Skyrim The Novel

Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf is a throwback to choose your own adventure books. This title instantly reminded me of Skyrim, but in the form of a novel. Lone Wolf is made up of two sections; the novel, and the action segments. The game progresses as you read the story and make choices. Some of these choices will lead to things like a battle or picking a lock. When one of these action segments takes place, the game moves from the novel to a 3D world. Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf surprisingly works well and will keep your interest. The story is captivating and has a way to connect with you right away.

The In’s and Out’s

One of the first things that jumped out at me was the graphics style. The game is gorgeous, between the hand-drawn depictions in the novel and the 3D world that you’re in during the action segments. The music in the game is okay and helps develop the atmosphere the game wants to create. One thing that does bother me though is the saving system. Right from the beginning the game never mentions autosaves, and never shows you how to save the game. I’ve found that whenever you are done playing you can choose from the menu to return to the main menu. When you come back to it the game will pick up right where you exited from. The saving needs to be explained at the beginning of the game to prevent people from being worried about turning the game off.

Time Your Actions

When I say time your actions, what I mean is attack as quickly as possible before the timer runs out. The battle system is my main gripe with Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf. The battle system is based on a timer, you have to perform your actions before the timer runs out. During the timer, there are quite a few actions for you to choose from, and as long as you are quick you can perform a few different actions. Each action depending on which category it comes from will use mana or energy. There is also a special that you can perform, though it seems arbitrary when that special is available. The battle system definitely needs much more explanation as I found myself just choosing actions without planning. Also, the items that are available during a battle are limited to what you have placed on your toolbelt. You start with three slots to place items for battles, which works fine, but items can be scarce at the beginning of the game. You need to make sure you use the rest feature before moving on with the story to avoid using up all of your potions.

In Conclusion

Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf is an excellent choose your own adventure story with decent game elements. The fact that your choices affect the story adds replay value to the game and makes you want to go back and see what will happen if you make different choices. The battle system could use more explanation to make it flow better for the player. The art style and story are the shining stars of this game. If you like story’s then Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf will be a perfect game for you.