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davecorun's review against another edition
5.0
I was not expecting this to be as well written or insightful. I thought I was going to read a book about the terrible NES game Bible Adventures, but he had much more to offer.
I picked this up from a Humble Bundle. This was the first Boss Fight Book I've read and I'm looking forward to reading the other ones.
I picked this up from a Humble Bundle. This was the first Boss Fight Book I've read and I'm looking forward to reading the other ones.
brendanl79's review against another edition
4.0
A fascinating corner of video game history, presented alongside the relevant personal history of the author. Quick and satisfying. Would have appreciated some illustrations but these are easy enough to Google.
helpfulsnowman's review against another edition
4.0
Man, I tore through this book. What a great story. There are a handful of really fascinating stories that are coming out of the video game world, and this book captures one that's gone mostly untold, or at least hasn't been condensed into a single spot until now.
More than the other Boss Fight Books, this one is a great read for gamers and non-gamers alike. It covers the story of Wisdom Tree, a company created to make non-Nintendo-licensed games for the NES that had a basis in religion. I mean, sort of.
Within that story, we get a lot of great questions. I mean, what is a truly Christian product, anyway? Is there any way to sell something with every link in the chain being Christian? Why can't we play a video game AS Jesus? What is retro and what is nostalgia, and why is it becoming such a powerful force in recent history?
And how does a single game company go from making weird games like Robodemons to making Bible Adventures, and then to starting in on a Hellraiser game? How do the building blocks of Wolfenstein, a game about shooting Nazis and ultimately Hitler, become transformed into a game about Noah, as in big-ass boat Noah?
WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS ------> FREEFALL!?
It's a great little book that covers a very niche part of gaming, but also isn't afraid to expand into the larger world.
This book also had the best ending of the books I've read in the series. It ties everything up with some questions. If video games, it turned out, really did make you dumber, if gaming was worse than a night of hard drinking, if there was a real toll to pay, would gamers still game?
Read this book. And I am so goddamn pumped to read Metal Gear Solid, the next installment in the series, I think, that it's hard to describe.
More than the other Boss Fight Books, this one is a great read for gamers and non-gamers alike. It covers the story of Wisdom Tree, a company created to make non-Nintendo-licensed games for the NES that had a basis in religion. I mean, sort of.
Within that story, we get a lot of great questions. I mean, what is a truly Christian product, anyway? Is there any way to sell something with every link in the chain being Christian? Why can't we play a video game AS Jesus? What is retro and what is nostalgia, and why is it becoming such a powerful force in recent history?
And how does a single game company go from making weird games like Robodemons to making Bible Adventures, and then to starting in on a Hellraiser game? How do the building blocks of Wolfenstein, a game about shooting Nazis and ultimately Hitler, become transformed into a game about Noah, as in big-ass boat Noah?
WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS ------> FREEFALL!?
It's a great little book that covers a very niche part of gaming, but also isn't afraid to expand into the larger world.
This book also had the best ending of the books I've read in the series. It ties everything up with some questions. If video games, it turned out, really did make you dumber, if gaming was worse than a night of hard drinking, if there was a real toll to pay, would gamers still game?
Read this book. And I am so goddamn pumped to read Metal Gear Solid, the next installment in the series, I think, that it's hard to describe.
gengelcox's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Before this book, I had never heard of this game, so everything here was entirely new. Except. As someone raised in a Christian household, I connected immediately to Durham’s description of the Church library and its eclectic selection of materials deemed appropriate for members. Ours didn’t have videogames, but that may have been because consoles were still new during my time and they may have added games like Bible Adventures in the 90s. For someone who loved libraries, I was disappointed that the church library had such narrow interests in the materials made available, almost as if they didn’t want to introduce anything to make people question. (Even then, some of their material still led to that kind of analysis, including a particular volume I remember about the cult nature of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that led me in a different direction than the authors likely intended.)
So how did a videogame company decide to create a series of Nintendo games based on Christian ideology when the programmers and executives weren’t believers themselves. Ah, capitalism, thy name is legion, and in this case was called Wisdom Tree, the makers of Bible Adventures and a number of other cartridges. Even better, at a time when Nintendo strictly ruled the toy stores and others that sold the games for its platform by forcing a hardware component necessary for the console to “accept” and run the game, Wisdom Tree had technology that bypassed this. Toys ‘R’ Us still wouldn’t carry their unauthorized games, but Wisdom Tree had discovered the Christian bookstore market, and that provided enough sales to keep it afloat until the Internet changed that (not to mention the boom and bust of console platforms).
A great insight into the burgeoning videogame business and worthy of your time if you have an interest in electronic gaming history.
flexmentallo's review against another edition
funny
reflective
fast-paced
3.25
A solid and engaging look back at the story behind an obscure Christian video game developer from the NES era -- the games, the people behind them, and how they came to be. Unlike some other Boss Fight Books titles, the personal reflections here are tied perfectly into the material, illuminating some of the core ideas around faith and culture that fit neatly with the games.
altruest's review against another edition
4.0
A pretty good overview on a strange sub-genre of retro games, with little sprinkles of surprisingly thoughtful insight on religion as a whole. I enjoyed it.
4/5 stars
4/5 stars
tronella's review against another edition
4.0
A detailed look at a company that produced Bible-themed video games.
Another good one, although I think that's enough video game books for a while!
Another good one, although I think that's enough video game books for a while!
djotaku's review against another edition
4.0
It was interesting to read about this game from someone that had a similar upbringing and encountered it for the the first time at church, as did I. It was always a weird thing to exist, especially since I didn't know at the time why it was a blue cartridge. He does a great job of reviewing the history behind the company that ended up creating the Wisdom Tree subsidiary. It was a crazy time to be in the games business and the company was no exception. I also enjoyed the look at the games that came out after Bible Adventures and how they were similar and different in scope and intent. As always, I love the personal story adject of the book as well.
boithorn's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this book, given that the subject matter seemed interesting and (relatively) undocumented.
Ultimately, what turned me off was the shifting tone of the work. The straight-and-narrow threading of various firsthand accounts from employees at Wisdom Tree was great, along with the research put into the niche Christian bookstore market. The descriptions of the games themselves were pretty thorough, but not super interesting to read (maybe I should've played along with the book?). The personal connections from the author to the subject matter were underdeveloped and distracting, mainly because they would interject into the journalistic narrative without adding much additional insight into the motivations of the subjects. Finally, the book has a few too many unnecessary references that I feel like are going to be dated within the next five years (even for gaming culture).
I'm definitely interested in reading more books from this series, but this one didn't connect with me unfortunately.
Ultimately, what turned me off was the shifting tone of the work. The straight-and-narrow threading of various firsthand accounts from employees at Wisdom Tree was great, along with the research put into the niche Christian bookstore market. The descriptions of the games themselves were pretty thorough, but not super interesting to read (maybe I should've played along with the book?). The personal connections from the author to the subject matter were underdeveloped and distracting, mainly because they would interject into the journalistic narrative without adding much additional insight into the motivations of the subjects. Finally, the book has a few too many unnecessary references that I feel like are going to be dated within the next five years (even for gaming culture).
I'm definitely interested in reading more books from this series, but this one didn't connect with me unfortunately.
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