Combat Heroes

                                                           RANKINGS

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1. White Warlord - Score = 💀 1/2 - One and a Half Skulls

Attempts to Beat: 1

Well, that was disappointing. The "Combat Heroes" series by author Joe Dever of "Lone Wolf" fame, is designed for two-players, but also has a solo game included with it, and as with other two-player series that have such a component (like "Clash of the Princes"), I will be reviewing just strictly the solo portion. And if the solo adventure is any indication, I hope for the sake of those playing the two-player game that it's much better than this. The story here, oh boy. Could this be any thinner? In this first book you play as the White Warlord, ruler of the realm of Kordan, and are in constant competition with your arch-rival, the Black Baron of Zorn, to see who can kill the other and presumably take over their lands. Within the major neutral city of Jakor, there dwells a famous maze-master who proposes a contest between yourself and the Black Baron, to see which of you can survive his deadly maze, and with a prize of 50,000 gold pieces to the victor. You accept the challenge, as does the Black Baron, but on your way to Jakor you are abducted by the Black Baron's men, and thrown in a deadly maze of the Baron's construction. So hang on, we were travelling towards a challenge in a maze, are kidnapped en route, then dropped in a different maze? The inhabitants of this world sure must have a fetish for mazes. And of course the usual question of "why didn't your arch-enemy just kill you outright?" presents itself as well, which proves to be even more of a puzzler in this case seeing as how easy his maze ended up being to solve.
 

"I'm going to leave them alone and not actually witness them dying, I'm just going to assume it all went to plan."

This is a dice-less gamebook and only gives you one stat to keep track of, that being your Endurance points of which you begin the game with 30. Before being dropped in the maze, you are also told what you will need to do in order to escape. There are 9 treasures located throughout the maze, which must all be located before you can leave. The catch is that each treasure can only be opened by one of the other treasures. You are given a Silver Disc before you begin, which will open one of the treasures, and the treasure you obtain there will open one of the others etc, etc. So in other words you need to locate all the treasure locations, and also determine the exact order in which they need to be opened. Each treasure has a riddle inscribed on it which gives a clue as to what item will open it, but these riddles are pretty weak, and include lines such as "smooth as glass, and green as grass", and it did seem to me that whether you already have the required item or not is usually clear, as each of the treasures are quite distinct. The item in question for the above riddle is an emerald, and if you don't have the emerald yet, nothing else comes close to this description so you know to not even try any of your other items, which if you choose incorrectly results in a minor Endurance point loss. Uncovering the locations of the treasures is not hard at all, because the layout of the maze is very small and cramped, and many times you only have to turn a few corners to find another one. The maze itself is also shockingly devoid of anything interesting with empty passageways everywhere, and how is it that a series called "Combat Heroes" has NO combat in it?

There are only two different kinds of things you can uncover in the maze, either treasures or traps. The treasures you obviously want to find, but there are also traps scattered throughout the maze which you can trigger should you pass through certain passageways going in a certain direction. These traps include things such as spears shooting out of the walls, or a poison gas cloud spraying you in the face, and cost you some Endurance points. Once you have triggered them once however, they are easily avoidable after that, and thankfully none of them cause instant death (that I found anyway). You recover some Endurance points when you successfully open one of the treasures, and without this I probably wouldn't have beaten the adventure on my first try. I got down as low as 3 Endurance at one point due to triggering various traps as I randomly wandered through the maze, so one more trap likely would have polished me off. However by this point I had now learned the locations of all the treasures and began opening them in order, recovering more and more Endurance as I did so, and ended the game with my Endurance total at 25. There is a scoring system provided at the end, where you compare how many Endurance points you have remaining to get a ranking, and my total of 25 granted me the highest ranking attainable, that of "Expert Survivor". Even if I had died on this first attempt, I would have easily been able to blow through the maze on my second go, so as long as you make a map, the challenge level here is quite low.   

