Now Bitmap Books and Stuart Maine have returned with a follow up book, Hurt Me Plenty: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 2003–2010 and it continues the legacy of great books from the publisher. As with I’m Too Young To Die: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 1992–2002, Hurt Me Plenty: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 2003–2010 features interviews with multiple notable figures from the industry who worked on the games at the time. Minh Le, Ken Levine, Tim Wilits and more are among those who were interviewed, and who played a major role in developing these games and seeing these interviews provides a lot of insight into the development.
Also interviewed are Stephen Kick and Samuel Villarreal of Nightdive Studios, a developer that has done truly incredible work preserving and updating many of the classic FPS titles featured in both this book and I’m Too Young To Die. All of this combined with the many games featured help give us a lot more information than we ever expected, as well as some incredible stories. Plus it helps that the games highlighted are not just the big name games.
Hurt Me Plenty: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 2003–2010 has big games like the later Halo entries and Metroid Primes, Call of Duty, Half-Life 2 and more, but also highlights smaller games as well. These include the notorious games like the infamous Robocop FPS from 2003, while mentioning things got better for that franchise later on with Robocop: Rogue City. Another FPS that does not get discussed a lot that is mentioned, is Warhammer 40 000: Fire Warrior, another game that does not have the best reputation, but laid the groundwork for that franchise to receive better entries later, like with the Boltgun games.
The images used in the book highlight just how quickly the genre was changing at the time, such as with 2009’s Zeno Clash, which was a fighting/FPS mash-up. The visuals stood out a lot to me, but I also need to note something. Unlike previous reviews of titles from Bitmap Books, I am reviewing an eBook version, and so I could only spend so long staring at a screen before my eyes hurt, but that is to do with issues with my eyes and not the book. Still, it is why this is a much shorter review than before.
Hurt Me Plenty: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 2003–2010 is a fantastic followup to I’m Too Young To Die: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 1992–2002, and feels superior in some ways. It feels like Stuart Maine has tightened his process when talking about the games and has worked harder to provide an ideal resource for fans of the genre and those curious about its history.
First Person Shooter games have become a dominant genre of the industry and Hurt Me Plenty: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 2003–2010 does a great job of showing why. This book is an excellent way to preserve the history of the genre and industry, and also clear up some misconceptions. Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: We were provided with a review copy
