There hasn’t really been that many movies about computer games
, but they’ve all been a genuine delight to watch, including the latest, Indie Game The Movie. On the other hand, movies based on computer games, like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, fall down in their lack of a good story and an inability to connect on an emotive level. Indie Game The Movie, however, steps up in leaps, bounds and meat powered super-jumps over rotating saws of bloody death, which isn’t easy to achieve for a documentary.
Like Wizard, the first and greatest computer game film of all time, Indie Game The Movie follows a gang of seemingly no hope US kids as they try to win it big with video game pinball wizardry.
Unlike Wizard, these guys are sort of grown-ups and it’s their computer game creation skills that’s at the heart of Indie Game The Movie. The documentary follows the lives of independent game developers Phil Fish, Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes as they try to make their dream of creating a hit indie game a reality.
With McMillen and Refenes working on the development of Super Meat Boy, a 2D platformer of skinless chainsaw proportions, and Fish struggling to finish his vision of Fez pixel art beauty, the stage is set for a genuine insight into what it takes to build a great indie game.
The character of the developers, their passion for gaming and their singular vision is easy to become wrapped up in. Their neurotic tendencies, geek-love attention to detail and the ins and outs of game development are genuinely fascinating. Especially for anyone that grew up in the late eighties and early nineties playing all the greats, wishing to make their own.
Indie Game The Movie is a modern classic of a documentary. Next time you whip out a quick sting on Super Mario Crossover 2.0, remember how much work went into building it.
Indie Game The Movie review: 4/5
Indie Game The Movie hasn’t been given a UK DVD release date as of yet. At the moment it’s only available on Digital Download from iTunes, but hopefully it’ll get the disc shaped output it deserves. Special shout out to the words of Jonathan Blow; we all wish we can turn the clock back every now and then.
