QED Publishing, £8.99, ISBN 978-1-78493-288-6
Puzzle Gamebook, 2018 (Reissue)
Oh no, green-skinned jungle folks, called the Leafies, need your help. You will navigate your way through a series of maze-like wooden paths across 12 nicely done spreads, doing some item hunting and problem solving as well on each spread, until you reach the Festival Tent of the Leafie king and help set up his birthday party.
Wait, if the animals of this jungle are capable of buying and driving cars, why can’t these folks just order what they need off whatever Amazon equivalent out there instead of bugging you to run around doing errands without getting paid? Why do toucans drive cars when it is faster to just fly to wherever they want to go?
Oh right, kids are dumb, they won’t ask questions because they are easily distracted by pretty things.
Find Your Way in Space was a pretty fun addition to the puzzle gamebook genre, so brace yourself when you realize that Find Your Way in the Jungle is basically a reskin of that one. To be more specific, it sure seems like all the entries in the Find Your Way series are based on the same template, with minor variations.
Why do they do this? The whole thing feels rather lazy, if truth be told.
Still, is the template feel really that bad? Not entirely, as it’s a fun way to introduce some kids to coordinates, get them to do some counting, and fine tune some cognitive skills such as identification of things, making reasonable deductions, etc. The illustrations are still gorgeous, which is also great.
However, older folks may find things to be tad repetitive. Played one, played them all, after all. This one is still a pretty fun way to spend a lazy afternoon, but since it is geared at young kids, the brain rarely gets even a tickle while doing the puzzles, which are on the braindead easy side. In fact, the toughest one is ruined a bit by having the answer placed right next to the question box!
Hence, with the novelty gone, this one is on the pretty but rather bland side. Maybe play it with the kid to see if the experience would be any more enjoyable.
