Hardcoregaming101.net Presents: The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures [Paperback]

Kurt Kalata (Author), John Cameron (Contributor), Ryan Woodward (Contributor), Aiden Monnens (Contributor), Jason Johnson (Contributor), Brad Allison (Contributor), Ryan McSwain (Contributor), Samuel Melzner (Contributor), Kevin Anderson (Contributor), Michael Plasket (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 2011 | Series: Hardcoregaming101.Net Presents

In 1984, Roberta Williams of Sierra On-Line designed King's Quest, the world's first graphic adventure. A huge step beyond the text-oriented games that preceded it, the genre took the world by storm, and proved immensely popular with computers over the next decade. A combination of storytelling and puzzle solving, they provided the ability to explore a world and experience a narrative without the need for twitchy reflexes demanded of arcade games. This nearly comprehensive book includes reviews for over 250 games from the golden age of the graphic adventure genre, running from 1984 to roughly 2000, focusing on promiminent publishers such as:

-LucasArts (Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Grim Fandango)

-Sierra On-Line (King's Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Gabriel Knight) -Legend (Spellcasting, Eric the Unready, Callahan's Crosstime Saloon)

-And several other popular and not-so-popular series and games (Zork, Myst, Broken Sword, The Longest Journey, Simon the Sorcerer, The Last Express, and dozens of others)

-Also includes interviews with several adventure game developers, including Al Lowe (creator of Leisure Suit Larry), Corey Cole (creator of Quest for Glory), Bob Bates (founder of Legend Entertainment) and Josh Mandel (writer and designer for Sierra).

Product Details

• Paperback: 772 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 17, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 146095579X
• ISBN-13: 978-1460955796
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,794 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hardcoregaming101.net May 21, 2011

By BattleCircuit

Format:Paperback

I have been reading Hardcoregaming101.net for a while now. It is a great site that has turned me on to a ton of really great arcade games that I would have never been able to find sifting through a database of thousands of games. This book does the same thing with adventure games, and is a must have for classic gaming enthusiasts. Whether they were born a generation late and don't know what games to look for, or lived through it but have some lingering itch of nostalgia that they can't scratch because it is stuck in some deep fissure of their brain, this book helps those answers surface.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If you like Adventure Gaming then this is a must have ! May 27, 2011

By django5135

Format:Paperback

The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures is a great book filled with tons of information on the Adventure Game genre old and new. The book is organized very well and detailed with rich information about the genre. The book is cataloged by companies that produced the games which goes into detail about each game the companies produced. Starting off with Sierra/Sierra On-line which got adventure gaming genre off the ground to the smaller more singular released games later on. It even goes into detail about some of the free Independent adventure games that have been appearing more frequently these days online . Some articles include games or productions that are not adventure games but are included because they are part of a series in an adventure game line/franchise.

Each article is essentially a detailed description of the game/games with a fair review of its quality on puzzles,story/writing,and graphics. As expected the bigger name games have longer and more in-depth articles. Some even briefly describing the impact they had on the genre or video game industry.

The only downside to the book is that a couple of the articles on some of the games were taken from the website [hardcoregaming101.net]. The issue with this is if you already read the articles on the games from the site your not getting anything different for the most part. Most of the game specific articles that are featured on the hardcoregaming101 site the book takes word for word. Also there are more pictures on the website of the games and their in color to boot. Fortunately the big games included that have been featured on the site have been changed so your getting a bit of new information on those.Also on a positive note it is quite nice to get the articles in physical format over having to read them on a computer screen.

Overall though besides this minor fault this book is a gem. Opening this book is like the old cliche saying about potato chips, you cant just read one article with out wanting to read another and another after that .If you love adventure games then this is a must have.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A great read, but not perfect. November 16, 2011

By T. A. Papassilekas

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This one is a mixed bag. On one hand, there's so much to read and take you back, it's guaranteed to keep you warm and happy for quite a few days. On the other hand, it's god a few glaring issues.

The good: a huge amount of games covered, lots of detail, attention and love. Can't get much better than that.
The bad:

To begin with, the book is 'typeset' in Word or something. It really shows. Now, Word may be a good processor, but a DTP package it is not. This is something I could have printed and bound myself. Also the photos are, disappointingly (but predictably, due to cost issued) in B&W only.

There a lot (a lot!) spelling and grammatical mistakes, a sign of the text not having been edited. Sometimes it's obvious the author changed his mind half-sentence, deleted some of it and then rewrote it without making sure it sticks with the beginning of the sentence. Stuff like that.

The interviews are very few, and gathered together towards the beginning of the book.

Coverage is uneven and raises some brows. For instance, the author covers some obscure (and, probably, hated by the kids that played them back then) edutainment titles and then throws Personal Nightmare and the Elvira titles together in a single (!) page. Then he goes on to cover games up to 2011 (classics??) in his attempt to make an exhaustive guide, but truth be told, he could do with 100-150 pages less, easily. There are definitely tons of non-classic games in there, and you'll find yourself skipping page after page, after a certain point.

What's more, he seems to be nitpicking for most of the time (the Nazi guy in Indiana Jones has an overdone German accent? For god's sake, that was obviously on purpose!) about things that don't really matter when you're engrossed in a real classic and suspension of disbelief is in the works, but that's not a big deal. He also seems to get some facts a bit on the wrong side (Black Dahlia 'totally ignored'? Nah...), but overall he's doing a great job, so maybe I'm the one nitpicking now.

All in all, it's not a perfect book, but (especially since it's the only one out there) it's essential reading. And the price is right, too!