"SLAMMED!" is a text based choose your own adventure game for the PC.  You get to play as a wrestler whose in the indie circuit, on the cusp on making it to the big leagues of wrestling. All is going well until you read the latest issue of your favorite wrestling magazine and feel like that you've seen a ghost.  What you see is your former best friend, he has made the list for "best wrestlers of the year" and that shocks you.  You and your former best friend do not get along as they had a very nasty falling out that involved a drink driving accident.  Now your ambitions are much bigger and stronger and now you fight much harder to become a true professional wrestler.  Will you become a professional wrestler? Will you make amends and become best friends once again? Or will you do your best to accomplish both goals?  The choice is yours as this wrestling game gives you the power of being able to choose your own path...  TO DESTRUCTION!  (Click "Read More" to read the full review).


The story in this game mixes in real life elements that give you a mild experience on what's it like behind the life of being a wrestler.  The story also mixes in drama elements from the likes of what you would see on television channels such as Fox, CW, and even MTV.  Don't let those television examples put you off the story, the story was actually done pretty well as the drama was decent and had a load of clever references from all over wrestling history and you'll be drawn in.  The way the story unfolds makes each chapter feel like an episode of a television program and hence is why I mentioned television channels.  The drama also has an equal balance of dark elements and light hearted elements and that worked very well.  My only complaint I have about the drama is that some of it can get a bit too melodramatic for me and just comes off as forced.  I wasn't also a fan of a flashback scene that took place early on in the story as it dragged on for a bit too long and got in the way of the progression of the story.

The way this game plays is not the typical way that most modern games play, this game is played purely by reading text and selecting options to see how the next event will pan out.  If you grew up with the old choose your own adventure books then you will like it as this is essentially a digital version of one of those.  If you grew up in modern times, just think of this as a visual novel but remove all the pretty pictures, leave the text, and add in more options to make the story less linear...  So just think of this as a novel then.

 
The options in this game are good as they do make the story interesting.  Your character is more customizable than you might think as you can pick gender, name, where you are from, sexuality, and let not us forget about the main option you want for your character, the choice to be a "Face" or a "Heel".  Being a face means that you will lean more towards being a good guy and choosing heel makes you more of a bad guy, this choice of character will open up certain choices that only certain personalities can pick. 

There is also a stat system that will keep track of the strengths of your wrestler, how well you can hide your real life self from the public, and what number you are ranked in list of greatest wrestlers.  You should keep an eye on this system as there may be a time where you'll be unsure to which option to pick and the stats might give you an idea on what option to choose.  This game/book does have a great deal of replay value as many options lead to many paths to explore and that leads to multiple endings of both good and bad kinds.  Getting through the story only takes a few hours and it was also an easy read, so you won't find yourself forcing yourself to finish this story.


I did have a problem while playing the game and that was that I got a bug that took the game to a page that was not part of this game...  NO, nothing like what you are thinking.  This bug took me to a blank page and then the game crashed shortly afterwards.  The crash message said that I picked an option that shouldn't have existed in the first place.  The only way I got around this bug was that I had to start a new game, I wasn't that far in (thank goodness) and it only happened to me once.  I know this bug might sound like a creepy urban legend but this bug sounds more scarier than what it really is.

Graphics in this game were non-existent as this game is a text adventure game, despite that as that isn't a bad thing at all.  The text in this game is very clean and so is the background but what would've been nice is to see some graphics in the main menu to tell a part the options that activate in-game events and the options that activate your web-browser.  The options are very clearly written but that's not the problem as the problem is that the color of the text the options are written in are all the same, thus you'll assume that they all take you to a page within the game.  What would've been better is to see those web browser options written in blue underlined text, thus you'll know that those options will open up your Internet browser and take you to the Internet pages that those links mention.  There is also no music in this game and that's also good thing as it caters to those who want no distraction while reading and to those who like listening to an album while playing a game with the in-game audio turned down.

Overall I enjoyed this game/book as it had a nice entertaining story that drew me in.  If you are looking for something to play for an action thrill, this game (even though it's a book) isn't for you but if you like good stories that you can interact with then this is for you.  Not a bad read.

Game: SLAMMED!
System: PC
Developer/Publisher: Choice of Games
Genre: Text Adventure, Action, Sports/Wrestling, Drama
Price: $3.99 (Steam)
Recommended: Yes