BOOK REVIEW: MASTERS OF DOOM
Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 6:27PM | Justin Decloux 
Masters of Doom: How to Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
Released: 2003
Written by: David Kushner
At the age of twelve, my dreams were filled with brown furry fireball spewing monsters. I longed to fire the BFG (Not “BIG FREAKING GUN” as my Dad led me to believe) at a floating one eyed inside out abomination. I craved Doom.
Let’s get it out in the open: Doom II was a chainsaw to the gut of the oversaturated and repetitive video game world. It defined a genre, it created network FPS mania (with the DEATHMATCH) and it defined video game idol worship.
You’d think that the story of the two programmers’ that brought the game to life, John Romero and John Carmack, would run along dull lines of “We sat down, planned it out, and then coded for about a year. It became successful and we became jaw droppingly rich.”
You’d be wrong.
Chronicled by Wired writer David Kushner, the author follows the two Johns straight from childhood and traces their rise (and eventual catastrophic fall) in an engrossing narrative fashion that delivers the thrills of a fast paced techno thriller, while still retaining the research culled from the author’s years of interviews. The fact that John Carmack (a near emotionless machine) and John Romero (the definition of a rock-star personality) were polar opposites, but still two perfectly matched puzzle pieces, makes for an engrossing read. You can’t help but root for the two middle class underdogs as they fight their way up with nothing but their talents to back them up and their egos to bring them crashing down.
From their lowly fill in software jobs, to their first smash success (Commander Keen!?), Masters of Doom does a good job at balancing the gritty technical detail while still retaining the fist-pumping wonder that accompanies the bumpy road to success. David Kushner glosses over a few details as the book races to the ¾ mark (Doom II seems to be released in the blink of an eye) but you never lose track of time/place and the side characters drop in and out of the story with ease. It seems so easy on the page, but hats off to the author for pulling it off.
Even when the book reaches the unavoidable effect the Columbine shooting had on video game violence, Kushner still finds a way to make it interesting. The best compliment I can bestow is that not only did Masters of Doom keep me glued to the page, but it also made me want to go relive the glory days of firing a double barreled shotgun at wave after wave of pixellated zombie warriors.
ARGH! – “In best Doom groan”
SHARP OBJEX Rating: 3.5 out of 4
Buy the book here.
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