Speaking of the layout of the maze, this is one of those adventures that can initially be confusing to map out, because the section number for each passageway will be different depending upon which direction you are facing, making it tougher to locate areas you haven't been to yet. However, I quickly figured out to map using the section numbers and also used directional arrows on my map, and didn't have too much trouble after that, although because you are never given the distance of the passageways you are travelling down, my map didn't always quite link up, as it can be hard to tell how far you have walked just going off the illustrations. Ah yes the illustrations. With very little text descriptions here, the adventure relies upon an illustration of each passageway you travel down in order to create atmosphere, but fails abysmally here as the drawings are very small and undetailed, with never anything of interest going on in them. Even when you spring a trap, you are met with a cartoonish drawing such as a scythe coming out of a wall for instance, which I'm surprised didn't contain the world "SLASH!" in big bold letters on the page. Every so often you will come across a passageway where one of the options as to which way to go has an "x" in front of it, and when that happens you turn to the corresponding line entry at the back of the book. (ie. x78 would have you checking out line 78) and this is usually where you are sent when you locate a treasure. So while there is SOME text here, these lines are very brief and do not pick up any of the slack left over by the lackluster illustrations.      

One other thing to note, make sure you don't get caught out starting the solo game on the wrong section as I initially did. Somewhat buried in the rules for the solo quest, it is mentioned that this game mode begins on section 7. So if after having read the rest of the rules, this fact has slipped from your mind, you could find yourself beginning on section 1 (being used to always starting at 1) and inadvertently find yourself playing the two-player game for 10 or so minutes before you wonder what the hell is going on and why nothing seems to be making much sense, at which point you go back to the rules and figure out your mistake. Ok, so maybe I was the only one who made this error, but I thought I would call it out just in case. Finally, the sections used for the solo game are different in terms of game-play (with different icons at the bottom of the page as opposed to the two-player sections), so each section in the book is therefore dedicated to one game or the other. Strangely then, the pages for both the solo and two-player games are intermingled with one another. It could have cut down on the page flipping somewhat if the different games had just been kept separate, and the only reason I can think of for doing it this way is to make each game mode seem longer than it really is. 
 

Ranking: This felt like a waste of time. I have to believe the solo quest was included just as a cash grab so they could put "for either 1 or 2 players" on the front and market it to the solo crowd as well. If I had bought this purely for the solo content, I would have felt rightly ripped off. (Hang on....that IS what I bought it for. D'oh!)  The "riddles" and determining in which order to open the treasures is the only remote reason for even playing this, and even that can frustrate when you have to weave back and forth through the same corridors to collect everything step-by-step. Even though this is not a magazine adventure, I have decided to use the "Skull Ranking" system, as there is not enough meat here to compare it to other full-length gamebooks. No story development, no encounters (save for a ghost right at the exit), and no combats. My goodness, are all the solo quests in this series going to be like this? If so, perhaps this should be called the "No Combat and Lame Heroes" series, although "Treasures and Traps" would have been a more appropriate and realistic title with a better ring to it. 

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2. Black Baron - Score = 💀 1/2 - One and a Half Skulls

Attempts to Beat: 1

This is going to be a short review, because this is essentially the same gamebook as the previous one. Here we play as the Black Baron of Zorn, who like our counterpart from the first book, accepts the maze-master's challenge and sets off for the city of Jakor. On the way he is captured by the White Warlord's men, and is thrown into a maze to presumably die, unless he can find the 9 treasures hidden within and escape yadda yadda yadda. Original eh? 

I finished this quest several days before beginning to write this post because I didn't know what the hell I was going to talk about, and I am already struggling to say much here, as the only differences from this adventure and the first book are very minor. The layout of the maze is switched up (although not as much as you might expect when comparing my two maps side-by-side), the 9 treasures are different, as are the "riddles" that are provided as to the order in which the treasures need to be unlocked, and that's about it. One final difference I noticed was that this adventure felt even easier than the first one, as at least in that one I came close to death by getting down to 3 Endurance at one point, but here the lowest my Endurance score ever dipped was 13, before I then started unlocking the treasures and the score began climbing again. I believe this is because, for some unknown reason, there are a handful of traps that cause NO damage when you trigger them. What the heck was the point of them then? I actually came across five traps such as these as I explored the maze (while I believe I only came across one such trap in the first book that caused no damage). As such, I again finished with the highest possible score ranking when I exited the maze, also once again doing so on my first attempt. And also once again, there were no combats, no encounters, no story.  

