Game On! From Pong to Oblivion – Book Review

Note: This post refers to the book, not the ongoing Science Museum exhibition.

Game On! From Pong to Oblivion: The 50 Greatest Video games of All Time. What a title! It’s written by Simon Byron, Ste Curran and David McCarthy, some (or possibly all) of whom can be found stalking their readers and pimping their book over at The Triforce.

Game On! From Pong… is, at heart, a coffee table book. A blindingly yellow paperback coffee table book about video games, but nonetheless, a coffee table book.

And it’s a nice looking one, reasonably priced around £14.99. Each game has its own chapter and is wonderfully illustrated, complete with lots of words that most people probably won’t bother reading. Who actually reads coffee table books anyway? Do you?

(I’m looking at the back cover now and it’s listed as “Non-fiction/Gift”. Gift? It’s like they’re already assuming that even the people who buy this book aren’t going to read it.)

When you actually get around to the writing, it’s a real mix of quality. Some chapters are lovely and really give you an understanding of why this game deserves to be in the top 50. Others waffle on about the storyline and how the game works and leave you with no idea why this game is better than the others in its genre. There is some interesting history on a few games, but sometimes it reads like the text is only there to fill in the space between the pictures. Still, it’s a easy book to dip in and out of, just as a coffee table book should be.

One minor niggle – on the whole it’s very well-designed but there are a few cases where the backgrounds are far too busy to read the chapters comfortably.

Finally, (and you knew this bit was coming), why the heck did they pick Oblivion (with its broken interface and silly world-levelling method) over Morrowind? (I am the Nerevarine, the most powerful being in all the land and you damn well know it!) Where is the rest of the adventure genre? Or Dungeon Master? And the inclusion of EyeToy: Play… wtf? 12 variations on slapping thin air sprites makes a better game than the existential mystery of Planescape: Torment? EyeToy is accessible to all the family, yes. Top 50 game of all time? I think not.

Final Verdict: Worth buying if you’re looking for a classy way to proclaim your inner geek to the world. Not much cop for new info.

Game On! From Pong, etc. is on sale from today.

4 Comments

1. Pingback: The Average Gamer » Surviving the Science Museum: Game On - The Exhibition