Control Freak: My Epic Adventure Making Video Games
Book by Cliff Bleszinski
DETAILS
Publisher : Simon & Schuster (November 1, 2022) Language : English Hardcover : 320 pages ISBN-10 : 1982149140 ISBN-13 : 978-1982149147 Item Weight : 1.25 pounds Dimensions : 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches Best Sellers Rank: #44,021 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #4 in Heavy Metal Musician Biographies #434 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies #1,389 in Memoirs (Books) , The designer of Unreal and Gears of War offers an eye-opening personal account of the video game industry as it grew from niche hobby to hundred-billion-dollar enterprise. Video games are dominating the planet. In 2020, they brought in $180 billion dollars globally—nearly $34 billion in the United States alone. So who are the brilliant designers who create these stunning virtual worlds? Cliff Bleszinski—or CliffyB as he is known to gamers—is one of the few who’ve reached mythical, rock star status. In Control Freak , he gives an unvarnished, all-access tour of the business. Toiling away in his bedroom, Bleszinski created and shipped his first game before graduating high school, and at just seventeen joined a fledgling company called Epic Games. He describes the grueling hours, obscene amounts of Mountain Dew and obsessive focus necessary to achieve his singular creative visions. He details Epic’s rise to industry leader, thanks largely to his work on bestselling franchises Unreal and Gears of War (and, later, his input on a little game called Fortnite ), as well as his own awkward ascent from shy, acne-riddled introvert to sports car-driving celebrity rubbing shoulders with Bill Gates. As he writes, “No one is weirder than a nerd with money.” While the book is laced with such self-deprecating humor, Bleszinski also bluntly addresses the challenges that have long-faced the gaming community, including sexism and a lack of representation among both designers and the characters they create. Control Freak is a hilarious, thoughtful, and inspiring memoir. Even if you don’t play games, you’ll walk away from this book recognizing them as a true art form and appreciating the genius of their creators. Read more
REVIEW
The writing is easy to follow and this is a fairly quick read. Although the author is frank about things that happened in his personal life, there really isn't anything new or interesting here. So many of the quotes and perspectives in the book feel aped directly from interviews - making for an underwhelming and frustrating time. Honestly, it felt like he went to YouTube and looked up interviews in order to write the book. As well, this reads like so many rock biographies: a man-child navigating a narrow and constricted life while partying far too much. This isn't a deep person and there's not a lot of insight about the industry or his life. The book is laid out chronologically and told in an affable and approachable manner. We learn about childhood trauma, death of a parent, and a 1980s and 1990s in which the computer gaming world would go from garages and basements to big business. The author's obsession with playing games was his calling card to going on the other side of the screen and start making his own. Cue dropping out of school and arresting emotional and psychological development to the level of a 15 year old. This is how he approached his relationships and his life. It's a lot of swimming in the shallow end, posturing and 'faking it until you make it' that earned him a reputation as a media junkie marshmallow. He was an easy target to mock. I was particularly interested to read what he had to say about the failure of the game Lawbreakers - I was one of the people who played the beta and then never bothered with it again after two frustrating tries. There have been many videos about the failure (he notes them himself) but never actually gives us an analysis of what he feels went wrong (though admittedly I doubt he has the capacity of deep insightful thought to do so, judging from what I read). A lot of the points he listed felt moot considering the success of a similar type of game in Apex Legends, which debuted a bit later. In the end, he comes off more likable here than in his interviews. That male bravado of the eternal 15 year old who loves blood and exploding guts FPS games is somewhat less offensive and sad when fleshed out in print - but you probably won't have to worry about liking him more regardless. I wish there had been depth here and even better reflection of the past - Keith Richards or Pete Townsend he isn't and I'd liken him more to an aging guitarist from a 1980s hair band: doing a lot of "yeah man!" while walking around his midlife world in confusion. But hey, as he mentioned several times, he has two Lamborginis, so maybe it isn't a bad life at all.
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