When beginning this book, I was fully expecting it to be very much like the previous one, and therefore wasn't surprised to find that indeed was the case. But as I was playing, it occurred to me.....why did it have to be this way? I mean, for the two-player game the adventures in both books needed to be the same, I get that. But for the solo games, why couldn't the two adventures have been completely different? For example, the Black Baron could have had his ship caught in a storm as he travelled to Jakor, and found himself shipwrecked on a deadly island that he needed to escape from. For that matter, neither of the two solo adventures needed to take place in mazes, because that was what the two player game was for. This could have lead to some nice character development for each of them if they both had their own distinct adventures, and could have made the two-player game feel more personal if you played the solo quest with your chosen character first. Instead, it turns out that both the White Warlord and the Black Baron have the EXACT same plan to deal with the other, right down to the 9 treasures and riddles! That seems so incredibly unlikely that I was half expecting some great twist, where it is eventually revealed that the White Warlord and the Black Baron were in fact the same person, and they suffered from some sort of split-personality disorder that had him constantly at war with himself. But alas, I guess it's just supposed to be a fantastic coincidence.  

Destined to battle for all eternity. These books would have made more sense as Spy-vs-Spy gamebooks.    

Ranking: I don't feel that I have much choice but to give this the same score as the first book, because if you have played that book, then you have for all intents and purposes played this as well. I give the tiebreaker to the White Warlord book, just because it felt slightly more "difficult". On to the next pair of books in the series, and at least it appears that Joe Dever has chosen a couple of more interesting colours for these next two if nothing else, and a Christmassy combination of colours at that.   

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3. Emerald Enchanter - Score = 💀 💀 - Two Skulls

Attempts to Beat: 4

This adventure certainly starts off much better than the preceding ones, I can say that for certain. It couldn't maintain the optimism I had after reading the opening, but was still able to finish slightly better than those earlier entries. You play here as the Emerald Enchanter of Arnia, star pupil of Silvarion the Great, one of the greatest wizards to have ever lived. A former pupil of Silvarion named Ralagon, who has since joined the forces of darkness, has poured his mystical power into something he calls the POWER CRYSTAL (for some reason I picture everyone shouting this whenever it is said) which will amplify his powers even more. The act of doing so however cost Ralagon his life, but he still leads the forces of evil as a powerful Deathlord. Blaming himself for Ralagon turning to evil, Silvarion decides to end the threat himself by stealing and destroying the POWER CRYSTAL, which is kept within Ralagon's fortress located in the Plain of Nightmares. Silvarion succeeds in stealing the crystal and escapes the fortress, but is killed by Ralagon's assassins before he can destroy it. The POWER CRYSTAL is not to be found on Silvarion's body however, meaning he must have hidden it somewhere, knowing that he was down to his last and about to be found by the forces of darkness. With that, it falls upon you, along with yet another star pupil of Silvarion known as the Scarlet Sorcerer, to locate the crystal before Ralagon's forces are able to reclaim it.

"Ladies and gentlemen....we would like to play our newest hit song........THE POWER CRYSTAL!!!"

