The Fighting Fantasy series is usually a collaborative effort between Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, but Bloodbones – a lost adventure that would have been the 60th book in the series had it been published – was actually written by freelance writer Jonathan Green and illustrated by Tony Hough. The adventure centers around the ‘Old World’, where pirates sail the high seas and where every town has a dimly-lit, smoke-filled tavern that is brimming with salty sea dogs and backstabbing scalawags.
TouchArcade: Tin Man Games has been applying their considerable gamebook know-how to the Fighting Fantasy series for a couple of years now, so far releasing eight of the most popular and noteworthy installments of the franchise. While there are a couple of conspicuous absences remaining, the developer has shown a good eye in its selections thus far. The latest release, Fighting Fantasy: Bloodbones [$5.99], is an interesting choice for a few reasons. This is the first of Tin Man's Fighting Fantasy releases that isn't written by either Ian Livingstone or Steve Jackson, instead being the work of Jonathan Green, one of the writers from the later days of the series.
DD:
"After eight Fighting Fantasy game books and innumerable others (either from its own Gamebook Adventures franchise or other third party authors), Tin Man Games has the choose-your-own-adventure gamebook style down pat.
It understands how to make a visually pleasing interface and it knows how to make text legible - a critical concern when you consider how much reading these gamebooks involve. It knows how to keep the action sequences snappy with dice rolls that are times just right to show the results quickly while also creating some visual flair. And it knows how to give each adventure an ambient soundtrack that perfectly fits with the setting, atmosphere, and tone of each individual gamebook."
TTP:" Fighting Fantasy: Bloodbones is a worthy entry of the franchise, thanks to the new gameplay mechanics that give players more possibilities like gold usage and others. The game's story is not as engaging as previous games, unfortunately, but that's the only fault in a game that really does well what it sets out to do. Highly recommended to fans of gamebooks and role playing games."
