The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Games Review
Release Date: September 24, 2018
Publisher: Bitmap Books
Price: Softcover £24.99 ($35.45), Hardcover £29.99 ($36.86)
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Bitmap Books over the past few years have been the gold standard for affordable, quality books about video games. From their visual Compendium series to game and box art books, Bitmap has covered games from the arcade to the Neo-Geo. Now their new book, the Art of Point and Click Adventure Games takes a look at one of the most loved genres in gaming history.
Growing up, I was a arcade and home console gamer, Master System, Genesis etc. I did not grow up with a PC in the house. I took classes at school working with Apple 2’s and DOS based IBM computers, but very little gaming was done on them. I was always interested in the point and click games. I loved stories and these type games seemed like they were rich with stories. When I finally got my first PC, 1996 or ‘97, the first game I played was Myst. I fell in love with the genre. Then I found Indiana Jones, Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle and so many others. Even to this day I still enjoy these games.
Bitmap’s The Art of Point and Click Adventure is a wonderful collection of not only games and their art, but it really is a history of the point and click genre. The hardcover coffee table book is 460 pages full of art of games from King’s Quest, Myst, Blade Runner to classics like The Secret of Monkey Island, The Dig, Maniac Mansion and Full Throttle and many more. There are even lesser-known games like Alien Incident, The Last Express. The book mentions over 120 different games with a full glossary with release year and publisher.
Print quality is high, as you have come to expect from Bitmap. Lithographic print, silver foil blocked cover, sewn binding and trademark bookmark ribbon. The book is filled with over 40 interviews from the likes of Tim Schafer, Al Lowe, Gregg Barnett and many, many more. One of the things I love is the way the table of contents is arranged. It is listed by year, interview and feature. If I want to know about games from 1989, I can jump right to that page. This is very helpful when using the book for research.
Overall this book is one of the finest Bitmap has published. In a time where rom’s are disappearing, books like these are essential to video game history preservation. If you collect books on video games, do yourself a favor and add this one. You don't want to miss it.
Thanks to Bitmap Books for providing a copy for review.