You set off from your hometown in search of the crystal, and this is where the map movement system comes in. Unlike the previous adventures, here you are usually given the option of moving off in any one of 8 different compass directions (unless a mountain range or body of water happens to be blocking your way) and you then move to the indicated numbered section shown on the compass point. Each new map section that you enter will give you the option of exploring what is contained in that area by providing a text number to turn to at the back of the book should you wish to search it, and in this manner you explore the continent of Thorasia, where the adventure takes place, by investigating towns, forests, castles and temples. There is a poem provided at the start of the game (written by Silvarion himself) that gives clues as to the crystal's location, but I'm still not sure why you wouldn't want to investigate everything you come across because that is what the game is all about, and you will need to search high and low for the crystal. You will need to find a couple of other items first in order to be able to get to the crystal, so whereas in the first adventure there were 9 items you needed to find in a specific order, here there are only 2. Normally I would say that would be a big step back, but in this series I think I actually prefer having less things to find. This is because the section count is quite low, thus making the actual game map quite small, which means that having more items to find will have you practically tripping over them at every turn as we saw in the first pair of adventures. Here though, you need to explore thoroughly (although if you got lucky and found the 2 items quickly, I could see how this adventure would fall completely flat) and you will probably spend a lot of time exploring locations that have absolutely no reward or payoff. This just made it a bit more rewarding for me though when I did eventually uncover something I was actually looking for. 

Speaking of the smaller section count of these adventures, author Joe Dever tries to disguise it here by providing a large overworld map (in true Lone Wolf style) of the land that you need to explore in your quest for the POWER CRYSTAL, complete with mountains, villages, and forests. In addition, he puts in a nice story feature in that you explore this land, not on foot or by horse, but in a magical airship (in yet another nod to Lone Wolf). This initially conjures up some wonderful imagery of flying over the plains and forests of the world, but it's not realized very well once you set off on the quest. Most of the time I completely forgot I was even supposed to be flying in an airship, and the only times I was reminded of it was when I suffered an insta-death from my ship crashing. This is because, as with the previous adventure, there is very little description here, and despite visiting several castles, towns, and fortresses, you are usually only given a sentence or two before finding out if there is anything useful there or if you suffer some sort of an Endurance point loss. It is admittedly somewhat better than the previous adventures in this respect, but that isn't saying much. At least the provided map here allows your imagination the opportunity to fill in some of the blanks. Also, while there is still no combat to be found here, this adventure did at least provide some initial challenge due to the time limit and the inclusion of several insta-deaths, so I felt like I got a little more out of this experience than I did with the previous quests.  

In those previous quests, you only had your Endurance points to keep track of (along with any items you collect of course), but this adventure adds a time limit mechanic to the proceedings. You only have 40 days to find the POWER CRYSTAL before it is assumed that it has been found by either the Deathlord's forces, or by your rival, the Scarlet Sorcerer, in which case you lose the game. Hang on, I know we are rivals and all, but as long as one of either myself or the Scarlet Sorcerer recovers the crystal, shouldn't that constitute a "win"? Seems a bit conceited that my character would take his rival locating the crystal before himself just as harshly as if the evil Deathlord found it first, which would also mean death and destruction for all. Anyway, each new area of the map you travel to costs you 1 day, and you will also need to add various amounts of days to your time used depending upon what should happen to you when exploring an area. For example, you could find yourself thrown in prison in one of the villages, and are then told to add 3 days to your time before you are able to escape. Some of the more unlucky events can even see you having to add 7 days to your time, but there really isn't much rhyme or reason as to what is going to happen when you choose to explore a location, and most of the time you are just winging it. The only exception to this would be some of the insta-deaths that can be uncovered should you explore a truly unsafe location, and you should be able to tell what most of these are based upon how they are depicted on the provided overworld map (ie. you are not rewarded for trying to think outside the box or take any chances here). Maybe the biggest disappointment mechanic-wise though is that you are playing as a magician, but there is no magic system to be seen. I get that the format and section count here doesn't allow for it, but then you shouldn't be going and making my character a magic user! Narratively speaking, there was the odd time where my character would cast a spell, but much like with the airship, these moments stood out because they just reminded me of an aspect of the adventure that was going to waste.

