Choice of Games is an up-and-coming app developing company that I’m definitely keeping my eyes on. You may recall that my last weekend app list included “Creatures Such as We” as one to look out for. This week, the company launched another choose-your-own-adventure book and this one is filled with giant, toothy, scaly creatures.
The Last Monster Master is a text-based multiple-choice game book that puts the reader into the character of a Monster Master, which is a telepathic person with the ability to communicate with the beasts of the underworld. As a Master, you are charged with training monsters, as well as making sure they don’t turn on humanity and destroy everything.
If you don’t know what a choose-your-own-adventure book is, well, you are probably under the age of 25. Good for you. These multiple-choice adventure books allow readers to take different paths deeper into a story. Do you choose to open the door, or head down the hallway? Your choices affect the outcome of the story.
In The Last Monster Master, players follow the telepathic trainer as he learns of the restless nature of monsters. Will you make the right choices to keep the beasts from turning against humankind? Will you be forced to push your monster friends into becoming part of a war machine?
This book is a 250,000-word fantasy fiction story with dozens of choices to make at every turn. Practically ever page offers multiple options for you to pick from and every response creates a new pathway for you to explore.
In this adventure, players decide early on whether they will be masters of body language or mental telepathy. Your decision will affect how you interact with the monsters and your ability to know what they are feeling.
As a Master, you must prepare your creatures for an upcoming war, but you decide how to get them ready. You can choose to keep them structured under a strict no-nonsense military style regimen, or win them over with compassion. Although, they are monsters, don’t forget.
This app is heavily text based with no graphics or sound effects. So, as a reader, you’ll be forced to use your imagination to conjure up the world you are reading about. I don’t know about you, but my mind has always been better at creating imagery than outside illustrations.
The Last Monster Master is available on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch and is on sale for $2.99. Download it in the App Store today.