Boss Fight Books

Cameron Kunzelman, writing for Paste, gave the book a mixed review. He found Baumann's portrayal of the game and its characters evocative, managing to "render the strangeness of [the] game into graspable language", but criticised the self-indulgence of certain autobiographical sections.^[11] On the other hand, in a review at The Collagist, Ian Denning found the autobiographical sections an "emotional high point", passages on Baumann's relationship with his brother were described as "interesting, sometimes tender and funny". It was Baumann's analysis of the game that drew complaint from Denning, who criticised his scattershot approach, and questioned the value of its tangential references. Still, Denning deemed the book an accomplishment, "a book that argues that video games—a medium once considered cultural garbage—can be important catalysts in an artist's aesthetic development".^[12] Reflecting on the polarised reception of the autobiographical sections, Baumann said "I kind of love both reactions, and still do. I just like the strength of the reaction. I'm happy that I used personal stuff if it incites that much love or hate."^[8]

Kunzelman, in his review for Paste, while noting the personal nature of the book, found it without the self-indulgence of Baumann's EarthBound. He found the initial chapters weak, declaring a chapter on the game's recruitable characters as "almost unbearable", but described later chapters as proposing "tightly-tuned arguments". Kunzelman sees the strength of the book stemming from Williams' insight into how Japanese culture and society may have shaped the game.^[15] Zach Welhouse, writing at RPGamer, too found the book more focused than EarthBound. He highlighted a chapter of new information on the game's English language localisation process, something also highlighted by Andy Hoover at Nintendojo, who deemed it as "a must read" for Chrono Trigger fans; the interview with Woolsey offering particular insight for those critical of the SNES localisation.^[14][16] Philip J. Reed, in his review at Nintendo Life commended the book's personal approach for having "come as close to capturing games as experiences as might actually be possible." Reed suggests that the book offers a new way to revisit the game, "[allowing] you to travel back in time and see it again, for the first time, through a fresh set of eyes." He concludes that the Boss Fight Books series could provide "an alternative future where video games no longer rot young minds and incite violence, but spur philosophical discussions and self-improvement."^[17]

Kunzelman gave the book high praise in his review for Paste. He found none of the literary digressions for which he criticised earlier books in the series, though he had trouble understanding some of its more technical passages. Kunzelman found the book giving "an impassioned argument for why ZZT was, and continues to be, incredibly valuable for game players", and concluded that "Anthropy has set the gold standard for book-length studies of games with ZZT".^[18]

In his review for the Baltimore City Paper, Brandon Soderberg lauded the treatment Kimball gave the game, rejecting the "Buzzfeeding of the immediate past", and instead providing depth and poignancy. The book caused Soderberg to reflect on his own life, and how video games act as windows into trauma, as he recounts the experience of playing Contra following a friend's suicide.^[20] Kunzelman, writing at Paste, found Galaga by far the weakest of the first four Boss Fight books. Kunzelman found the "short, staccato chapters" an exercise in frustration and quickly tired of their cyclic nature. He criticised the book's indulgence, believing some sections to be overwrought, and others to be overloaded with trivia. In between these flawed passages, Kunzelman found Kimball displaying expert craft in telling a moving personal story about "coping with the world through videogames" that "many, many people can relate to". For Kunzelman, that Kimball could be capable of such quality only made the other sections even more disappointing.^[19]

Austin Walker, writing for Paste, felt that the book worked well as a history book, placing Jagged Alliance 2 in the context of the video game industry as it transitioned through small independent developers towards larger teams tied to publishers. He praised the way Kazemi aligned all of the factors that formed the game and made it successful, without trying to force a dramatic narrative out of the people involved, but criticized that Kazemi "struggles with selling it to us as a fun game to play".^[23]

In his review at Nintendo Life, Tim Latshaw commends Irwin's ability to weave seemingly "ridiculous tangents" like One Thousand and One Nights into an exploration of the game and Nintendo's philosophy. He describes the book as "required reading for game historians", and for those curious about the game, "Irwin's relatable writing and healthy seasoning of humour make it an engrossing and enjoyable read."^[25] In Kunzelman's review at Paste, he too noted how Irwin managed to craft a book in which its tangents "impossibly, flow together", he compared this quality favourably to Galaga and Chrono Trigger, earlier books in the series. Kunzelman saw weakness in Irwin's moments of literary excess, such as an interlude on the death of the author's grandmother, which he found strange and clichéd. Still, he concluded that the book was "an excellent example of the Boss Fight Books model of game criticism", and was "very excited to see what happens during season 2".^[26]

In the Baldur's Gate series of games, the story asks players to reconcile their character's good nature with their murderous heritage. Molly McArdle, writing for Brooklyn Magazine considered this "a perfect backdrop" for Bell's own conflict between his past and present selves.^[28] Kunzelman gave the book an ambivalent review in Paste, he did not see in the book a coherent reflection of the game, and that "anyone who has played the game can intuit every point Bell makes about the game". Yet he still found the book a pleasure to read, a credit to Bell's skill as a writer.^[29] At The Rumpus, reviewer Samuel Sattin describes the core theme of the book as "perceptions of success in the literary community", and asks "can genre conventions truly mesh with a literary author’s ambition to be taken seriously?" Sattin sees the book as "an uneasy, courageous, and ultimately vulnerable attempt to bridge a divide most of us are unwilling to admit exists", which succeeds through revealing this conflict.^[30]

Joel Couture describes the book as "an honest, heartfelt look at the game and franchise" in his review at indiegames.com. The book promoted Couture to think about the game in new ways, and to see Snake, the player character, in a light he had barely considered when playing the game as a teenager. Couture found the conversational tone between the authors comforting and approachable, their differing viewpoints well suited to a game that "[bounces] between outlandish and serious". At Paste, Kunzelman was in agreement, finding that the alternating voices of the authors provided "a nice point and counterpoint that allows the text to disagree with itself". And though the book's humour did not always work with Kunzelman, he ultimately saw the book as a work that "opens up a canonical videogame further than it ever has been before".^[32][33]