The premise of this book seemed so attractive to me, as I grew up during the golden age of adventure games from LucasArts and Sierra and a few other talented companies. But if you're looking forward to a book that celebrates the history of their games, you'll be in for a shock.
First, and I feel this is most important, over half the book is dedicated to Star Wars titles. This is not an exaggeration -- pages 122 through 251 do not mention any classic titles, in fact, concentrate mainly on 2000 and later.
The classic gaming system, SCUMM, is such an interesting topic in real life and so well loved that there are fan sites dedicated to programming for it, emulators to run the classic games on it, and other trivia. In this book, it receives a handful of paragraphs here, and a few sentences scattered throughout the book.
The book also seems to avoid conflict. In the 2 pages covering Maniac Mansion (one of which is artwork), there is no mention, for example, of the battles the company had when marketing the title on the Nintendo, for example. Stories that have been reported for over a decade on fan sites and magazines.
I use those few examples as just the tip of the iceberg. The book has some pretty artwork and interesting photos. But just like LucasArts the company in the new millennium, it lacks any teeth and does not cater to the curiosity of the true LucasArts fan base -- the adventure gamers.
First, and I feel this is most important, over half the book is dedicated to Star Wars titles. This is not an exaggeration -- pages 122 through 251 do not mention any classic titles, in fact, concentrate mainly on 2000 and later.
The classic gaming system, SCUMM, is such an interesting topic in real life and so well loved that there are fan sites dedicated to programming for it, emulators to run the classic games on it, and other trivia. In this book, it receives a handful of paragraphs here, and a few sentences scattered throughout the book.
The book also seems to avoid conflict. In the 2 pages covering Maniac Mansion (one of which is artwork), there is no mention, for example, of the battles the company had when marketing the title on the Nintendo, for example. Stories that have been reported for over a decade on fan sites and magazines.
I use those few examples as just the tip of the iceberg. The book has some pretty artwork and interesting photos. But just like LucasArts the company in the new millennium, it lacks any teeth and does not cater to the curiosity of the true LucasArts fan base -- the adventure gamers.
