The world famous adventure book author Joe Dever has an official game out on iOS for his legendary Lone Wolf Series, called Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf. If you were a fan of the gamebooks, then this game is a must!
This is our Review: Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf Adventure iOS Game:
Joe Dever is one of the best adventure book authors ever. Not any type of adventure book author, you know those turn-based books where you choose a character and have to roll dice when you fight against enemies. Adventure books where you determine the outcome, you shape the story based on decisions you make in the book.
I’ve been a fan of Joe Dever since I was 10 years old. His adventure books played a massive role if not the most defining role in getting me interested in turn-based games, adventure games, and eventually D&D. I am collector of his books, I just about have the entire collection.
Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf is a gamebook game that incorporates a bit of Infinity Blade style hand-to-hand combat. Hack your way through the city to clean out the riff raff and rebuild a destroyed community.
Fans of choose-your-own adventure games will note the beautifully designed tome that opens when you start the game. The menu screen looks like a table of contents. As you turn each page, the letters slowly appear on screen as if they are magically being written as you play. In a way, they are. You decide what your character is, and as your abilities and equipment are chosen, the story continues with the new information.
Gameplay
When you are faced with a decision, a small icon will appear on the page. Tap it to be transported to the action. If you decide to climb a cliff, you will switch to a section where you must tap the screen at very specific intervals in order to pass your climb check. If you make it, the story continues.
In addition to simple skill checks, players will be faced with action combat against non-player characters. Instead of being based solely on stats and the randomness of rolling dice, players must use a series of taps and swipes in order to defeat their foes.
As the game progresses, players will be able to choose which direction they will go along the path through town. Depending on which way you go, you will be faced with a different storyline.
Character choice
When you begin your adventure, you will be asked a series of questions that will determine what type of adventurer you will play. You can pick brute strength, pure intellect, or a little of both. All three options have their strengths and weaknesses. Choose the options that best fit your gaming style. If you tend to bowl doors down by charging into them, select strength-based abilities. If you prefer to think out the issue and come to a logical conclusion, or use spells to get around a problem, choose intellect. If you are the kind of gamer who likes to be well rounded, but not exceptional at any one thing, choose the balanced character.
Price
Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf costs $4.99, which is the average price of a game in this genre. Think of how much you might spend on a paperback book. If you know what gamebooks are, it is significantly cheaper than one of the adventures in this series. Where the real value lies is in the $9.99 purchase of the rest of the series. There are a total of four books in this particular series. If you buy the season pass, acts 2, 3, and 4 will be automatically added to your bookshelf when they come out. So, you will get the whole series for about $15 instead of $20.
Here’s the Trailer:
Conclusion:
Fans of the gamebooks will be left with a sour taste in the mouth after playing a few chapters, this is mainly due to the addition of the Infinity Blade style battle sequences. It is very un-gamebook like and it felt like playing a dungeon crawl game instead of enjoying a story driven adventure. Other than that playing Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf brought back some great memories of reading the adventures of Lone Wolf, Kai Master! The game is definitely one of the better gamebook stories out there. There’s plenty of fun choices that involve extra action to give you more to do than just read.
