Video Games: The Movie [Review]

[larch]

As the title of the movie suggests, Video Games: The Movie tries to tell the entire history of the industry in just over an hour and a half. I am glad the documentary industry decided to turn toward video games, the industry is full of stories that deserve to be told on the big screen. Video Games: The movie is the brain child of Jeremy Snead who reached out to fans on Kickstarter in 2013 and raised $107,235 for the production of the movie well over the goal of $60,000. Video Games: The Movie is a comprehensive history of video games, from its humble mid-century beginnings to being the dominant media form it is today. Does it succeed? Yes and No.

[video=youtube;ETSKGdtrMK8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETSKGdtrMK8[/video]

The best thing about the movie? The interesting footage used of the industry’s early days during the reign of Atari, and some priceless video of old game commercials, that had me both laughing and cringing at the same time. The movie also does a great job of showing the passion of the fans and game designers that were being interviewed. For many people and developers games are much more than just a hobby, and that love and enthusiasm shows in the final product. The film also has some high production values, animated info-graphics and a very effective opening sequence that details the evolution of games over time. The skilfully edited montages of video game clips that crop up every five minutes or so during the documentary had me going down nostalgia lane pretty hard.

Where does the movie fail? Video Games: The Movie does not tell us a story we haven’t already heard or seen a dozen times. It is the stuff most gamers already know, most gamers with cursory knowledge of the game industry won’t learn anything new from this documentary. As a fan of video games, I am still glad I supported it on kickstarter and watched it. If only for the segments with some of my favourite creators and the wealth of vintage footage and photos, from the classic video game era. Video Games: The Movie plays off as more of a celebration of the culture and the industry than an insightful documentary of one of this modern era’s most innovative entertainment forms.

Via: Suitably Bored | Bored. You weren't doing anything else anyway…