More Thoughts From Me #112: Ready Player One?

Most of the time I talk about video games in this column, but today I wanted to change things up a little. Ready Player One is an upcoming motion picture based on a book by Ernest Cline. I read the book and liked it a lot. I can’t wait to see the movie! Why should you care about the movie? Well…the movie (and the book) is about a video game of sorts and has a lot of video game references. See? I’m not straying too far from the path. Let me tell you about Ready Player One.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a really good book. Here is the basic premise of the story:

Set in the future, Ready Player One focuses on Wade Watts, a boy with no family or friends. Wade escapes his life by entering a Virtual Reality game of sorts called The Oasis. In The Oasis, you can be anyone you want, visit virtual worlds, fight, make money, meet people, and more. Students can even attend school in the Oasis! Its like a much better version of Playstation’s Home in VR.

Wade’s life changes forever when he enters a contest that the creator of the Oasis started. The winner of the contest wins a lot of money and full control of The Oasis. There are three keys to find that open three gates. The person that finds all three gates will be go to the final challenge. If they beat that challenge, they’ll find the Easter Egg that the creator of the Oasis hide and win the contest!

So yes, Ready Player One as a story is very video game-like. And all throughout the story, there are 80s video game references (tons of Atari references). Movies, TV, and music from the 80s are referenced a lot too.

Ready Player One is more than just a video game story with references though. Wade Watts is a really good character and all of the friends he meets are well developed too. The world, in real life and in the Oasis, is very detailed. Ready Player One has a lot of heart and once the story gets going, its very fast paced.

I absolutely love the book. And the upcoming movie looks really great. The visual effects are stunning, the music sounds perfect, and the story looks wonderful. The Ready Player One movie looks like it’ll have a lot of 80s references too, along with references from the 90s. Yes, Ready Player One is a very geeky movie (its a geeky book too). If you can embrace that, I think you’ll love both the book and the movie.

Ready Player One starts on March 29th at theaters everywhere. Are you ready?

Next week: Finish him! Next week, I’ll look back at Mortal Kombat. Where the franchise has been and where should it go!

More Thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. Can’t wait to see Ready Player One!