Scholastic, $3.99, ISBN 0-590-67319-X
Horror, 1996

Don’t be fooled by the Night in Werewolf Woods title and the cover into thinking that this is a werewolf campaign. It’s not. It’s more of you and an assortment of Goosebumps clichés running around and choosing whatever random options thrown that your way.

That’s right. You are the usual feisty teen not too happy that your family is joining the family of the class nerd, Todd, to go to WoodsWorld for summer vacation. When bullies seize Todd’s box of pewter figures, you feel sorry for him and decide to get it back. You are given the option of ditching Todd or bringing him along… and here is where this one differs from most titles in this series by foisting Todd on you even if you had opted to leave him behind. This is unfortunate because, yikes, he’s such a dead weight. Also, instead of veering off your character into one of two different story arcs based on the first major decision you have to do (ditch Todd or bring him along), you will find yourself making random options and having to deal with all kinds of nonsense thrown your way.

Sure, there are werewolves, but they are just sort of here to chase you into whatever random deus ex machina endings the premise has in store. There are also pterodactyls, elevators in a bottomless pit, Cheerios that make you smart or strong, weird lantern lines… it’s like a hodge-podge of LOL whatever stuff in here, thrown together without rhyme or reason. There is no discernible story, direction, or anything of that sort, just a pointless kind of randomness.

You may try to search for the presence of homages to Louis Carroll or werewolf movies, but this one really isn’t that deep and it’s not worth investing brainpower on. It’s just a silly, dumb thing best given to kids below twelve to distract them – hopefully they may learn a new word or two in the process. It’s going to be a waste of time for everyone else.