“Dungeons & Desktops is a very rich and detailed look at the history of computer role-playing games. Matt Barton takes us on an extensive journey, beginning with the genre’s roots in tabletop games, to its early years on mainframes and BBSs. We’re then given a tour of some of the most beloved CRPGs of all time, such as Richard Garriott’s Ultima series (a personal favorite) and The Bard’s Tale. Barton even explores Japanese console RPGs, as their explosive popularity with gamers in the 90s has had an acute effect on modern CRPGs. The book concludes with the future of CRPGs in the form of persistent massively multiplayers, such as World of Warcraft.
What makes D&D (hah!) a treasure is that Barton doesn’t just pay attention to the hits and genre influencers, but also the misses, such as Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (which Barton calls the worst CRPG ever) and games which never got their due, such as the great Planescape: Torment. The MMORPG section could have used some better fact checking (e.g. EverQuest’s realm is called Norrath, not Narrath, and Asheron’s Call 2 was shut down years ago), but otherwise the book is quite spot on.
Fans of gaming history will really appreciate this book and may rediscover some long-forgotten classics. I know I have. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go play some Universe.”
missed wrote this review Sunday, August 10 2008.
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