Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson’s Fighting Fantasy series of ‘choose your own adventure’ style gamebooks is being adapted into video game form for the DS, courtesy of Aspyr Media and Big Blue Bubble. Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, based on the original book of the same name, is a first-person high-fantasy action-RPG powered by a “highly optimized 3D engine” that “might be the best looking game that we’ve ever seen on Nintendo DS,” according to Aspyr’s Executive VP Ted Staloch.
With help from authors Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, Big Blue Bubble is authentically recreating the Fighting Fantasy universe for DS adventurers to enjoy and working hard to make The Warlock of Firetop Mountain the preeminent FPS RPG on Nintendo’s portable. That’s a pretty ambitious goal considering how many quality FPS RPGs are already available on the DS.
Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is scheduled to ship this holiday season. Read below for a quick synopsis of the story and gameplay, along with four screenshots.
Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain follows a lone adventurer on his travels through the old Dwarven keep within Firetop Mountain. Now the residence of an evil warlock and hordes of foul creatures, the keep is a mysterious and dangerous place from which no one has returned in many years. As players guide the adventurer through the many passageways and dungeons, they develop the character’s abilities and attributes to suit their play style. Enemies will fall before the player’s brute strength with sword and axe, power of the arcane arts, nimble quickness or custom combinations of skills. A wealth of weaponry, armor, potions and enchantments are equipped through an intuitive drag-and-drop inventory system while helpful (or not-so-helpful) NPCs provide guidance, quests, trade goods and skill training.
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Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
Looks pretty cool to me … I’m always up for a slog through the dungeon!