous planet of Ardria, you end up stumbling
upon the world's dark secret....
My Thoughts: Although there is no explicit continuity with the
previous adventure, this book picks up with the same characters but gives the
reader control of a different individual than before. The book is structured
in much the same way as the last one, with a fairly linear path to victory
but a few ways to branch off along the way. The choices are less interesting
this time around, though, and I really wasn't especially impressed with the
story -- it's yet another science fiction parable about discrimination and
exploitation, and while it obviously means well, it takes too simplistic a
view of a complex issue, offers too easy a solution, and just embarrasses
itself by including gratuitous Lazer Tag matches along the way.
3. Invisible Rival
Author: Bruce Algozin
Illustrators: Artifact Studio (cover), Jim Holloway (interior)
First Published: August, 1987
ISBN: 0-88038-516-2
Length: 128 pages
Number of Endings: 7
Plot Summary: You are team captain Blaze Dekker, and you have an
unfortunate situation to deal with: your team has just been accused of
kidnapping a whole rival team!
My Thoughts: Like the last book, this one makes use of the same
characters as the first adventure but puts a different person into the main
spotlight. There's slightly more explicit continuity, though, for this turns
out to be another espionage mission. In fact, it ends up being a rather odd
tale involving advanced technology and strange mutants, and it almost feels
like an exceptionally wordy Be an Interplanetary
Spy book. I'm not sure what the title has to do with anything, though;
in fact, the same thing could be said of the previous book, unless I'm
missing something obvious. In any case, I didn't find the book to be
terribly entertaining. In fact, I was more relieved than anything else when
it finally ended; perhaps it wasn't a good idea to try to review three of
these things in one sitting!
4. The Galactic Games
This book is not part of my collection.