Fighting Fantasy Legends review - A game book adventure with more game and less book

Fighting Fantasy Legends takes the shape of the classic gamebook series, then shakes it around to great effect.

It's more like a choose-your-own-adventure board game than anything else. You pick a character, then head out into classic FF locations to complete quests, kill monsters, and try not to die.

The game manages to capture the cruelty of the original series, while wrapping things up in a package that's likely to appeal more than the reams of text the genre usually relies on.

Once you've built your character, you head out into the world. Most of your movement is handled automatically, but there are locations where you can choose which way you want to head.

There's a world map to explore too, as well as the smaller cities where most of the action takes place. Here you'll shop, fight, take quests, and earn XP.

The fights are handled pretty simply. You've got a pool of attack dice. Roll these and any attack symbols that come up will cause damage to your foe. Your opponent has its their own dice, and you roll until one of you is dead.

Skill tests are handled in the same way, albeit with a different set of digital cubes. When you level up you can upgrade one of these sets, depending on how you want to play the game.

If your stamina hits zero, you'll black out. When you wake up again one of your dice will have a cross on hit. Roll this and you'll automatically fail any test you have to take.

Events occur as you play. Step into a question-mark filled space and you'll be confronted with a trap, a fight, or some other obstacle to overcome or reward to collect.

Don't expect the game to be a walk in the park though. You don't have much gold, healing potions are scarce, and one wrong move will see you blacking out before you even know what's gone wrong.

That's part of the fun though. Once it's taught you the basics, Fighting Fantasy Legends lets go of your hand and throws you to the mercy of a world that's trying to kill you almost constantly.

If you're a fan of the Fighting Fantasy series, or you're just looking for a new swords-and-sorcery digital board game, then you're going to find a lot to like here.

And the game manages to get over some of the hurdles of the game books quite neatly too. So if this is your first trip into the classic universe, you'll probably have a damn good time.