A review by mollons
Press Start to Play by John Joseph Adams, Daniel H. Wilson
4.0
There are some really great stories in this collection. Desert Walk, Rat Catcher's Yellows, All of the People in your Party Have Died, The Clockwork Soldier, and Killswitch really shine.
There is heavy reliance on virtual reality as a plot mechanic, that can start to feel repetitious story to story.
There are only a few places, however, where the collection truly stumbles.
I would skip Chris Kluwe's story, Please Continue, as he quickly abandons all pretense of storytelling in order to deliver a well worn, and frankly boring, sermon about video games. I'd also avoid Roguelike, by Mark Laidlaw, as it relies too much on a visual gimmick and has a very predictable outcome, which I think was meant to be funny but is more likely to elicit an eye roll than a laugh.
There is heavy reliance on virtual reality as a plot mechanic, that can start to feel repetitious story to story.
There are only a few places, however, where the collection truly stumbles.
I would skip Chris Kluwe's story, Please Continue, as he quickly abandons all pretense of storytelling in order to deliver a well worn, and frankly boring, sermon about video games. I'd also avoid Roguelike, by Mark Laidlaw, as it relies too much on a visual gimmick and has a very predictable outcome, which I think was meant to be funny but is more likely to elicit an eye roll than a laugh.