GDLK

There are some fantastic interviews and enactments with actually legendary people like Richard Garriott and Roberta Hall among others, whose influence have shaped a whole industry to this day which impacted billions of lives. Then it moves onto some nobody who did something nobody cared about who talks about how he was oppressed by some long gone bigots. Seriously, it's mind boggling how they cannot just keep talking about games and creators without inserting totally irrelevant stuff. It's a massive disservice to many people who literally ceated history and I get why many didn't take the time to talk as it dilutes the experience. Just cut some 10-15 minutes each episode and there is a decent enough, even if lacking documentary.

Enjoyable, but I think there's a ton of missing info they could have used to give a more profound view of things. The show is basically guided by the personal experiences of some people in the industry, and it ends with 16-bits consoles.

There is so many monumental things that happened in video game history and you spend half an episode on a game called Gay Blade that nobody had ever heard, nobody played, the code is gone... how is this relevant to video game history. Putting Myamoto and this guy in the same realm of changing history is a freaking joke. I don't need to be explained how the gay scene was in San Francisco in the 80's how is this relevant to a video game documentary.

Lying about the fact that this black men invented and came up with the idea of a game cartrige is incredibly dishonest.

Did we really need like 4 long interviews with ex video game champions.

When they were actually talking about the video game revolutions and genius ideas, it was very entertaining. But there are so many stuff in there included only for diversity sake and just fit weird in the pacing.

I love the subject matter and wanted it to be amazing. The pacing and directing isn't amazing but it has potential. But the doc seems to actually be about gay gamers and lgbt games. Obviously nothing wrong with that but it seemed to be marketed as more just about the history of game evolution. Just wasn't what expected

I'll get the obvious out of the way right up top here: calling "High Score" a "history of video games" is a massive blunder. In no way, shape, or form does this doc attempt any sort of comprehensive look at the game industry. That being said, the simple access to key figures of that very industry makes this an interesting watch for gaming fans/historians.

Somewhat ironically, the biggest hallmark of "High Score" is also, in part, its biggest weakness. It gets access to some of the key figures to ever shape the gaming industry, whether that be Nolan Bushnell (early history), Tom Kalinske (Sega), John Romero (Doom), or Ken & Roberta Williams (adventure gaming). Those names were all enormous movers-and-shakers in the business, and provide first-hand accounts of the behind-the-scenes action.

The problem, however, is that "High Score" takes that access and tries to shape the video game narrative around it. In short, the doc makes the case that this is all the history one needs to know, which is a bit ludicrous. It would have been much better to structure/promote this doc as a series of interviews with industry luminaries and leave it at that.

Each episode here also features an aspect of competitive gaming, which often comes off as a bit odd. Not bad or boring, per se, but just a little strange as to why that angle was pursued so hard in the face of other much more interesting conversations to be had.

Overall, I enjoyed "High Score" just enough to keep watching--no more, no less. Had it been structured differently, it could have been a lot better. But even as-is, the one-on-one interviews with such high-profile figures give it a certain amount of cache.