1. Viet Rampage
Authors: Mark Acres (gamebook), Harris Greene (essay)
Illustrators: Doug Chaffee (cover), Todd Cameron Hamilton (interior)
First Published: August, 1987
ISBN: 0-88038-499-9
Length: 191 pages (150 sections, plus maps and "Photographic Satellites" essay)
Number of Endings: 19
Plot Summary: You're a veteran of the Vietnam War working for the CIA
as an espionage agent. Your latest assignment is to return to the site of
the war which scarred you in search of a fallen spy satellite; while you're
there, you also hope to rescue an old buddy...
Translations: Bulgarian, Hungarian
My Thoughts: This definitely isn't my genre -- patriotic, brainless
war fiction is relatively stomach-turning to me, and this is definitely about
as over-the-top and insulting as the genre can be; I just hope it was written
with tongue in cheek, or else I'm a little frightened of the author. This
being said, it's not a badly-written book, and the game design is decent
(apart from the numerous typos mentioned below) -- there's consistency to the
events of the story, and it definitely requires tactics as well as good luck
to win. It's relatively brief, but not disappointingly so. The interior art
also happens to be quite striking, and I'm surprised that such stylish work
found itself in such an unlikely place; it pushes the limits of black and
white printing with its nifty shading. All in all, it's probably worth
grabbing a copy of this book (if it's cheap enough) just so you can gawk at
the art and amuse yourself for a couple of hours. Just don't take it too
seriously, or you may damage your brain.
Errata: This book could really have used some better editing. A lot
of the page numbers leading to the results of dice rolls are reversed, making
good rolls lead to death and bad rolls lead to success. This really confused
me at first since the same error even seems to be in the combat example in
the rules! In any case, I found this problem in sections 14, 34, 47, 51 and
109. It's probably present elsewhere, so hold your place when you turn the
page so you can go back and try the other outcome if the one you turned to
doesn't make any sense.
2. Blast Out in Lebanon
Authors: Dana Kramer and Mark Acres (gamebook), Harris Greene (essay)
Illustrators: Doug Chaffee (cover), Todd Cameron Hamilton (interior)
First Published: September, 1987
ISBN: 0-88038-500-6
Length: 190 pages (116 sections, plus maps and "Mercenary Soldiers and Spies" essay)
Number of Endings: 7
Plot Summary: You are a free-lance agent working for the CIA, and
your mission is to recover (or kill) a kidnapped man who has devised a new
Middle-east peace plan before his knowledge can be used to further
less-than-peaceful causes.
My Thoughts: This book has much in common with the previous volume
in this series -- despite its irritatingly macho and ultra-patriotic
attitude, it features good writing and interesting artwork. It's also a bit
superior to Viet Rampage in terms of plotting (there's more of it)
and game design (though there are some minor continuity breaks, like how many
dead bodies appeared in one night and exactly what weapons were encountered
in a particular situation). The book is a bit on the easy side -- I
completed the adventure successfully on my first try, and although I did have
a number of exceptional dice rolls, it feels like I could have been just as
successful with less remarkable luck on my side. Still, the book has
multiple successful endings, so it has a certain degree of replay value even
if unfortunate deaths don't necessitate starting over from time to time.
Admittedly, though, I wasn't really motivated to attempt a replay -- the
storyline is pretty linear no matter what you do, and the book's possibilities
are limited by its length -- 116 sections just can't offer the same array of
paths as the 350-400 sections typical of most British gamebooks.
Nonetheless, this is a worthwhile (and fairly quick) read, especially if you
enjoy the action/espionage genre more than I do.
3. Into China
Author: Dan Greenberg
Illustrators: Doug Chaffee (cover), Todd Cameron Hamilton (interior)
First Published: November, 1987
ISBN: 0-88038-501-4
Length: 104 sections, plus maps
Number of Endings: 2 good endings (one better than the other) plus 2 bad endings (one led to from 20 different places)
Plot Summary: You are a CIA agent with a respect for China, and one
of your most brilliant Chinese foes has decided to defect, under the
condition that you assist him in his efforts...
