HIGH SCORE (2020) on Netflix is a documentary about the video game industry in the 80s-90s. The six ~45-minute episodes cover different themes that emerged over that early period. (For example, the first episode covers the transition from arcades to home consoles and features Space Invaders and Pac-Man, ending with the ET fiasco.) The documentary-style re-enactments are handled using fantastic 8-bit animation like the classic Nintendo, and the touch is almost always light and goofy while being informative. Technically this is extremely well done. The interviews are insightful, often very funny, and sometimes touching.
It’s pretty good despite that fact that they occasionally gloss over some important developments and figures to cover some very fringe subjects. (The most egregious example is probably in the episode about computer role playing games, where there is a HUGE detour into a de facto joke game called GayBlade that was never even professionally distributed and which had no known copies left at the time of filming. This came at the expense of legitimate game changers and powerhouses from that era, and key players like the Roberts from Sierra get treated as a sideshow to a game most people never played, let alone heard of.)
This is chock full of nostalgia for gamers who grew up in the 80s and 90s, and if that’s you, and if it sounds intriguing, you should check it out. I’d rate this somewhere between 6 and 8 out of 10, it will depend a bit on the baggage and nostalgia you bring into it.
