TETRIS: THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY review
(Reviewed by Melody Werner)
Tetris: The Games People Play is a 2016 non-fiction graphic novel by Box Brown and published by First Second Books. It tells the complex yet true story of how Tetris came to be, and also deconstructs what makes so many of us so fascinated in video games. Like March and Maus before it, The Games People Play is a fascinating non-fiction OGN which is deeply informative and shows the real strength of comics as an educational medium.
The art by Brown is fairly simplistic, but it absolutely pops thanks to the fairly bold use of color (you could say that this book is thankfully not... anemic (haha, Daniel!)). It's stylistically bold and so vibrant that one could conceivably describe it as "psychedelic". I can see a lot of people disliking the look of it, those who are more fond of traditional comic aesthetics, but as I've read more and more books like this from publishers like First Second, this kind of art style has really grown on me and I appreciate it a lot.
As per usual with true stories, it is fairly hard to critique it based off its "narrative", rather it must stand up on two main things: is it told in an interesting manner, and is it informative? The answers to both of these for this book are yes. Tetris had a really weird behind the scenes production, a lot of politicking and nonsense, rights violations, and legal battles which most people don't know about. It's delightful to think about how this medium has grown since then and how much of a juxtaposition it is for Tetris to be one of the most simple and ubiquitous video games in the history of mankind, and yet the production of it was so complicated and is so under-reported. The subject matter makes for a very strong story and Brown's commentary about why people enjoy games is incredibly intriguing.
Tetris: The Games People Play is a fairly straightforward book, but despite that it is really quite compelling and absorbing. It's not the greatest comic I've ever read, but I enjoyed reading it and gave me that sorta had that buzz whenever I wasn't reading it that made me want to finish it and see where the rest of the OGN took me. I heartily recommend reading Tetris: The Games People Play. It gets a 9/10.
Excellent
Summary:
An interesting OGN which shines a light on one of the greatest, most prolific games of all time, and the constant backroom politics which make for a surprisingly intriguing read. The art is nice and if you enjoy non-fiction comics, then I really think you 'll like it.
Tetris: The Games People Play is a 2016 non-fiction graphic novel by Box Brown and published by First Second Books. It tells the complex yet true story of how Tetris came to be, and also deconstructs what makes so many of us so fascinated in video games. Like March and Maus before it, The Games People Play is a fascinating non-fiction OGN which is deeply informative and shows the real strength of comics as an educational medium.
The art by Brown is fairly simplistic, but it absolutely pops thanks to the fairly bold use of color (you could say that this book is thankfully not... anemic (haha, Daniel!)). It's stylistically bold and so vibrant that one could conceivably describe it as "psychedelic". I can see a lot of people disliking the look of it, those who are more fond of traditional comic aesthetics, but as I've read more and more books like this from publishers like First Second, this kind of art style has really grown on me and I appreciate it a lot.
As per usual with true stories, it is fairly hard to critique it based off its "narrative", rather it must stand up on two main things: is it told in an interesting manner, and is it informative? The answers to both of these for this book are yes. Tetris had a really weird behind the scenes production, a lot of politicking and nonsense, rights violations, and legal battles which most people don't know about. It's delightful to think about how this medium has grown since then and how much of a juxtaposition it is for Tetris to be one of the most simple and ubiquitous video games in the history of mankind, and yet the production of it was so complicated and is so under-reported. The subject matter makes for a very strong story and Brown's commentary about why people enjoy games is incredibly intriguing.
Tetris: The Games People Play is a fairly straightforward book, but despite that it is really quite compelling and absorbing. It's not the greatest comic I've ever read, but I enjoyed reading it and gave me that sorta had that buzz whenever I wasn't reading it that made me want to finish it and see where the rest of the OGN took me. I heartily recommend reading Tetris: The Games People Play. It gets a 9/10.
Excellent
Summary:
An interesting OGN which shines a light on one of the greatest, most prolific games of all time, and the constant backroom politics which make for a surprisingly intriguing read. The art is nice and if you enjoy non-fiction comics, then I really think you 'll like it.
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