By Jonathan B
At the end, hidden in the credits, Tony Hawk tells the camera how he was told how dumb a skating game would be. That he had never been to a meeting where he was so bitterly laughed at or met with contempt. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater would go on to be one of the best selling console games of all time, and was just re-released for newer consoles.
Ugh, this should have been split into two movies. How The Games Were Made and These A-holes Think They're Cool Sh*t.
What a missed chance to make fun of these jerks. Director Tsui just misses the mark with the people he worked with -he's a voice actor for them- not putting them in the bad light they deserve to be in. This long dip into the arcade side of Midway, shows a company that probably had no HR department. And the violence in the games the company is known for is just in the background by the squealing of the "I'm so great, look at me,' garbage talk these old dudes say.
The meat, the hard work put into games, how they made those games, is in their, but, it's covered in a bravado of bro that's insane. I couldn't care less about these jerks. And they are full of themselves jerks. Humble isn't a word in their vocabulary. As I was watching it I could tell why Ed Boon, co-creator of Mortal Kombat didn't want to be a part of this. And he isn't but, in past footage or mentions.
The doc takes you through some of their big titles and how they were made like NBA Jam and Mortal Kombat. These parts shine, they teach you about what it took to make the characters fight in the original Mortal Kombat or get the right heads on the NBA Jam players.
Sigh, then you get a history lesson from people so full of themselves I'm amazed that don't gag on their sh*t. It's not shot in a bad way, well it is, Tsui doesn't know how to give some head room in a close-up. But, what I mean is, these interviews aren't shot like their condemning. They should.
Which part pissed me off more: when they screwed their employees with unfair contracts, pitted teams against each other or just the messy Baily takeover? All of those are pretty bad. I'm not sure, what company took over the other, the doc didn't clearly explain it, once again showing bad decisions by the director.
We stay with Midway when it makes arcade machines and after that we don't get how it failed, that was just y'know left out. How about showing what everyone who worked on it does know? Their so full of themselves, but couldn't include that?
I don't even think the title is fitting as it encompasses way too many other arcade machines.
Skip through it or witness how truly dumb it is.
