Game Art: The Graphic Art of Computer Games

Rating:
Summary: A gorgeous book and a great time-sink . . .
Review: I've never been an avid computer games player (wrong generation, mostly), but their progressive development, and especially the continuing quest for verisimilitude, fascinate me. I remember when Asteroids and Pac-Man and Space Invaders first appeared (in the lobbies of movie theaters, when "arcade" still meant pinball), and how addicted my adolescent kids quickly became. But that level of 2-D was nothing, of course, compared to the MYST series and to god/simulations like SimCity 3 -- not to mention keyframe animation and real-time interaction and detailed storyboarding that wouldn't be out of place in Hollywood. This is the first book I've seen that really gets into all aspects of video game art and design (there wouldn't have been enough to say even a few years ago), and it succeeds nicely both in its glossy-paper graphics and in the discursive text, which includes numerous interviews with designers.

Rating:
Summary: Misleading title for a intelligent mine of information
Review: This is far more than a book of glossy game art pics, and certainly not a coffee table prop. Appropriately the book has a number of layers and themes which together provide an absorbing insight into the history of computer games. The text is free from the gushing sycophantic praise that blemishes many of the genre art books. Instead the authors produce a clear categorisation of games with illustrations in support. Comments from game designers are likewise intelligent, thoughtful and devoid of self agrandisement. What the reader gets is a book of useful illustrations, clear game categorisation by features, useful insights into game creation and an indication of where the genre is probably headed. Overall there is a subtle intellectual tone to the book which makes it both a pleasure to flick through but a much more profound pleasure to read.

If the book as any underdeveloped theme it is arguably the absence of game postmortems. What went right? What went wrong? This would have rounded out the book very nicely. However, if you are interested in game design and the role of art in creating various immersive experiences, then this is a book to buy and revisit from time to time.