My Thoughts: On a whole, I should have enjoyed this book more than
the previous two. The simple fact that its main character is a bit more
reasonable and interesting than the violent ultra-patriots of the last two
volumes would be sufficient reason to mark this the best of the series so
far. The fairly well-developed plot doesn't hurt either. Still, I just
didn't find this to be as satisfying a read as it should have been. The
gameplay is disappointingly linear, for one thing, so that most of the
choices are really non-choices, either pushing the reader back on track or
leading to unavoidable death whenever the "wrong" choice is made.
The combat situations are also rather inadequately defined by the rules,
though this doesn't impact the gameplay too much since no matter how you
interpret the fighting system, it's pretty hard to lose most battles.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the book's characters are just too
exaggerated to be even remotely believable. This would have worked better
if the author had exercised a bit more restraint, but as it is, the idiot is
too idiotic, the geek is too geeky, and the stereotypical bad English is too
stereotypical. If you can mentally tone down the one-dimensional characters,
though, this is a decent read... it's just not a great gamebook.
4. KGB Doublecross
Authors: Matthew J. Costello (gamebook), Harris Greene (essay)
Illustrators: Doug Chaffee (cover), Todd Cameron Hamilton (interior)
First Published: December, 1987
ISBN: 0-88038-502-2
Length: 174 sections, plus maps and "The KGB and Its Activities in the United States" essay
Number of Endings: 1 good ending and 1 bad ending (led to from 19 different places)
Plot Summary: You're a CIA agent posing as a Canadian arms dealer
and... wait, that sounds like book two. But, no, this is different. Anyway,
you're an agent, and you have to go on a dangerous mission, and... Oh, never
mind. It's the same as the other books, give or take a plot element.
My Thoughts: This book started out promisingly. It drops the reader
right into the action and creates genuine interest in what is going on. It
also contains a lot of sections (relative to other books in the series), so
it gives the impression that there's a lot to explore. Unfortunately, it
falls on its face very swiftly. First of all, it uses the game system more
than the previous volumes... much more. In fact, there are very few
choices in the book. Most of the time, you read a bit, roll the dice, hope
that the roll was good (which is often hard to tell), then read some more.
In the long run, you have no control over the story, and in at least one
place I very bitterly resented being unable to make a particular decision.
This isn't a gamebook; it's more like a randomly-generated action novel --
the same events happen every time (barring death), but the details are always
slightly different. Could be interesting, but it fails totally due to the
fact that TSR's copy editor must have had better things to do than ensure
that this book was error free. There are so many incorrect paths and
reversed page numbers that it's impossible to get through the book without
frequently back-tracking just to figure out why your perfect die roll led to
something horrible happening (or vice versa). Attempting to correct mistakes
with the game mechanics becomes so distracting that it's impossible to pay
attention to the plot and characters (which might otherwise have been at
least marginally interesting -- the book is not without traces of talent).
In any case, it almost makes me glad that TSR practically stopped publishing
gamebooks after this series -- they had a special talent for really screwing
things up spectacularly! Boo, hiss, etc.
Errata: If you thought book one was messed up, take a look at this!
As in that previous confusing volume, many page numbers leading to the
results of dice rolls are reversed, making good rolls turn out poorly and bad
rolls turn out well. This problem exists in sections 14, 19, 32, 52, 55, 76,
82, 104, 107, 120, 155 and 162. These probably aren't the only problems, so
it's best if you hold your place before turning the page so that you can go
back and try the other outcome if you turn to a nonsensical results page.
Also, in section 100, the results should be something like: 11 or less, turn
to 144; 12 or more, turn to 75. Finally, sections 46 and 59 both have a
choice that leads to 53. I don't know where this should lead, but 53
is definitely not right!
5. ULTRA Deadly
Authors: Neil Randall (gamebook), Alexander S. Cochrane, Jr. (interview)
Illustrators: Doug Chaffee (cover), Todd Cameron Hamilton (interior)
First Published: March, 1988
ISBN: 0-88038-549-9
Length: 192 pages (162 sections, plus maps and "The ULTRA Advantage" interview with Donald B. Bussey)
Number of Endings: 12 endings (one of which is a generic death ending led to from 18 sections, another of which is a failure led to from 11 sections)
Plot Summary: It's World War II, and you're a spy in Europe trying to
help save the world. It's still pretty much the same as the rest of the
series, but now it's historical!
