QED Publishing, £8.99, ISBN 978-1-78603-288-1
Puzzle Gamebook, 2018 (Reissue)
Paul Boston’s Find Your Way: In Space is gorgeous. Mike Henson is credited here as the designer, so he’s likely the one behind the illustrations as well? They are a perfect balance of kiddie wholesomeness and kitsch that can appeal even to adults that are children at heart.
This is an educational activity book aimed at kids, so the plot is bare bones. Basically, you are a space pilot tasked to locate and help the alien folks called the Zeebles, whose rocket has landed head first into a spot in the galaxy called Crater Canyon.
You begin at Spaghetti Junction, and you will make your way to Crater Canyon through 10 other locations, each one an visually fantastical spread.
Each spread is designed to resemble a maze, but there are no wrong turns. Instead, you will turn to the page corresponding to the next location depending on the route you choose to take, and there is no wrong route.
At worst, you end up at a spread you have been to already, and it’s just a matter of picking another route… if you are too lazy to look at the map of the whole galaxy at the beginning of the campaign and figure out the quickest way there, that is. Hey, it’s the journey that counts, right?
At each spread, there are some activities to do, mostly looking for things and counting objects and what not. More significantly, each spread is divided into grids, so you’ll have to look for things based on coordinates given.
That’s right, you’re also learning how to decipher and use coordinates here. Who says gamebooks aren’t educational again?
This one is a great way to entertain yourself on a lazy, boring day because there are fun things to do and explore on every spread. The replay value isn’t much, and you getting to choose your spacecraft early on is just a cosmetic thing, but playing this one is actually a whole lot of fun even when you are way older than the target audience and should probably know better.
Great artwork, fun things to do, and getting to feel like a kid again… Find Your Way: In Space, and find yourself pleasantly entertained.
