My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Full disclosure, I’m a sucker for insider stories about the gaming industry. Even being an insider, working in games myself, reading behind-the-scenes accounts of games I’ve loved is fascinating. When I picked up The Walkthrough, it was because I was sitting next to Doug Walsh at an independent author event held in a temporarily converted martial arts studio in Redmond Washington. Doug spent years working writing strategy guides for games like Bioshock, Gears of War, Halo, and plenty of others that made me insanely jealous. This book is his story of what putting together those thick, glossy beauties, adorning the shelves of Game Stop was like.
Off the bat, I think it’s hard to write an autobiography without sounding a little pretentious, and at first, it can seem like Walsh writes in that style. However, as he gets into his interest in the gaming industry as a whole and the intricacies of what went into writing a strategy guide, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Walsh’s account of his time in the industry is brief, to the point, and never ceases to be interesting. Before reading, I didn’t have the slightest idea how a guide got made, and reading Doug’s stories made me nostalgic for the days that they were still on shelves.
Overall, I was engaged every minute through Walsh’s book and I would highly recommend it to any video game fan. Hell, even the young’uns out there who think strategy has always been found on YouTube might enjoy this piece of what is quickly becoming history. Walsh is an engaging writer with an interesting story, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Independent authors need your support more than ever right now, so if Walsh’s book sounds interesting, pick up a copy and make sure you review it!!
Interested in a story about a yeti and the drunk monster hunter tasked with finding it? Check out my debut novel, Whiteout (4.75 out of 5 stars on Goodreads). Your support means the world right now!
Ashton Macaulay 