Ranking: Better than the previous adventures in pretty much every way. Still only a half skull rating better though, because while it introduces some nice ideas and the semblance of a story at the start, it really ended up being rather boring to play. You stumble around the map, hoping you come across the items you need before either your time runs out or you blunder into an insta-death (I never even came close to running out of Endurance points). You could argue that many gamebooks are like this at the heart of it, but most of them have some sort of combat system, or an interesting story, or an atmospheric environment (and hopefully all of the above) that can successfully disguise any drawbacks. The lack of anything of real interest going on here though just shines the spotlight brighter on the simple design, and not in a good way. I wonder how much the next adventure in the series will deviate from this one. If I end up just being another schlub wearing different coloured robes flying around in an airship looking for the same POWER CRYSTAL, I am going to be very put off.    

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4. Scarlet Sorcerer - Score = 💀 1/2 - One and a Half Skulls

Attempts to Beat: 4

Another short review here, because as it turns out, very put off is exactly what I ended up being. All the author did here is paste the same introduction and prologue in, then crossed out Emerald Enchanter and substituted in the name Scarlet Sorcerer instead. You play as the character of the title, star pupil of Silvarion the Great, whose former star pupil Ralagon has defected to the side of evil and poured his energy into the POWER CRYS-.....oh screw it, I'm not doing that anymore. There are only a few differences in this adventure from the previous, these being:

- you begin in a different hometown, on the complete opposite side of the world map (and the world map is exactly the same as before)
- the poem you are given at the beginning that provides clues as to what items you will need is different (because what you need to find is slightly different this time)
- whereas in the previous adventure you needed to find two items, along with the power crystal itself, here you only need to find ONE item that will allow you to access the crystal. As if the introduction wasn't lazy enough, this is brutal
- the item you need along with the power crystal are hidden in different locations this time (thank goodness, or this would have been incredibly lame)

So yeah, if you have already played Emerald Enchanter, this isn't exactly thrilling stuff. The difficulty level on the surface seemed to be about the same, as despite having one less item to find, it took me the same amount of attempts to complete (thanks to several random insta-deaths). That said, after completing this quest and looking at my map, the layout does make it look much easier. In the previous book, having that one extra item to find makes a world of difference, because it had me thoroughly exploring the map. The previous book also laid its required items out in such a way that you had to zig-zag and double back a couple of times to do everything in the correct order. But here, the one item you need to find before you can get the power crystal is located mere steps away from your starting hometown, and you are even provided a hint about which direction to take to get there before setting out. I could just have easily beaten this adventure on my second or third attempt had I not been curious and investigated everything in most areas I entered, which is what adventuring is supposed to be about. 

I did come across something puzzling in one of the locations, in that I ran into my rival, the Emerald Enchanter, who was also seeking the power crystal. Instead of doing the sensible thing and joining forces for the good of the continent, (or even just deciding to put our animosity on hold and let each other continue searching for the crystal) we decide that our petty rivalry takes precedence, and attack each other instead. The book then gave me the option of resolving our encounter using the two player game. I didn't have this meeting while playing the previous adventure, although it could have been in there somewhere. But the thing is, if I had a friend available to play the two player game, wouldn't I likely be doing that already? I wonder how many readers playing the solo game actually went and found someone willing to play the two player game just to resolve this encounter. Seems like a heck of a lot of trouble to go to just to "move on" in the adventure, which the book allows you to do solo should you wish to anyway. 

Ranking: Basically the same adventure as Emerald Enchanter, except lazier. Once again I feel like there is no reason why these solo adventures needed to be repeated in each pair of books, and why they couldn't have been completely unique. While I liked the story and idea behind the latter pair of books better than the initial pair, the design and layout of Scarlet Sorcerer in particular felt so half-assed that out of all the adventures, I found this one to be the least fun, and therefore have it at the bottom of the rankings. Yet another final adventure in a series to meet that fate. The series as a whole was extremely hampered by an almost total lack of atmosphere, interesting story developments, or fun game mechanics, and I feel my initial thoughts about the solo games being included as a "tack on" just to sell more books was justified.