My Thoughts: Well, I thought, this can't be worse than the
last book in the series. In a way, I was right -- there weren't as many
technical flaws as before (though there certainly were some). There was even
a bit of innovation -- as mentioned above, the book is historical, which is
at least something of a change of pace (though now that the USSR is gone, I
suppose all of the books could be considered historical). Unfortunately, the
book's flaws are countless and far outweigh its virtues. Although the
writing is occasionally interesting, it is also occasionally awkward and hard
to understand. The book's real failing is its ultra-linear design. After a
mostly-linear introduction and a totally linear (and incredibly long) mission
briefing, you finally get to make what seems like a real choice... except
that one of the options leads to a sudden and unsatisfying failure. This
would be okay if not for the fact that you keep getting offered this choice.
You might pick it once, but after that, you know it's an ending, so you
always have to pick the other choice, even if you don't like it. Really,
during the entire period of time that this choice is offered, the author
might as well have put in "Turn to page xx" text instead of options,
as it would have made no difference! And it gets worse... after a while,
you inevitably come to a point where you have to roll the dice. If you make
a low roll, guess where you go? Yep, right to the bad choice that ends the
game! What was the author thinking here?! This isn't interactive fiction,
it's linear frustration! Things get a little better after this point, but
not by much. For the rest of the story, you make choices here and there, and
either you live or you die. The problem is that endings vary wildly in their
level of detail. Although the book has multiple successful endings, only one
of them is written in a satisfying way, making the book end with a dull thud
most of the time. It's a shame. This, like the rest of the series, could
have been good. It's not, though, and I recommend staying far away from it.
Errata: I only found two blatant errors. Section 48's choices both
lead to totally inappropriate sections -- again, I'm not sure where they
should go, but it's certainly not what's printed in the book. Also, section
106 is a bit sloppily written. The first option should end with something
like "If you are incapacitated, turn to 151; otherwise, turn to
145."
6. Libyan Strike
Author: S. Spano
Illustrators: Doug Chaffee (cover), Todd Cameron Hamilton (interior), Jim Clouse (maps)
First Published: June, 1988
ISBN: 0-88038-579-0
Length: 192 pages (92 sections, plus prologue, maps and "Penetrating a Hostile Land: Preparation, Iron Nerves and Luck" essay)
Number of Endings: 2 (1 good plus 1 bad led to from 10 different places)
Plot Summary: You're a relatively inexperienced (but skilled) agent
about to end up on a mission in Libya, with some very personal reasons to
hope for success...
My Thoughts: Much to my surprise, this final book allows the series
to end on something of a high note. Of course, there are flaws: the story is
as incredibly linear as the rest of the series, and there are a few jarring
inconsistencies (characters are treated as dead even if you don't kill them,
plot points are repeated just in case you come down a path where you missed
them the first time around, and so forth). However, the book has a number of
high points. First of all, the book seems to be free of the major typos that
plagued the last two. Additionally, it's the only book in the series where
the character background is just that -- a character background. The other
Sniper! books contain pointless spoilers for the beginning of the
storyline in this section, much to my annoyance; this book, though, simply
speaks of your character's history and provides a useful context for your
mission. It's not just you're character that's well-defined, either; the
members of the supporting cast are also fairly detailed. Overall, the
writing is above average; while the book isn't entirely free of cliches, it
has style. The most interesting manifestation of the author's style is the
fact that the story occasionally jumps away from the player and details
what's happening to other characters in other places. This breaks immersion
a bit, but it gives the book a cinematic feel that increased my enjoyment of
the story. I actually wouldn't mind seeing this technique used more often.
Also worthy of note is the generic death ending, which is interestingly
written. If you have to read just one book from this series, make it this
one... and go ahead and burn books four and five. I won't be offended.