Reviews
Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture by David Kushner
badoit90's review
5.0
5 Stars // The BFG* of video-game books
"Masters of Doom" is a book that tells the story of John Carmack and John Romero - the creators of id Software and its groundbreaking video-game series Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake. It serves as a deep-dive into their fascinating journey: the highs of creativity, the lows of falling outs, and the birth of the first-person shooter genre.
I absolutely loved this book, but I want to point out that I am biased here: Having played most of the games these guys have worked on, I can’t shake a sort of emotional investment into their crafts from the get go. “Masters of Doom” mentally transported me back into the mid 90s, where life seemed simpler and the possibilities more endless. Where you cooped up with a few friends to have a LAN Party and play the games these guys have worked on.
But even objectively speaking, Author David Kushner's eloquent storytelling creates a captivating narrative, offering an intriguing glimpse into the gaming industry's rapid evolution and the intricacies of game development in general.
*Big Fucking Gun, the most powerful weapon in the Doom series
"Masters of Doom" is a book that tells the story of John Carmack and John Romero - the creators of id Software and its groundbreaking video-game series Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake. It serves as a deep-dive into their fascinating journey: the highs of creativity, the lows of falling outs, and the birth of the first-person shooter genre.
I absolutely loved this book, but I want to point out that I am biased here: Having played most of the games these guys have worked on, I can’t shake a sort of emotional investment into their crafts from the get go. “Masters of Doom” mentally transported me back into the mid 90s, where life seemed simpler and the possibilities more endless. Where you cooped up with a few friends to have a LAN Party and play the games these guys have worked on.
But even objectively speaking, Author David Kushner's eloquent storytelling creates a captivating narrative, offering an intriguing glimpse into the gaming industry's rapid evolution and the intricacies of game development in general.
*Big Fucking Gun, the most powerful weapon in the Doom series
tomislavus's review
3.0
An overly dramatic book written like a Hollywood summer blockbuster. I understand that you need some drama for the book to sell, but this book is hilarious. It pits Romero and Carmack like two titans in an eternal push-and-pull fight.
Another thing to mention or critique is the obvious bias from the writer towards Romero, on more than one occasion I caught myself thinking, did Romero write this book? The constant aggrandizement of Romero and turning him into a victim of Carmack's robotic views of the world is constantly shoved down the reader's throat for us to feel sorry about him, or so at least it seems to me.
The most riveting parts of the book are the historical facts (even though they are purposely elevated to a level of Homerian epic) and the tech talk surrounding the development of game engines and graphics design.
All in all, an okay book, but too overly dramatic for my taste.
Another thing to mention or critique is the obvious bias from the writer towards Romero, on more than one occasion I caught myself thinking, did Romero write this book? The constant aggrandizement of Romero and turning him into a victim of Carmack's robotic views of the world is constantly shoved down the reader's throat for us to feel sorry about him, or so at least it seems to me.
The most riveting parts of the book are the historical facts (even though they are purposely elevated to a level of Homerian epic) and the tech talk surrounding the development of game engines and graphics design.
All in all, an okay book, but too overly dramatic for my taste.
heyfluxay's review
4.0
A trip down memory lane, reliving the glory of my late teen years filled with weekend LAN parties. 'Masters of Doom' takes a timeline of when I really jumped into PC gaming and it was extremely enjoyable for me to get that story from the trenches of the celebrations, battles, and politics that went into making not just great games, but genre-forging leaps. After reading 'Console Wars' upon its release and Blake J Harris' next novel 'The History of the Future', it would appear that non-fiction tech/gaming is really my go-to reading. I recommend this to anyone that grew up with PC gaming but also those interested in game development as well. specifically the stories behind it.
gkolocsar's review
4.0
Great light read about two icons of our era: The Johns. Romero and Carmack. Great story. Loved it.
slothwithglasses's review
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
One of the best non fiction books I've ever read. Informative, accessible and addicting.
anyonas's review against another edition
5.0
This book has me longing for more similar stories from competitors like Valve and Epic, preferably interweaved into this story. Those were my gaming years, and after half-life, I never really got into gaming anymore as much as I did back then.
Growing up with all their games, but not caring about the creators at that time, this story was an entertaining read. It was even a little relatable, being a programmer myself, where my passion became my job.
It was hard to keep up with the names at times wherein one sentence he would use their first name and in another their last name.
Growing up with all their games, but not caring about the creators at that time, this story was an entertaining read. It was even a little relatable, being a programmer myself, where my passion became my job.
It was hard to keep up with the names at times wherein one sentence he would use their first name and in another their last name.
shane_il's review against another edition
5.0
Really interesting book. I learned a lot about the story behind the games I played as a kid and the author did a really good job of keeping the reader interested.