Video Games: The Movie: The Review

Written By: Tyler

Rating: 6.5/10
Verdict: It's an entry-level, unfocused look at video games, but tries to convince us that it's more. Gamers will most likely already be too familiar with what is being said to feel like they're learning anything new because it doesn't add much to the conversation. For those who may not be as knowledgeable on video games, this could be an informative watch despite the lack of depth.


Here on On The Gamely, I cover video games. Once in a while though, I will review something from a different medium so long as it relates to games. I've done a review or two on books that were about games, and now I'm premiering the first ever movie review on this blog. How fitting it is then, that it's a movie about the art form as a whole and not a particular game or aspect of gaming. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great experience.

When Video Games: The Movie starts, we are given a bunch of video game footage. A lot of these games are old, some very old, but it is used to set the tone, to show us where we began. After that, we are given an information dump -- a bunch of statistics on things such as what percentage of each sex plays games, for example. It's dry and it's not really how I would have started a movie that is meant to be a love letter to games.

In fact, the main problem I have with it is that it's basically Video Games 101. Part of the problem is with the director/writer himself, part of it is due to the fact that gaming, at this point, is too huge an industry to generalize in a movie that spans an hour and forty minutes. If it was explicitly stated that the movie is a beginners guide to gaming, then I would have less of a problem, but it gets lost in an identity crisis. Is it an entry level look at games? Or is it meant for the people who probably already know most of what they're talking about -- the gamers? This is a problem throughout.

If you are an outsider looking it, it's probably relatively informative. It touches briefly on what goes into making a game, gives a look of the evolution of games, and there are talking heads discussing how much they love games. It mentions gaming as an art form and the controversies that have plagued the industry for a long time. What gamer can forget all the studies we've had that "prove" that games make kids violent? It's a decent, yet extremely general, look at video games. I never felt like I was learning anything, but I'm sure non-gamers would.

In defense of the movie (yes, against myself), it's extremely difficult to take a subject like this and tackle it effectively. Because video games are a very forward, fast moving medium, it'd be incredibly frustrating to try to make a movie that documents all of that. The movie needed more focus. I would have preferred a movie that dissected certain aspects well rather than one that only briefly mentions topics that need more time than they were given.

The lack of focus extends towards how it's organized. The movie jumps around way too much, trying to juxtapose things that shouldn't be connected. It has a real issue with tone because of that, and it doesn't help that they'll mention something only to go back to it ten minutes later after they've discussed something else. It's not that it's hard to follow, it just messes with the flow of the entire film. The transitions are often messy, and there's very little consistency, which really dampens the overall experience. This is a passion project, and at times this shines through, but it's clumsily put together and has a hard time getting that passion over on its audience.

It's not a terrible documentary, but I wish it was put together better and was more sure of itself. There are moments that just make it feel insecure. This is a problem that bleeds into what I said above -- it doesn't know who it's for. Why should it have to justify gaming if it's meant for the people who already love games? Just go that extra mile and give us the love letter that it teases. If it's not meant for the serious gamer who already has knowledge on the subject, then ride with that.

As it stands, it's just too confused to be a great movie. Despite it's organizational issues and its sometimes dry nature, it manages to land firmly in the "pretty good" category. It is a broad, far-reaching attempt to shine light on something that may be a baby compared to other art forms, but it fails to add any real substance to the conversation. But hey, at least the DLC will fix it... right?

Video Game History Month -- What Brought Me To The Dance

Written By: Tyler

For those who don't know, Gamespot has designated May "Video Game History Month." I figure this is a good reason to do my own series of articles over the past month to discuss the history of video games. This article is a little bit more personal than what I'd usually do -- this is about where I started in the wonderful(ly expensive) world of gaming. I don't know how long this article will be, and while most of the articles will just be about specific games or systems, I think this is a good place to start.


My origin story is not that uncommon amongst "older" gamers -- the Nintendo Entertainment System. Before I even knew what I was doing, I was playing games. I would just grab a controller and press buttons. My older brother had an NES, and as far as I can remember, the first games I ever played were Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros. 1 and 3, and Final Fantasy.

While I can never say that I was around for the true beginning of video gaming, I can honestly declare that I was born the same year that the NES first hit North American soils. The NES may be third generation, but it's arguably the greatest innovation within the industry because the NES helped video games crawl out of the dark and into the light of the public. Yes, people were playing games before the NES, but the NES symbolized new blood, new life. For years people would ask, "Do you play Nintendo?" rather than, "Do you play video games?" Nintendo etched its way into the conscious of the public, and video game history, and it all started with the NES.

Though I obviously didn't start playing right when I was born, I can say I've been playing games most of my life... and I'm pushing 30. Like I said above, I started with some of the biggest names in gaming. I remember using the gun to play Duck Hunt, and I remember trying to shoot that stupid dog (to no success). I remember running through the levels in the first Super Mario Bros. while being amazed. Though both of those games were essential to developing my admiration for games, it wasn't until Super Mario Bros. 3 and Final Fantasy that I found the first couple games that I ended up truly loving, with the latter opening up an entire genre that to this day is still my favourite -- the role-playing game.

I would go over into my brothers room, much to his chagrin, early in the morning and turn on Super Mario Bros. 3. The family would get annoyed, but I must have thought I was sneaky or something because I'd keep doing it. Maybe this time I won't get caught? I don't know, maybe I was just a badass. I would even dream of playing the game. Mario 3 was such an evolution of the first that it remains one of my favourites in the classic series to this day. It was an expertly crafted, masterpiece of game design, and even today it showing up on the Virtual Console (finally) is a huge deal to a lot of people.

Final Fantasy was a little too complex at first. It wasn't as easy as just running and jumping. You chose character classes, went on adventures, leveled up and paid attention to the -- admittedly shallow -- plot. Battles were turn-based, and to a young kid the game was pretty difficult.

I'm sure this made my brother happy, but I enjoyed the fighting in Final Fantasy. I would gladly grind for him, because it was a joy for me  to enter those attack commands and see what happened. It wasn't until later that I understood what the RPG genre entailed, but once the SNES came around, I was fully entrenched in the rich worlds that were created. Final Fantasy 2/4, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 3/6, Earthbound, Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, the list goes on. I enjoy most of those more than I do the original Final Fantasy, but I can't deny the importance of the original because despite the fact it was supposed to literally be the final fantasy, it ended up being more than that to me and a lot of kids/teenagers. For me it was not the end; it was the beginning.

Much like the Nintendo Entertainment System.

May Is National Video Game History Month, So Here's What I Have Planned

Written By: Tyler

In January I started a monthly segment in which I take something that the month commemorates and I relate it to video games. For example, this month is National Pet Month and I was originally going to write an article about my favourite video game pets... but then I was on Gamespot and they designated May as National Video Game History Month.

I may still do an article about my favourite pets at some point in the month, but with this knowledge I've decided to ride the coattails of Gamespot, since this is a video game blog and I can't really think of something more important than a month dedicated to video games (whereas I dedicate my entire sad, pathetic life to them).

So this is just a quick post to tell any of my readers what I have planned. If you're one of the five people who know that Gamespot exists then you'll notice that what I have planned isn't really that different, and in fact it's less work because unlike them, I am not doing something every day. They are basically doing an article each day that commemorates retro games/systems, and I'll be doing write-ups on that same thing, only it won't be every day, because there's one of me and I don't get paid. What this means though, is that you can expect to have more content for the next month, so make sure to tune in.